I’m writing every day to get my book proposal completed by the end of the month. Non-fiction proposals include a detailed outline, sample chapter(s), marketing plan, author bio, etc. I’ve been doing a lot of research for my sample chapter, gathering stories, sources, potential people to interview, etc. Yesterday I sat down to consolidate it all into a detailed outline so I can get to the actual writing (the last step in the process). I’m using MS Word on OS X. I started the project in Google Apps until I got a dialog box that said Unable To Save Due To A Network Error. Freakout- if Google can’t save me in the cloud I’m screwed. The dialog box has a URL link for More Info. I click it and instead of opening a new window or tab it says: You are about to leave an unsaved document! WTF Googlys? This is totally wrong. I quickly copy the text, open a Word Doc and paste and save, thinking that Apps in the cloud are definitely not ready for prime time. So I’m back to the hated Word- at least I can save and back-up.

Fast forward a few weeks to yesterday. I’m writing at full bore as my research is consolidating into a well-organized flow. I’m so into it I go 20 minutes without hitting the Save icon. You know what’s next. Abrupt crash, lost it all. Freakout.

So now I have a nervous twitch with both the cloud apps and the desktop apps. After 20 years of word processor development can’t we build-in safeguards against ever losing work? Photoshop saves multiple versions of huge files. Word can’t do the same? And Google…you guys need to get your act together if you want IT people to endorse your free cloud apps. They must be rock solid and save to multiple places for redundancy.

The Word crash, while unforgivable, is partially human error on my part- I should have been religiously hitting Save. However. sometimes in the heat of writing you don’t take a break for housekeeping. And don’t even mention Auto Save. That is a whole ‘nother source of pain…