Ever get that feeling of cold fear in your heart when you’ve typed out the best chapter ever, putting the cap on 5k words, clicking save and having your computer crap out on you? Or worse, going to turn on the computer to start your morning work and seeing a black screen?
As authors, we should do things to protect ourselves and our work. If we lose wordage, that sets us back, steals our time and our creativity. Yes, we can type it over, but we’ll never get those hours nor the the unique quality of our words again. That can drape a wet blanket over the next chapters that we try to write.
I know we’ve seen the posts about the hard drive that failed, the thumb drive that failed, the CD that failed and I truly sympathize. It’s a terrible, terrible feeling.
Never fear, there are cures for your ills.
Most of us have sold our souls to Google a Gmail address, right? Perhaps more than one depending on what we do online. Well, this Gmail address is a goldmine of free services just there for the taking.
I’ve used Google Docs for years. You might call me an early adopter, or a geek who is so excited about the next best thing I’ll stick my hand in a bear trap to get in on a beta. Maybe not a hand, because I’ll need that to type with, but you get the idea.
Google Docs is, for lack of a better term, good. Behold, the reasons why:
It’s
- available for file types such as spreadsheets, documents, drawings and web forms (such as surveys)
- available to multiple users at once (authors working on a project in real time, at the same time)
- in the cloud (not tied down to one computer)
- FREE
I’m typing this right now in Google Docs – while it doesn’t have the full functionality of a Microsoft Word or OpenOffice, it gets the job done. Plus, there’s a lot less distractions.
So come on over to Google Docs, sit next to me on the couch. Try Google Docs for your work – you won’t be sorry. Or if you are, it’s not my fault, okay?
If you have any questions about Google Docs, leave a comment or send me an email dahliadewinters @ gmail.com.