Clean Sweep

     Along with resolutions to be healthier, many start the new year with plans of becoming more organized. For me that means revamping and reevaluating the systems that I already have in place. My first step is to go through the papers I have been saving and trying to pare down to what I really need to keep. That includes the notes and sketches for story ideas. Organizing the many story files of ideas and drafts is no small task, not to mention the everyday paper that I collect.
     I have a lot of places I store things, boxes for this, holders for that, but still there was a pile of papers on my desk that never disappeared.
     My first step was to clear the piles and go through the boxes and holders. Then I looked at what I was holding on to and there was a lot of things that I didn't need; magazines, notebooks with only a page or two used, etc. There was a lot of paperwork that I had only glanced at, stuff that after a closer look was just junk. I shredded anything with personal information, kept a few documents and threw out everything else. Now I have a stack of now empty notebooks, those few pages were filed away with their corresponding stories.
     There was also some things that I needed to keep, but that didn't necessarily need to be where they were. Filing the papers away made it obvious that my next more is to go through the keep files, even those for previous years. The top of my closet is full of "To Keep" items. I wonder what treasures I'll find there, or how many bags of trash I will take out.
    With the bags of paper, there were bags of clothes. My family is big on donating what we no longer need. I went through my closet and removed everything that hadn't been worn for a while. It was easy to tell what I hadn't worn because earlier this year I made the switch from plastic to HGTV space saving, velvet covered hangers. As I wore items I put them on the new hangers, and everything left on the old hangers was up for the donate pile. Of course I left things, hoping to fit into them in the near future, and I am packing away those items I won't need as the weather turns warmer.
     Next is the rest of the house, culminating in the garage. A massive project that will take days to complete. I have to say that I am super excited already.
   
     I love the feeling after the deep cleaning, organizing, and donating are done. When the project is doing what you intended, there is a sense of space, freedom and possibilities. There is room to think.

What dose any of this have to do with writing? Other than organizing my files, nothing obvious, except that a clean and organized life means less stress over things, and more time to write.