Late fall and early winter have finally melded here in NorCal. We’ve had two very wet weeks but somewhat warm (low 60s) that has now given way to early winter weather (sunny and crispy, mid to low 50s) with some bone-chilling overnight temps (low 30s… brrrr). I’ve been battling what was likely a mild case of food poisoning (it didn’t feel mild when I was in the midst of heaving everything out of my body with gale force) so I’ve been neglectful of any and all writing. You just can’t concentrate when you feel like you’re on a roller coaster for four days straight. Now that my stomach (and bowels, sorry) are finally clear, I sit at my laptop racking my brain for a topic for this blog post.

Protect Yourself and Your Work

What comes to mind, as happens this time of year, is what to do come 2020 to protect our work and ourselves in this global digital world. I wrote a blog post on the Digital Legacy of writers and the importance of preparing your legacy (a part 2 post). What I’m thinking is, it’s even more important to be safe and secure in the digital world, which seems to be getting more difficult all the time as hackers and other ne’er-do-wells invade our privacy, our accounts, our lives. 

“You need to be concerned with writer scams popping up all over the web offering unauthorized copies of authors’ books or scamming writers out of money. Writer Beware is one of many sites that track predatory sites and unscrupulous people trying to steal our IP.” A Writer’s Legacy, Part 2

In my calendar for December 26^th, I have a reminder to update my logins and passwords. I try to do this at the end of each year or by the end of January of the new year. Better to be safe than sorry, eh? Yeah, it’s a time-consuming pain, I won’t lie… but I do feel better once it’s complete. I feel like maybe I outsmarted the smart guys – at least for another year.

Kiss Gmail and Chrome Goodbye?

You also might want to consider new email accounts despite the obvious challenge to transferring all your saved emails. Google has a hold on me, granted, but I hope to wean myself of their grip little by little (and maybe for good, we’ll see). And I recently began using DuckDuckGo to reduce my online search transparency. They don’t keep a log of sites you visit because they figure it’s your business, not theirs.

Clean out unused apps, apps that track you wherever you are, apps that don’t serve the greater good in your life. Do you really NEED that word game app? Or that app that turns your face into something other than your face? Think about it; our connectivity, while convenient along with the ability to create a whole lot of goodness in the world, also enslaves us at a level unseen by previous generations. Be careful, is all I’m asking.

Storage Safety

Do you keep copies of your manuscripts/poems/works only on your computer? Not the safest option. Keep hard copies or a thumb drive stashed where only you can find them. Do you use cloud accounts? While I’m not 100% convinced they’re completely secure (seems nothing is, these days), it’s a good way to access your work from anywhere. Use strong passwords to better ensure their safety.

The Upsell – Never Fully Secure?

As I write this post, my AVG software pops up to tell me I’m being tracked, that companies are getting my personal information. Talk about timing. But just how much money do we need to spend to be safe? I’ve got a secure program but it’s always popping up to tell me I need more and more to keep my information safe. Beginning to sound like a snake oil salesman, if you ask me. When is enough actually enough for these data protection services?

My advice?

Keep it simple and safe in 2020.