It's getting to be crunch time with the work-in-progress, which means work first, blog and twitter later. Otherwise, it's easy to get side-tracked.Speaking of which, anybody else catch that new show about hoarders? I know I'm not alone in the zeal to clean/toss out stuff after watching, as the boards at Television Without Pity prove (under Candid Reality). There's both a hoarder and a person who works with hoarders posting there, making for some really interesting discussion and insights.
Last week, I got a call from a charity looking for old clothes, etc., and after watching the show and reading the posts at TWoP, I decided to get rid of some old drapes.
In the case of the drapes, that wasn't as easy as it sounds. Although I have new ones, the old ones weren't cheap, and they weren't in bad shape. However, I realized neither of my kids would want them, and the living room ones were too large for most places anyway. Out they went, although not without a sigh.
I feel that sense of reluctance when I'm writing, too, and I've decided I have to cut a scene or a part of scene or bit of dialogue I like because it just doesn't belong. In fact, I set up a "dump" file and move those bits of text in there, in case I might need them later. Sometimes I do go and retrieve bits, but most of the time, what's in the dump stays dumped. And I never delete those files.
I think I'm a text hoarder.
Like a classic hoarder, I'm afraid that if I get rid of something completely, I'll discover I really needed it and shouldn't have tossed it. Even when the book is long gone and no changes can be made, I still have those files taking up space on my computer. And then there are the many, many diskettes of the many incarnations of various books and drafts and ideas.
Yep, I'm a text hoarder. Any others out there?
2 comments:
Hi Margaret. I'm a blog hoarder. I can't get enough of Romance writers blogs. On a seious note I do come across "hoarders" in the day job as I'm often asked for a professional opinion as to whether aproperty is "filthy and verminous" often resulting in Social Service intervention (elderly people)or the Council doing a clean up themselves if the person can't cope. We refer to it in the "trade" as Diogenes Syndrome (check out Wikipedia!) Anyway enough of the serious stuff. Good luck with the latest wip! Take care. Caroline x
I checked it out and wow! It's obviously more of a prevalent problem than I thought! And I must say, your job must be so tough sometimes! Thank you for doing it!
Working away on the w-i-p after realizing the last couple of chapters needs a LOT of work!
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