OnlineBookClub.org

With our advances in technology over the years, I know that some folks keep everything they write stored on flash drives or in google documents or something of that nature. I've tried both of those and have various notebooks scattered around with ideas and characters and titles scribbled in them. I like the ease of using a keyboard and storing my works in progress in one central location (i.e. computer), but despite my typing ability, I am rather technologically impaired and can't keep up with the way technology changes things. --Simply put, there are times when I can't find what I've written and stored in my computer.

I have spent countless nights fearing the loss of a flash drive with my unfinished/finished works and stressing that someone else will take what I've done and pass it off as their own. Other times I have lost work saved on flash drives due to either misplacing the drive or something about it no longer working, thus not allowing me to access what I've written.

The notebooks are nice, but I am not organized enough to keep all my writings on one topic in one notebook. Instead there are often bits and pieces of various things from characters, book outlines, full pages of information, or random grocery lists or packing lists all jumbled together into one notebook.

As I'm working to rearrange several rooms in my house and get my writing studio officially in place, I want to find a way to keep better track of what I write. Anyone have any great ideas they'd like to share?

I feel the same way and after my computer just had the blue screen of death tonight I'm so happy I've been using "Evernote" for the past few months. I can access my list and party planning and all my writing. well you will have to look but I use several computers and this has been a saving grace for me.

I am one of those "stores everything digitally" people. I don't work well with notebooks - because I am messy. I don't have enough discipline to manage that. So I keep the main documents stored on a flash drive and regularly copy the data to my computer. There's a neat program called FreeFileSync that helps me immensely. It is really fast with updating already existing caches of respectable sizes and allows some other features. It is no real trouble, only takes a few seconds.

In drawer I like to hand write my rough drafts.

i store my reading in lots of different places. I have some in notebooks, saved as drafts in emails, discs and a Kingston.

Get ready for some tech-lingo.

My main computer, where the work is actually done, stores the master copies of the files in an EXT4 filesystem with an ordered journal mode and some other tweaks, encrypted with a LUKS (aes-256) security system. This makes successful theft or catastrophic poweroff less likely.

I have a differential backup protocol with all my data. The computer gets cloned weekly and the same data is stored in at least three different hard drives at the same time. I have a version control procedure, so I can rebuild my computer to any state back to at least 4 months, more or less. The backups are stored in different cities so natural catastrophe is less likely to wipe all the data at once. Tar and rsync are my preferred backup tools.

Of course, my publishing middlemen have additional copies of the books.

I don't trust cloud based backup systems. They are cheaper or free, but I cannot easily move +300Gb of data or clone a whole system in less than 24 hours with them. It also gives away any control of the files to a third party, which I think is not acceptable when you can have absolute control buying local storage media. Priorities, though, vary from person to person.

@Richard Falken
My admiration for Tolkien, Tolstoy et al has greatly increased after reading your post

I keep the details about my characters and general brain storming in notebooks but I keep all my drafts on my computer desktop for easy access. Its mostly just because I'm a faster with a keyboard than with pen and paper. I also find corrections are easier to make.

On my hard drive. It's just easier to store everything that way. Sure, your computer can crap out on you, but keeping backups is super easy these days. It's as simple as having a Google Drive account.

on my computer and it is backed up daily.

If it's a hard copy, I always keep it in a folder in a fire safe place (I know, paranoid), online I have a Google Drive which I occasionally copy into my dropbox (again paranoid)

I almost never save to the hard drive, because even one failure is too many. It is just too expensive to have a geek try to salvage a hard drive. I've also had flash drives fail - if they get knocked around while sticking out of a laptop they can die on you without warning. I keep several flash drives, and periodically back up my main flash drive to prevent catastrophic loss.
I also sometimes forget which folder I have stored some little tidbit of work in, which is annoying but not fatally so. I keep separate folders for different sets of characters, for market-ready works in acceptable submission formats, for stuff that's been sold, and for one-off story ideas that aren't part of any of my "character families." This is all on flash drives.
On paper, in separate folders in a notebook, I keep character lists, timelines, story ideas and fragments, and research notes. For me, this is just easier to access than minimizing my work-in-progress window to hunt around the computer files for a specific detail. I can grab the notebook and start flipping through things until the right one catches my eye.
I'm not into storing stuff online. I suppose that's fine if you are always certain of having a dedicated internet connection, but I rely on wifi, which can be a major pain, connection-wise, so I don't mess with online storage.

you guys are incredible. I am a technotard. I use a 3 ring binder so I can add things in which certain sections. I was wondering if anyone had tried any of the writer's software that I have seen advertised on-line? I also was wondering if anyone had an in depth character development that they wouldn't mind sharing?

I keep all of my writings stored in a three ring binder...well two three ring binders since I'm currently working on two novels. And everything has its own section from developing characters to what I've done so far. I get along with technology, I just feel more accomplished when I write with pencil and paper.

I use both google drive and dropbox, but I've heard great things about evernote. And I don't think a fire safe is paranoid at all. I lost everything in a fire once, and I wouldn't be without one now.