Curse the Writer, She Bleeds.

To misquote Dickens - I am getting over the unfortunate habit of breathing - or rather I'm dying! I got the most crushing news today and am absolutely devastated.

My personal laptop went in for service to a local electronics store. Purchased there only a year ago, I was having trouble with the charger. My husband, J, and I took it in two weeks ago and they said it would have to be sent out. They also recommended that we back up the hard drive. J and I talked about it. We could take the laptop home and ghost the hard drive or hand it over to the store and allow them to back up the hard drive. The back up was expensive, $99 dollars, but we decided it was worth it as J really didn't feel like having to ghost the whole hard drive. Doing this, I understood that I would have to reinstall the programs if anything happened that made the back up necessary. Since it was a power problem, no one really felt the backup was necessary but I am anxious when it comes to my stuff.

Any way, I went to pick it up today and found the most horrific heart break I'd ever received. They replaced the motherboard and reformatted the hard drive. It should have been okay but it wasn't. They only backup my documents folder. They said I never told them there was anything special that needed to be backed up. Of course, they never told me I had to specify what to back up. I thought that was clear. I wanted my hard drive backed up. So, where does this leave me? For 4 years now I have used a program called Book Collectorz.com to manage my large home library, over 800 books worth of information. I had everything from where it was purchased to who had a particular book checked out. It's taken me years to get everything into the program and it's all gone. Yet, as bad as this lose it there is worse. All my writing was in a folder on the desk top. I mean ALL my writing, including a novel I had almost finished. I have been working on this novel for years While I do have some printed backups, I do not have the full piece and am out 15 chapters.

Lesson to writer's everywhere - do your own backups. Don't trust anyone with your most prized possessions. I did get the store to refund me the backup fee and J is going to try and restore what I've lost. I can be hopeful but the damage is done and I am hurting. Losing my writing is a grief I can't describe. It feels as if I've lost a part of me. I tell the kids every day to save often. I follow my own advice all the time. I should have backed up my own work. I should have insisted the tech right out my directions. I should have done much but can only start all over now.

Once upon a time. . .

Got Blog? Why?

JT, my younger brother, and I were just hanging out this afternoon. We do this every once in a while, get together to just catch up on the bit of fluff that make up our lives. Near as I can tell, we are really the only siblings in our group of friends that have this kind of relationship. I love this fact about us, but there are times we don't agree. Today was one of them. The subject? Blogging.

Now, as I've mentioned before, JT and I grew up in the home that estrogen built and technology forgot. The poor boy was surrounded by women and permanently stuck in 1979. The most high tech thing we had was a color television and cable. We still had a rotary phone in 1997 until J came along, asked me to marry him, and dragged my entire family into the 20th century by giving my mom a push-button telephone. Anyway, I digress. The point is that JT and I missed out on the whole early life of the internet and computers. While I had college friends and J to drag me kicking and screaming into the 21st century, JT has adapted more slowly. . .He bought a cellphone recently. For the life of him, he doesn't understand the purpose of blogging. He thinks it's stupid; a bunch of people whining about their everyday life. His major point is that most blogs are virtual diaries and diaries are suppose to be personal, not available to be read by the entire world-wide-web. After he said this, a lighting bolt hit me with understanding. As much as I wanted to disagree. He is sort of right. Not all blogs are diaries, some like my best friend's, deal with weird news or cool gadgets. However, many are journals, including my own.

So why do we blog? Why do we read them? I started blogging to talk about raising Holly and the difficulties I encountered training her. Then I went back to work and realized how insane a work place a school can be. I found myself wanting to write about books I liked or stresses I encountered. I think I just wanted to know I wasn't alone. This is what blogging has brought to me. I got tips from others about puppy training and honest opinions of my stresses. I'm sure other people have their own reasons.

But is he right? Is it a declaration of the way our world is going? Is it the same motivation that makes itself known through bad reality shows and gossip shows? Why do we blog? Why do we read? What keeps us coming back? Do we want to shout to the world that we are here, living and learning? Is it vanity or social? According to JT, blogging seems to be a sign of the final apocalypse. Do we dare to type another word. . .Yes?