An Important Tech Lesson for Writers

Posted on August 22, 2004

Here is another important lesson about backing up your computer and always keeping an extra copy of your manuscript somewhere. The Guardian reports that bestelling novelist Louis de Bernieres, author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin had his laptop computer stolen, which contained the only copy of the first fifty pages of his new novel, A Partisan's Daughter. De Bernieres left his laptop in the house where he was staying and went off to enjoy the Edinburgh festival. When he returned, he found that thieves had broken into a window and made off with the laptop.

The author is offering £500 for its return and another £500 for information leading to the conviction of the thieves. Said de Bernieres: "I never make disk copies of my work because I am not a computer boffin. I prefer just to do print-outs on paper after I have finished each chapter. But I had not been doing that because I had been writing in the summerhouse and the printer was indoors."

The moral of this story? Paranoia should rule the day: always back up your new novel onto a disk or make a printout, even though you have to walk indoors to do it. Anyone could be lurking behind the nearest tree, just waiting to run off with your masterpiece.