I need to be organized. I can’t work in clutter. I can’t stand it when I can’t find things. I’m a great filer and organizer (I think The Container Store is a little slice of heaven), but I’ve had too many related things filed in too many different places.
Tim is always (always being an exaggeration of occasionally) nagging me to purge stuff. (Geminis…)
Tonight, I did. It was HARD, people. Very hard. I even made Tom go into the attic and bring down some boxes. What was this stuff I parted with? Drafts of manuscripts. Marked-up manuscripts. Manuscripts that bore the comments of my writing partners, editors, and readers long before they were published.
Each manuscript had its own little history. It was fun to go back to the first novel and remember all its versions, including chapters that will never see the light of day (those chapters not having been quite as entertaining to our editor).
Still, I was brutal. A lot of paper got recycled tonight. But I did have the pleasure of remembering the history of TJB from the beginning. It was a little sad, though, to find all the notes and resources we collected when Tim and I were researching THREE FORTUNES. Especially seeing those places that are gone.
I’ll just keep telling myself that I don’t need all that paper to remember our history. That those places will always exist in my thoughts and my heart. That their spirit infuses THREE FORTUNES.
And if that doesn’t make me feel better, I’ll be just as brutal the next time I massage the memories out of Tim’s muscles.
You’re a stronger woman than I am. I have a hard time getting rid of stuff that has memories, and only can in certain moods. (I tell my friends that I can’t get anything done in clutter, that’s why I can never get anything done at home-because of the clutter. How’s that for an excuse not to clean?)
If you ever want an uncluttered, clean house, write a novel. Every time you sit down to write, five minutes later you’ll be mopping the kitchen floor, cleaning out that closet where everything gets thrown, going over the tile in your bathroom with an old toothbrush, or organizing your homework assignments from six years of elementary school.
And if you get a contract on that novel and face a deadline, you’ll clean and organize someone else’s house, as well.
“..you’ll clean and organize someone else’s house, as well.”
Can I give you my address?
I can’t stand clutter, so I resort to throwing everything in my giant storage closet. Of course, I can only shut the door and ignore it for so long. I find excuses for not cleaning it out…it’s too hot, it’s too cold, it’s too dusty.
A couple of weeks ago we found a bin of old concert t-shirts from the early to mid 80’s. Led Zepplin, Foreigner, Black Sabbath, and Iron Maiden to name a few. Now to keep them away from the kids who think those shirts are way too cool not to wear to school.
I guess those shirts are retro now. Man, I feel old.
wow…how wonderfully mentally healthy of you! Good Job!
Thanks! Though I might be more inspired to do things like that if I thought I’d find anything cool like a bin of retro T-shirts.