transporting my writing from home to my day job: Tech questions

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Scout

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Hello

On weekdays, I use my lunch break from work to stay at my desk and work on my novel.

I'm running into problems with how to transport what I'm working on at home to work.

My work has many firewalls ( I guess you call them?) So here is what I've tried:

1. I can't acess my dropbox, my onedrive or amazon cloud service. No google drive either!

2. USB drives are not recognized/usable from home to work computer

3. I found something called open office/personal office and it seemed like it was working, however, things that I wrote during the week weren't showing up in what I was wroking on when i opened the file at home on the weekend, something about using it is not trustworthy. I cant figure out why that happened, unsure if it has something ot do with the wifi at work not saving????


4. Found another cloud type site that I could access called true novelist. Been using it for a few weeks, everything seemed fine. Worked on stuff at home all last week, come in today to work try to acess it and its BLANK??? Ugh hopefully I will find it when I go home today, as I came up with about 4 chapters worth of stuff when I was off last week.


HELP!!! Any ideas?

This hour a day M-F at my lunch hour is gold to me. I have my own quiet office. I need this time to write.

It's hard enough to write and be creative without having to worry about all this tech crap when I'm not a techy person.

thank you in advance, and if I should be posting this somewhere else, please let me know.
 
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Stytch

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Can't even get to gmail? Or any other email provider? I just email myself stuff back and forth. It's also one of my back-up save methods.
 

cbenoi1

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Sounds like a company serious about data theft.

First option is have a chat with your company's IT folks. Be open about what you are trying to do; they may have solutions that maintain corporate privacy policies while allowing you some flexibility.

Second option is to bring your own device (laptop, compute stick, etc). The idea is to have a clear physical and networking separation between your work and writing. That way you are 'in the clear' with the employer. Again, tell IT about this. Some places don't like unauthorized devices around.

-cb
 

Earthling

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I use Google docs. I've been able to access it at every workplace, even ones with fairly strict restrictions.
 

AW Admin

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Sounds like a company serious about data theft.

First option is have a chat with your company's IT folks. Be open about what you are trying to do; they may have solutions that maintain corporate privacy policies while allowing you some flexibility.

Second option is to bring your own device (laptop, compute stick, etc). The idea is to have a clear physical and networking separation between your work and writing. That way you are 'in the clear' with the employer. Again, tell IT about this. Some places don't like unauthorized devices around.

-cb

Third option: Paper and pencil or pen. Seriously. At least give it a try.
 

Scout

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Thanks for all the quick replies.

Can't get google docs :( I guess Its hard core around here

I can access gmail and my personal comcast email account

It's a healthcare system and each year I notice more and more stuff can't be acessesed. I don't think it's a good idea to speak to IT about this, I don't think that would go over well.

AW Admin: I did paper and pencil for years. Wrote a few first draft trunked novels that way. Decided it works best for my brainstorming process. However, from my experiences, Longterm best bet is computer. Especially when I get to the editing stage.

I guess my options are:

1. Bring in a laptop of my own and use that at lunch at my desk? My son has a wonky old Mac he's not using since he upgraded, that I might be able to use........

2. Email myself what I'm working on. What are the logistics of this? I feel like I might get confused with what is the latest version of this. And do you just do one chapter at a time?

thanks!

ETA: googling these questions results in next to nothing... there was one post in reddit and the responses were very snarky about how it's wrong to write at work...this must be a very taboo topic. People do it but don't talk/post about it?
 
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AstronautMikeDexter

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I usually create a draft email in Gmail and then attach the Word document. When I work on it, I'll download the file from the draft and then reattach it when I'm done. That way I can access it almost anywhere and I don't have countless emails with different edits that my confuse me in my inbox that I forget to delete.
 

Scout

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I usually create a draft email in Gmail and then attach the Word document. When I work on it, I'll download the file from the draft and then reattach it when I'm done. That way I can access it almost anywhere and I don't have countless emails with different edits that my confuse me in my inbox that I forget to delete.


To clarify: the draft email you create in gmail is never sent?
 

Scout

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ok, stay with me here for perhaps the dumbest question....

I just composed an email and attached a word document that is not my novel (to test) . I saved it to draft. I closed out gmail. I reopened. When I went to reopen, because I cant use google docs or the other 3rd party converters they listed, I just downloaded and opened, hit the button to enable me to edit. Typed some changes then......... what do I do next to Correctly reattach this file to draft?

I don't mind having a draft email always present.
I don't mind reattaching the files each time, but I dont want to screw up the steps to correctly reattach the file.

Thanks for your help!
 

