Spring cleaning is a nice way to say that you need to get rid of crap once a year. When I was living in New York, it seemed spring cleaning was more out of necessity. During the winter months, there is a need for bulky clothes and boots, quilts and electric blankets and other winter provisions. As soon as there is a touch of warmth in the air, it’s time to throw out and pack away these items so you can prepare for the spring and summer months.
When I lived in New York, I had a small studio apartment and because of its size, I had a lot of clutter in many corners. At least I told myself that was the reason for the mass collection of stuff. But the truth is I may be a bit of a hoarder. Not as bad as some of the people on the show, Hoarder, but there have been times when it’s gotten out of hand.
Since moving to California, I’ve moved 8 or 9 times and with each move my car has become a place of storage for some of my smaller items. I try to have enough space in my trunk where I can place my groceries but because I am constantly writing and rewriting and editing and redrafting (I knows it’s not eco-friendly but I need to see my writing on paper in order to do any type of edits) my trunk gets even more cluttered. It reminds me of the old fridge my parents had. You know the ones I mean? They didn’t have the no-frost technology yet and the longer you waited to defrost, the more the ice would accumulate. Eventually, you had to do a manual defrost because you couldn’t fit anything else in the freezer.
When I left my job, I decided to do some spring cleaning in my car. While flipping through some of my old writings, I had mixed emotions. Several of my writings were good and I couldn’t believe it came from me. Truly God had been with me. But then there were others that stunk. I couldn’t help to wonder what I was thinking at the time. I also wondered why I was so obsessed with verbs and adjectives.
Hoarding may not be healthy but I do think that holding onto some of your old writings, at least for awhile, can be educational. You can see where you’ve grown and not make the same mistakes. Old writings can also inspire you to come up with a new twist. But I think the jewel to going through your old writing is coming across old rejection letters.
As writers we are told to never throw away these letters. At first, I never understood why. I mean, they are reminders from publishers and agents whom we respected enough to send them our writings, that we are not good enough.
But then I’ve read stories of writers like John Grisham and Kathryn Stockett who were rejected. And writers we not only grew up reading but who we studied in classes like English lit. Writers like, Plath, Kipling, Dickinson and Hemingway.
So although I’ve promised myself to no longer be a hoarder, there will be some items I will keep like those rejects. At least until I get that ‘YES’ letter in the mail.
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