It's up there with one of the most stressful things you can do...and it never gets easier, no matter how many times you do it.

I don't know what's worse, the actual moving, or the packing up of everything.

But it becomes one of life's facts-----one day you will have to move.

You will have to look at ALL of your belongings and ask 'do I need all this?'

The answer of course is no...but....yes we have that 'but I may use it one day'...or 'surely it will come back in fashion'....or 'one of the kids will use that racket/scuba gear/ trampoline/ golf set some day'.

Chances are, no they won't. But the human race are known hoarders. We keep everything. 

Sometimes it's for sentimental reasons, sometimes it's because we fear we may never find that exact thing again (as if we really need a violet foot stool with lion feet---and no I don't). Sometimes we collect things to fill an emptiness inside, or because we had so little as a child that now as an adult we want to prove to the world that we can have it all. And that we do.

All the 'de-cluttering' books tell you to put things away in a box, and if you don't open the box in a year's time, throw it out. You obviously don't need it.

Mind you I always think about Christmas decorations....only used once a year. Or my fairy wings, haven't worn those for a while but I NEED THEM.

So many things we keep that we don't need. Yes, all of us. (except for those few that live a very clean and uncluttered life and have their ten books, all ten of them, arranged alphabetically)

 It's the same with all that we write. We keep things that should be thrown out, that are purely garbage. Wasted space. We know we will never actually use them again but....but....

What exactly are we afraid of? That really bad story we wrote and keep....why? To remind us we can write crap? We are all capable of that.

Are we afraid we will never put those exact same words together, no matter how bad they are?

Or perhaps the idea behind the story is good....just the 3400 words we've chosen are not the right ones.

So why keep them?

I'm very good at deleting words on the page...poems, stories, chapters. And a few weeks ago when my computer had a hissy fit and 'died', some work was lost. (I do not email myself versions of short stories just in case----and even after this episode, don't think I will ever fall into that habit.)

I lost two poems, majority of a short story (only the opening lines remained), assorted photos and the speech I've been working on for an upcoming wedding. Bugger....

The short story I've put aside (for now)- the poems I've ignored (if they were good ideas they will return in some form or other) - and I've rewritten the speech (mostly at night when I can't sleep).

Is it the same speech....basically it is, but now that I've had time to think about it, more refined...more exactly what I want to say.

Moving is an arduous, time killing, stress causing event---yet it has to be faced. It's up to us to sort through, decide what to keep, what we want to take with us, what can easily be tossed out.

Then the joy is when we arrive at the new place, finding the right spot for what we really need.

Perhaps it's something to think about with our writing. What's worth we really need that or can it be tossed aside.

I'm still struggling with the de-cluttering that I began years ago, and is still on my TO DO list. We've had a hard rubbish recently so some items have made it out onto the verge.

As for my writing, maybe it's time to kill some more darlings, and find the right spot for what I really want to write.



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