Fire season is the time to check your emergency supplies. As well as having a plan for your family (medicine, food and water, and power cords just in case you find some place with electricity), make sure you have an emergency plan for your writing. Do you have backups of your work-in-progress? Are your notes and research materials consolidated in one place, ready to slip in the go-bag? Does your editor/agent/critique group have contact information and backup contact information? Have you stored extra copies of your books and clippings in a secure location?
There are as many ways to back up your writing and make it transportable as there are writers. My work is backed up on the family’s external hard drive, which will be the first thing in the car if we have to leave. My co-author has a copy of our latest work-in-progress, as well as pdfs of our published novels. I haven’t put my writings directory on a flash drive, but I have the device picked out (a little Tom Servo flash drive which I got as a thank-you for supporting Mystery Science Theater 3000). My notes are in a mess, and I’m worried about that. Perhaps this will be the year I finally consolidate everything.
Regardless of the steps you take, do make the time to add that extra layer of protection for your creative life – you’ll thank me later.