I’m talking about thousands of memos and reports and notes – often just to myself. They were filed away in all manner of proprietary systems. Then realize that the vast majority of my writings were never published. Frankly, I am often reduced to Googling myself to find that one passage that I want to review and maybe update/repurpose in something new that I’m working on.
But it’s at best a pointer system, as in, look over here for that article you’re trying to remember! I can’t easily compile, for example, the hundreds or even thousands of times I’ve written something about China, the internet, the Defense Department, or really anything. It’s where I’ve recorded just about everything I’ve ever written, and it’s crudely searchable.
#LONG WAR 2 HAVEN ADVISOR PROFESSIONAL#
In many ways, my online blog has served as my primary professional memory. Yes, I’m plenty grateful the cloud came along in my middle years, but even that is frankly nothing more than another file cabinet that’s largely unsearchable – at least in the ways I’d like to be able to manipulate it.
I tried my darnedest to keep electronic copies of them all, but just try maintaining that kluged database over a dozen or so computers I’ve had over the years, the conflicting operating systems, the various websites, the hard drives that failed, and the file versions or programs that are no longer supported or even exist. All of them were originally created in digital form, but many found publication solely in print while others now live behind firewalls. I’m a professional writer with over 500 publications spread over four decades, and yet, in this digital age, I can’t get my hands on electronic copies of probably 90 percent of them.
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