AstronautMikeDexter

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Not a dumb question! After I save the file onto whatever computer I'm working on and after I've opened the file, made the edits, and saved them, I go back to the draft in Gmail, delete the old document from the draft email and then just reattach the new file. Does that make sense?
 
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abdall

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I have all my writing on my Google Drive account so I can access it from any computer. It's pretty helpful if you're writing at home and at work.
 

benbenberi

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What I've had to do when working in a locked-down corporate environment is basically do my writing at work in a Word or text file, email the file from work to home as an attachment or as text copied into the body of the email, then at home retrieve what I've emailed and incorporate it into the main document. If I need to edit existing text, copy the section to be edited into an email and send it to my work address, and proceed as above. The main manuscript file never leaves my control and never goes to work with me. While at work I'm only working in a small freestanding docx or txt file that can be easily emailed & easily disposed of. This means a bit more work at home to update the main doc with whatever I had done during the day (& keeping track of any sections I had extracted for at-work editing/replacement). But as long as you can send and receive email between home & work it's a low-profile low-complexity workflow.
 
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AW Admin

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The virtue of writing on paper is that you can keyboard at home, as a first pass edit, and you have the hand-written copy as a backup.

And there's no copy left on a work computer.

You may be able to photograph your hand writing on a smart phone and "transcribe it" via OCR; it depends on your handwriting. I can do this if I print, and it's pretty accurate.
 

Stytch

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Yeah, I just email the entire Word doc as an attachment. I don't work in multiple docs, though I can see why some folks might. Whatever the most recent one in the email is, that's the most recent one, period.
 

Stytch

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ETA: googling these questions results in next to nothing... there was one post in reddit and the responses were very snarky about how it's wrong to write at work...this must be a very taboo topic. People do it but don't talk/post about it?

Oh, and about that, the best advice for wannabe writers is "get a day job that isn't too mentally strenuous." If you have a job with down time, use it to write! It's the best. I don't know how that's any different from the million other things people do "at work." The job doesn't own you. (Though they may own the software and the computer and be spying on you constantly, so, you know, use your best judgement about these things.) But I'm pretty sure most IT folks have more to worry about than what Suzy and Larry are typing all the time as long as all their real work is being done on time and you're not downloading viruses or whatever.
 

lonestarlibrarian

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Sometimes, I substitute teach for in-school suspension. You basically sit at a desk all day long, and keep an eye on the kids while they do their work silently in their carrels. You make sure everyone shows up; you make sure no one talks; you make sure no one acts up; you make sure the pencils move and the pages flip; and you make sure they don't take more than 20 minutes for lunch at their seats.

On those days, I find that I like bringing a notebook, and I make a detailed outline sketch of what it is I actually want to write when I get back to my desk at home. I figure out how the flow of the chapter is supposed to go; I figure out plot twists; I figure out whatever kinds of Big Planning Stuff need to get pinned down, and I get that onto paper so I don't forget it.

Then, when I get back to my own computer, I go through and I do the work of the actual writing, plugging in dialogue and action. But because I've spent the time at work figuring out the high points to cover, it's far less lurching and stop-and-start than if I'm trying to write straight from my brain.
 

Scout

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Not a dumb question! After I save the file onto whatever computer I'm working on and after I've opened the file, made the edits, and saved them, I go back to the draft in Gmail, delete the old document from the draft email and then just reattach the new file. Does that make sense?

THANK YOU
Did a test run on a fake document.
Worked. YES!
Going to try the real thing tommorrow.
Thanks for the info:)
 

K Robert Donovan

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I don't have a laptop at home and work off a desktop when writing. When I travel or want to work via my WORK laptop, I email the draft to myself using my personal email address. I always save and encrypt the file for security purposes. I also do a new save every single day I write. This allows me to pull up old material that may have been deleted and I want to reuse elsewhere in the book.
 

tallus83

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Not to be a wet-blanket. This really isn't any of my business. But are all these games to let you write at work really worth possibly losing your job and being labeled a Security Risk? What you are trying to do is circumvent corporate security.
 

frimble3

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If it's a healthcare system, yeah, they're going to be serious about their data security. Anyone that can breach their security will have access to people's personal information and their medical information. A gold mine for identity thieves and marketers.
Be very careful as to what you do.
 

maggiee19

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I wouldn't write at work. Wouldn't want to risk getting fired. When I write, I get so lost in it I can't stop writing.
 

Bufty

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I think it's crazy trying to circumvent your employer's security system. Use a separate laptop. And tell security you're using it - it may be preferred you use it anywhere but at your desk.
 
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