Another Good Reason to Write Your Blog Posts Offline
In the Super Affiliate Handbook I talk about using a text or HTML editor (as opposed to an online interface) to write your blog posts to avoid losing your hard work should you lose the connection.
Well, here’s another reason.
I’d spent about 20 minutes researching and writing a post about carbon offsets for the Roamsters blog yesterday when I suddenly saw what is in the image above… i.e. NOTHING.
Hoping that the draft hadn’t yet been auto-saved, I quickly closed and then re-opened the browser window.
No luck, still NOTHING there.
Obviously, I somehow managed to delete all the content I’d written and the sad thing about it is… unlike an HTML or text editor, there’s no UN-do button or CTRL-Z function!
Argh.
Maybe one of these days I’ll take my own advice. 
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Rosalind Gardner is a Super Affiliate blogger, author, speaker, and Internet marketing consultant.
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Torture! I’ve gone through that too, yet I also still mostly write them online.
Oh, dear. Been there, done that, have the t’shirt to match.
I remind myself that my posts are always better when I rewrite them.
Or so I keep telling myself!
Tonight after school Rosalind Gardner will stay behind and write one hundred lines …
Don’t beat yourself up Ros – this is probably only once out of how may posts?
When was the last ime you, I or anybody else for that matter, backed up their hard drives or at least all the important files and folders on there?? I tell everybody else to do it but do I listen to my own words – you gotta be joking.
Don’t do as I do – Do as I say
Alan
Great tip, Rosalind…
Writing in a text editor (I use WORD) also lets me save a clean copy for re-posting to other blogs, at a later date, or for use in auto-responders.
I’ve seen this happen in WP 2.5 on several occasions. It’s happened switching to code view and back. In one instance I was proofing copy and poof gone. This is just a conspiracy theory at the moment as I can’t prove anything wrong with WP… yet. I just know I can’t possibly be making that many deletion errors.
I’ve done that several times Ros. Not so much with blog posts, but with text newsletters. It took me about 3 times before I finally got it through my thick skull to write the newsletter offline and save it.
I hope you know what I mean when I say that it makes me feel a little better to know that if it happens to you too, I must not be the dunce I thought I was. lol
Ouch Rosalind! I really hate it when that happens. (three times so far to me.)
I like to use Ecto for exactly this reason. It’s also nice because you can author posts while you don’t have an internet connection. (i.e. Planes, trains, and automobiles)
I think it may be only for Mac. They used to have a windows client. It doesn’t look like they do anymore.
Here’s the link http://infinite-sushi.com/software/ecto/
What I have found that helps is that I type my post in a word document (that way I can use that old spell-check).
Then I created a “practice” Blog account. That way I type in post, proof it, leave it for a day, proof it again and then publicly post it on my main Blog account.
I’ve found there is less risk involved of making a faux pas, or one would hope.
And then there are those “over 40 eyes.” Some need their glasses to find their glasses!
Nobody likes public humiliation, especially when it’s their own.
Best,
Christine Bean
Hi Rosalind,
God I have done that on so many occasions you’d think I’d learn from my mistake but nooooo.
Thanks for admitting that even the superstars are human and make silly errors too. Not that you ever claimed to be infallible.
Peace and Love
Jorge
Hi Ros!
Always time to do it twice, eh? Seems I read a forum post about something similar. . .backups, there not just for servers anymore. . .heh, heh!
I’ve taken LOTS of your advice, and it’s worked for me, you really should listen to you more often, LOL!
Love Ya!
Griff
Hi Rosalind,
I’ve run into that problem on a few occasions..mostly due to host downtime. In order to avoid this from happening again, I started to use a clipboard manager called ClipX ( http://bluemars.org/clipx/ ). It’s a free tool that allows you to manage a clipboard history. So as I create blog posts, I select the whole document and copy it to the clipboard. If it’s a long post, I might create several different copies as I type. ClipX will allow me to view a history of my past clipboard entries, and recall which one I want to use. So whether my host is down while I save my post or my blog software didn’t save my post properly, I’ll have a temporary backup of everything that I typed.
I had something similar happen to me during the past two weeks.
I used an online editor to create almost a complete website, and then the hosting provider had problems and all my files disappeared. And apparently they are not recoverable.
So I’m starting again from scratch. This time I will keep multiple copies of all my work!
Yup. Been there.
I developed a ‘ctrl+a’ then ‘ctrl+c’ habit when posting comments.
And I DID write most things offline, but not lately.
I think I’ll rebuild that habit now. LOL!
Thanks for the heads up, and reminder.
And my family thanks you for the help in avoiding a really bad mood probably
Brad.
Ha ha! Great advice to write it offline first. I do it that way mainly in case there’s ever a problem with the hosting. Months or years of content in just one database? Too much to risk! ~ James
Microsoft has free blog editing software. It’s called Live Writer and it works pretty well. You can write your post on your desktop and Live Writer will publish it on your blog. The only problem I found is that it doesn’t recognize categories, but I just login after I’ve posted and assign a category. It will handle pictures as well as video and audio. It really will solve your problem Ros.
Thanks for sharing that, Rusty.
As to ’solving my problem’, I don’t really need another program. I just have to take my own advice and use my text or HTML editor.
Cheers,
Ros
Ros,
I find that for most straight text posts that consist of words with few images (no tables) … the easiest and most reliable route I’ve found is to use Scribefire with Firefox! For updating/creating posts on a Wordpress blog, it can’t be beat. (It does other blog mediums also.) It will “remember” your latest draft post, even if your system goes off-line and you can set the catagories for the post before ScribeFire loads the post into the blog.
When I’m using a CMS, it’s just as easy to keep a Dreamweaver window open and copy the code when I’ve finished the article/post.
Regards,
Chris
Hi Rosalind!
In first place I must say it’s nice to find another ex-aeronautical fellow over here.
I use WORD to write my posts offline. 1) to keep a back-up 2) for orthographic correction. As I’m not a native english-speaker, Word is my best friend when it comes to write in English
Have a great weekend
Anthony
Hi Rosalind,
well I went through that also and googled for something to help me with this.
I found http://www.laptoptips.ca/projects/tinymce-advanced/ and that is really a lot better than the standard version in wp. Try it and you like it.
By the way, I am not good at homework because I am distracted fast as you notiice by reading this. But back to the homework again! You know what I mean “I have to do my homework” Its that blogging classroom miss that gave me a lot of homework, when I graduate from that I really feel a professor, I think.
btw I am still searching for a simple and good looking template that will stand out from the crowd. Indeed the plain was nice but totally irrelevant.
http://amainghealth4u2.com
I wil use the goinfodaily.com blog because that is the most suitable.
healthy living and keep the smile!
Hank Rooney
That’s happened to me more than once also, you’d think I would learn by now also.
Like Brad I to tend to copy anything I’m writing online at a regular interval.
CTRL + A , CTRL + C
Does the job everytime, atleast then I have a copy of a post in clipboard.
Regards,
Laurence
Yep, been there…done that…still do it! Yet still when it happens, I give my computer, WP, FF and anything else I can think of every reason why it is their fault and not mine.
Oh dear…when will I learn? I think it has something to do with my own personal and safe version of ‘living dangerously’ – If I can get through writing a post on-line without losing it – ‘then I have managed to beat the system and it’s a win!
But thanks Ros for the post and the good advice…now, maybe this time I will heed it.
Celebrate Life and Win Some
Lorrette