Archives: Books. Photos. What's your plan?

Where do you keep your master files?

"Master files of what?" you ask.

All the things that have preserved information, preserved stories, music, and images that chronicled who we were and from where we've come, the fiction that has delighted us, the videos we watched years later, and the music we've listened to--sometimes a generation or two later.

As I sit looking at my bookcase, I'm a bit worried.  And I know I have photos in albums and some even in shoe boxes--along with their negatives  beneath my bed. In the family-room, there are a couple shelves of music CDs; they are my archive. I no longer have any vinyl records because, well,  you know, media changes so...devices change... Eventually I had nothing left to play them on.

I don't dust as often as I should, so some are collecting dust.  Even so, when I want them, they are there. Tangible things they are. Most of what I've kept is because they are special, and hold a big slice of sentimentality for me. Some simply because they're classics.

The debate about ebooks versus paper books appears to be settled, with ebooks taking the lead for many reasons.  I like ebooks, and have lots. They're convenient, they're reasonable, my Kindle changes font size so I don't have to wear my reading glasses. What's not to like?  

But with the exponential increase in ebook sales, I have begun to wonder...  How are we keeping the master copies?  For the copy that in 60 or 70  years will be pulled out of a file folder and read while the reader awes at their antique ebook.

The temporary nature of ebook files concerns me too. Drawing on my experience with digital cameras and digital photos, and seeing the similarities in the change from a print form of media to a digital form in both books and photos, I think the average person is not going to archive their files in a way that will allow access in 20 or 30 years, like we've always been able to do. And I admit to pulling out my dogeared copies of The Thorn Birds, and Andersonville, and reading them when they were over 30 years old and 55 years old respectively.  And that was in the last couple of months.

Okay, I'm trying to visualize keeping track of digital files and updating them, converting them when necessary to new file types...and in 55 years, reading my digital copies of Girl Under Glass, Dancing With Eternity, or Bountiful Creek (I love these stories, all new, and I originally read them in digital form).

Back to my vinyl records experience: formats change, file-types change, and the devices to read them change as well.  I have photo cards that are unreadable using my current computer hardware.  

Maybe it's just me. I have a difficult time reconciling a bookcase with a file folder on my computer. Maybe it's my age, my generation? But for me, there's something to be said for searching on a bookcase for an old book, or digging through a shoebox of photos under the bed. They exist for years, no updating required...

What's your plan for saving e-files of books, photos, movies, etc?

Weekend Writing Warriors: September 29, 2013

Weekend Writing Warriors: September 29, 2013

      
Welcome Warriors, and Snipsuns and anyone else who wanders in. Happy last morning of summer! :-)

Weekend writing Warriors is a weekly bloghop. Each week, participants sign up HERE at wewriwa.com, then post 8 sentences of their work, published or unpublished, to go live between noon, Saturday and 9:00 AM Sunday EST. Then we visit each other and read, comment, critique, encourage--all those things that do a solitary writer's heart good.

This from a WIP, a fantasy story. Working title is: "Taydan: Child Denied"
The ruler, Deamante, is about to become a father. He's been waiting for quite some time outside of the birthing room, listening to his mate's cries of agony.  Finally, allowed inside, he's faced with a surreal time.
Creative punctuation in use. :-)

    

      Never had a day been so wonderful, so perfect, and so gut-wrenching.

    After scrubbing his hands vigorously as instructed, he stretched his arms in front of him toward a waiting aide. The jittery helper slid a gown onto him then fumbled at his neck--tying the knee-length cover closed.  

     Deamante took a deep breath and fought to relax the worry furrows knitted on his brow. Apprehension filtered through him, from the top of his head to his toes. When he finally willed his feet to move, his cat-steps were soundless as he approached the bed where she lay. A lump formed in his throat when he looked down into a face that seemed foreign, almost deformed by the agony.  Desperate eyes blinked up at him while a low moan, little more than a whimper, escaped her.

That's it. What jumps out at you, good or bad ? I'd love to hear it and am truly grateful for every bit of criticism, opinion, and shared wisdom.  Thank you so much for visiting!

Weekend Writing Warriors: Sept 22, 2103

Weekend Writing Warriors: September 22, 2013

      



Welcome Warriors, and Snipsuns and anyone else who wanders in. Happy last morning of summer! :-)

Weekend writing Warriors is a weekly bloghop. Each week, participants sign up HERE at wewriwa.com, then post 8 sentences of their work, published or unpublished, to go live between noon, Saturday and 9:00 AM Sunday EST Then we visit each other and read, comment, critique, encourage--all those things that do a solitary writer's heart good.

