Blogoversary
I’m coming up on my one year anniversary as a blogger on October 17th. (Here’s my first post. Oh, I was so young and naive!)
Back then my boys were 6, 8, and 10, and my fourth child was my Byrne Risk manuscript. Now, a year later, my boys are 7, 9, and 11, and I have a book published (Life, Liberty, and Pursuit), Byrne Risk is launched and in the hands of agents and an editor, and the fourth child that wakes me up at night is my Open Minds manuscript. And I have over 220 followers who, for some reason, keep coming back to see what I blog about next.
Any way you slice that, it’s been an amazing, thrilling year. Clearly some kind of follower/blogoversary celebration is in order, so stay tuned for that!
The Importance Of Backing Up
My awesome blogger friend KarenG, who has been blogging for an amazing 5 years, made me realize that I have a huge amount of written work that I’ve never backed up. Namely, my blog.
I refer to it all the time, send friends and acquaintances to it for book recommendations, and generally use it to store tidbits of information I find relevant to the writing universe. I would cry wet, sloppy tears if it all went *poof* one day.
Fortunately, Blogger has a back-up function. Go to your Blogger Dashboard > Settings > Basic > Export blog. Blogger creates an XML file you can save to your computer, and then later use to import, should Blogger hiccup all over your blog, or decide that you’re a SPAM blog and delete you outright.
I now have a tidy XML file with all my blog postings, an impressive 5 megs containing nearly a quarter million words. So that’s what I’ve been spending all my time on! Since I have a regular backup system on my computer, my blog now has a triple redundant backup system (assuming I remember to back up the blog on a regular basis).
Because if I’m going to cry, I want it to be over a really good book, not lamenting the loss of 1’s and 0’s.
This is a very good post. My new computer keeps telling me I haven't backed up yet. Yeah, yeah, I know. One more thing to do. But you've convinced me to do this blog post backup.
I'm impressed with all you've accomplished in a year on your blog and with your writing!!!
Ann
I just did it! Thank you for the recommendation, Susan. I had no idea I could or should do this. 🙂
@Ann Ok, you really MUST back up your computer. Please. I will cry for you, if you lose everything on there! (and thanks!)
@Shannon Me either! Props to KarenG for being forward thinking!
Happy blogoversary! I back up all the time…just not my blog! Thanks for the tip.
This is great info, Susan, I had no idea I could do this. I'm going back to my post and add a link to this.
A quarter million words! That's amazing. I've been blogging for almost four years, I need to go check out this function–I didn't know about it! Thank you so much, Susan. I don't want tears here either. :o)
Congrats on your blogiversary, friend!!!
Wow, thanks for sharing this. I haven't backed up mine either, but I did save off all my blog post, because I sometimes submit them to ezines and http://www.sellingbooks.com
@Shallee You are most welcome!
@KarenG Awesome! And thanks for making me think of it!
@Jackee The words pile up quick! Thanks!!
@LM I used to keep copies of my blog posts on my computer, then I got lazy. 🙂
Congrats on your blogoversary and getting publishing too! Fantastic achievement.
And thank you for the back up tip – great reminder. I must run along and do this now. 😉
So much has happened in one year, it's hard to believe. Keep it up 🙂 Thanks for the back-up advice and lesson.
What a great back up tip. I didn't know. Thanks so much!
Happy Blogoversary, Sue! And thank you for the valuable info. I just backed up my blog, yeah!
@Talei Thanks! 🙂
@Catherine I get reflective around anniversary times – time just moves too fast!
@Lydia If I can save someone else from crying over data loss, I'm a happy camper. 🙂
@Jennifer Thanks! Now that you're a blogging maven, you need to keep all that writing safe! 🙂
Thanks for this tip! I just went and exported the 8.4 MB (!) .xml file. Now I need to back up my hard drive as well.
Congratulations on your blogoversary! I enjoy reading and thinking about your posts. You make a good case for backing up the blog–something I hadn't thought of.
@Sherri 8 megs – that's a lot of writing, missy!
@Andrea I'm so glad you enjoy Ink Spells! 🙂
Thank you so much for this! I knew there had to be a way to back stuff up and just hadn't found it yet. Yay! *does happy dance*
@aching Happy I could help! 🙂
Happy Blogoversary!! And on getting your book published. What a great year or you!
@Carl Thanks! It's been quite the whirlwind. 🙂