Cleaning Up! by DL Larson

Before I packed away my holiday decorations, I decided to purge each container and storage shelf of unused and unwanted items. I thought it would take only an afternoon. Oh my good golly, I under-estimated what a pack-rat I have become. I could say the same thing of my writing area.

I grew into the habit of saving bits of paper with ideas, images, and great phrases I heard someone use somewhere, hoping I might use it someday in one of my stories. Having saved said bits of paper and files for several years, I can easily count how many times I've referred to it. Zero! Zip. Nada. Not once. That's not to say I haven't looked the scraps over, and agree they are a great list of descriptive wording, but I still have no place for them in my storylife. Yet I continue to hang on to them.

I've done the same with conference materials I've accumulated over the years. I think I will use them and sometimes I do, but then the news becomes dated and of no immediate use, yet I rarely throw items from a conference away.

Magazines are another problem for me. As a librarian I know nothing lasts forever. Outdated material needs to be discarded. So I vow to purge my writers magazines. I will recyle! Yet I rarely do. Nor do I ever refer back to them. I simply think someday I will. What a silly circle I've created, justifying why I don't throw things away.

Discarding copies of correspondence I have improved upon, a bit. Only because I can save any correspondence in my pc. And cleaning those files is something I may never be ready to do, yet I know I need to purge out-dated material from there as well.

Oh, how does one get out from under all the debris? I need an organizer, a bulldozer at least! Someone who is ruthless and cares not for what I've accumulated over the decades. I need a strong-willed person, someone who will stand up to my whining, not buckle under my evil eye. I will have order at last!

I've written and cut unnecessary wording in my manuscripts, I've been harsh with pretense and have an evil eye for sloppiness on the pages. I'm ruthless with words, I'm not afraid to throw away useless tidbits in my manuscripts. I'm a cleaner upper to the first degree! Who I really need to hire is - ME!

But can I be trusted to do a good job? Will I be ruthless and unbending when it comes to pitching things out? Will I actually become organized?

I think I've been down this road before!

Til next time ~

DL Larson

PS: I hope you have better luck getting oranized for 2011.