Why I Wrote This Post

As I sit at my keyboard, I don’t know whether I’ll be able to complete this post in time to get it on the blog for its intended date.

My community is hosting thousands of evacuees from a town 45 minutes away. Wildfires have threatened their homes, farms, and businesses. A power substation is also at risk — the same substation that provides electricity to my community. A freeway used by truckers to transport goods from the east is closed. Likewise for the railway.

An Update

We didn’t have to evacuate and hope to remain in place for at least a few days. However, the weather is hot and dry. The number of wildfires is more than 6 times greater than normal for this time of year. Although smoke surrounds us, the nearest fires are 80 kilometers (50 miles) away.

We need rain, but the weather forecast doesn’t look promising.

This post will go live in about 12 hours.

Fingers crossed.

Background for the Next Section

I posted a question on Facebook to see what other writers have done or would do in case of evacuation:

What should writers do to prepare for a mandatory evacuation?

A few responses follow (posted with permission). Several mention the obvious: backing up your work.

Many of the writers adhere to British spelling, grammar, and punctuation conventions.

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Belinda Mellor

[Pack] Your inspirational whatever — if you have one. Even if it’s just a favourite pair of ‘writing socks’.

This is a fascinating thread, and what is clear is all the different threats we all face, depending on where we are in the world. Those differences actually make me feel closer to everyone. Here in Nelson (Top of the South, New Zealand) we’ve just got through another ‘rain event’. That’s two in nine months, even though we are officially the sunniest region in the country. The wider region has suffered wildfires in recent years and we have tsunami alerts from time to time. And, of course, being where we are, earthquakes are always a possibility.

And yet this is one of the safest parts of the world, including natural events. It brings it home to me how fragile all our security is and how we need to be there for each other. Stay safe, everyone, and thank you, Kathy, for doing this.

David Faux

Make sure everything is backed up online.

I lost my home to a wildfire a few years ago with no warning. I lost my laptop and external hard drive and everything handwritten.

One thing saved was all my writing backed up online, including several novels.

It was the Sandalwood Fire in October 2019. I used the free version of Dropbox for online backup.

Francis Connor

Whether being evacuated or not — ensure your work is backed up. Then concentrate on what the family/neighbours need and forget about writing. You can replace anything except your loved ones and yourself.

J Craig Rice

Living in southern Louisiana you get used to mandatory evacuations. Besides the usuals, the one thing that is absolutely going with me is my backup hard drive. I might lose a day’s worth of work, but that’s it.

Jeanne Gassman

Back up your work on the cloud and on an external hard drive. When we evacuated for a fire, we took our computer but also the external hard drive.

Kathryn J. White

Besides having the basic clothes, meds, first aid, and hygiene products ready to go in a backpack, I recommend having some of those vacuum seal bags that are for packing your clothes away into smaller spaces, and using those to cover your laptop, notebook, and anything you use to write. The bags will protect everything from possible water damage or soot/smoke/dust damage. Because, being an author means that, no matter what medium you use, it is susceptible to easy water and fire damage.

Rocky Gregory

Have water, a first aid kit, flares or flashlights already in the car. Also, paper and pens for writing on the run.

Shirley Fedorak

We’d have our bags packed, including all my books, notebooks, and computer. Lots of people in Alberta are facing this right now. I don’t know if any of them are writers. We lived in Egypt during the revolution of 2011, and that’s what we did.

Shondalae Benson

I have my external hard drive in my fireproof/waterproof safe, a second one with me, and all my documents and illustrations backed up on line. I would have my small laptop, and sketchpad with me. AFTER I packed some clothes, medication, food, Bible and favorite stuffed animal, lol.

Susan Schwartz

I would have a bin that holds pens, markers, paper, computer, and hard copies of all my stuff, especially any needed research, there may even be some room for a favorite book as well.

Toni V. Sweeney

When I was living in California, I had a fire resistant box I kept USBs of my manuscripts in.

Venkatesh Iyer

Stick around for as long as possible and see if what happens gives you some [writing] ideas.

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My Observations

I’ve included new or more details on some of the topics discussed above.

Backing Up Your Work

This is easier if you already have a backup procedure in place. I own two external hard drives, labeled Backup 1 and Backup 2. One backup spends its time in a fireproof data safe while the other sits beside my computer, waiting for each night’s backup. When the backup is complete, it takes the place of its companion drive in the safe, and the other drive occupies the space near my elbow.

Some writers prefer to save backups to the cloud. However, if you experience a power outage, the cloud may be unavailable. Plan for that possibility.

Grab Important Contracts and Paper Communications

Although most transactions are handled online nowadays, you may have hard copies that need to be protected.

Back Up Your Phone

Make sure your phone contains appropriate apps, emergency numbers, and contact information. Sync your reading app(s) and download any books you might want to read while you still have access to the internet.

Prepare Your Laptop and/or Computer Tablet

In a carrying case, pack all the cables, accessories, batteries, and chargers you might need.

Better yet, don’t wait until an evacuation order. Ensure that your case is set up and ready to go for any travel plans.

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What About You?

Do you have any words of advice based on personal experience or the experience of others? Would you like to respond to any of the preceding comments?

Please share your thoughts with us.

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