Well, the book is submitted to the publisher, and it’s time to think about other things. I’m going to be moving sometime next summer (whether in town or out of town, it will be somewhere), so I need to think about all this crap I have.
When I teach writing, I advise my students to cut ten words per page. Tighter writing is stronger and I do this exercise myself. It can be painful, especially to more inexperienced writers, but it’s necessary.
Starting now, I am getting rid of ten things per week. They may be small, they may be big. Some things will be tricky–does one piece of paper out of a file count–should it be part of a long stapled document–does it have to be the whole file?
Food doesn’t count, nor do things I have that belong to other people (unless perhaps I’ve had them so long that the original owner never thought they’d get them back).
If I bring in new things (as I did yesterday–mostly socks and underwear), I have to cancel that out by getting rid of an equal number of things that week.
By the end of the quarter, I will be at least 100 things lighter, though it probably won’t show, as those things will likely simply appear from the backs of closets.
For the first week, ending yesterday, I got rid of books (actually, I haven’t actually had them leave yet, I’m not sure how I want to do that).
Cutting books is an extreme way to cut words out of my life, but I have to think about boxes and lifting and simplicity.
Anyone want to take the challenge with me?
Start with the stuffed animals (if you have any). When we moved from VA I had the girls go through and remove every other stuffed animal. At the end, I had three hefty leaf bags full of stuffed animals that I donated to Goodwill.
Congrats again on submitting the book! I am so proud of you. I have been working references to my friend the Simpsonsologist with new colleagues here every chance I get. I love the idea of the ten-thing challenge and a simplified life. I got rid of a lot of crap before moving across the country but it was so last minute that it wasn’t at all systematic, and then when I unpacked on the other end I still had stuff that made me say, “Why do I have this?”