I have a major changeup in excerpt source. ATNS is all a muddle. Until I work it out, I'll be pulling from another WIP, a fantasy story. working title is: "Taydan: Child Denied"

The ruler, Deamante, is about to become a father. He's been waiting for quite some time outside of the birthing room, listening to his mate's cries of agony. 

Creative punctuation is use. :-) 

     The door flew open and the old healer burst into the hallway, halting the soon-to-be father mid-step. 

     Motionless for the first time in what seemed like days, Deamante's unspoken questions and looming demands weighted the air, rendering the moment breathless.   

    After dropping his gaze momentarily--a show of respect--or fear, the old man lifted his eyes to meet Deamante’s. Then, without waiting for the ruler's unspoken thoughts to find voice, he said, "It’s nearly time. If it is your wish, your Sir-ness, please come inside."     

    Deamante hurried behind the old, gowned man, almost stepping on his heels; he’d follow him anywhere.  Today, in his eyes, the old man was just shy of being a god. He was, after all, the man who would soon oversee his son's passage from beyond the sacred veil, where every man has seen but none remember, to this side of the Divine mystery.

    

That's it. What jumps out at you, good or bad ? I'd love to hear it and am truly grateful for every bit of criticism, opinion, and shared wisdom.  Thank you so much for visiting!

Wordless Wednesday September 18, 2013

Shhhhh...  Let's get wordless.

To visit other Wordless Wednesday participants, click HERE

Weekend Writing Warriors: September 15, 2013

Weekend Writing Warriors: September 15, 2013

      



Welcome Warriors, and Snipsuns and anyone else who wanders in.

Weekend writing Warriors is a weekly bloghop. Each week, participants sign up HERE at wewriwa.com, then post 8 sentences of their work, published or unpublished, to go live between noon, Saturday and 9:00 AM Sunday EST Then we visit each other and read, comment, critique, encourage--all those things that do a solitary writer's heart good.

I have a major changeup in excerpt source. ATNS is all a muddle. Until I work it out, I'll be pulling from another WIP, a fantasy story. working title is: "Taydan: Child Denied"

Rella’s screams from beyond the door seared Deamante, each cry like like a heated blade twisting in his heart. And though he could never say it aloud, his own suffering at hearing her wails, her pleading, surely rivaled hers. 

     Still, a dichotomy of emotion brewed in him; joy lingered just under the surface. It was a good day—a holy day in the making. The world waited, for this day had been foretold.

     Pacing, he bowed his head and wrung his hands. He believed the auguries, old and new. Soothsayers, by the very gift they'd been given, were incapable of telling lies.

That's it. What jumps out at you, good or bad ? I'd love to hear it and am truly grateful for every bit of criticism, opinion, and shared wisdom.  Thank you so much for visiting!

Sunset Through Foxtail Grass: Photos or art?

Welcome. It's Wordless Wednesday

Now shhhhhhhh. Let's get wordless...

Weekend Writing Warriors: September 8. 2013

The Introduction...

      



Welcome Warriors, and Snipsuns and anyone else who wanders in.

Weekend writing Warriors is a weekly bloghop. Each week, participants sign up HERE at wewriwa.com, then post 8 sentences of their work, published or unpublished, to go live between noon, Saturday and 9:00 AM Sunday EST Then we visit each other and read, comment, critique, encourage--all those things that do a solitary writer's heart good.
 
Set up:  Marissa has spent the last year homeless and delusional. In this week's post, I've backed up to very early in the story. We're in a dream, or maybe it's reality? She's been abducted, but still hasn't figured that out. There's an injured man she's caring for as best she can, and predators are on the loose, attacking when it's time for a meal. There's a lull in the action, and she has a minute, finally, to look him over.


*note   You might encounter creative punctuation :-)

     He must have sensed her appraisal; as if on cue, he raised his head and opened his eyes. What an incredible shade of gold.

     Struggling to sit up gained him little more than wincing at the effort. He touched her arm, put his fingertips to his forehead and with a voice full of exhaustion, said, "Cuylrh."

     Had the end of his name been him trying to clear his throat, or was it the  actual pronunciation?  His dark eyebrows went up accentuating thick wrinkles between his eyes. He brought his fingertips, gentle as a feather, to her forehead then nodded at her.

     "Marissa" 

That's it. Now they know each other. Ha!

What jumps out at you, good or bad ? I'd love to hear it and am truly grateful for every bit of criticism, opinion, and shared wisdom.  Thank you so much for visiting!