Decluttering Project

The decluttering lady has come and gone (and her bill showed up on the credit card statement I got yesterday). The Salvation Army truck has come and gone, taking a good bit of my excess stuff. And I spent a good part of this weekend finding the proper little niches for all the stuff that hadn't found homes yet. As usual, it took 80% of the time to find places for that last 20% of the stuff. But I feel like I can breathe now. Here are some before-and-after photos.

And wouldn't you know. Just as I was finishing the project (the living room/writers studio part), my good friend, The Other Nancy M, invited me to lunch today to remind me that I had agreed to co-author a book with her. The project will find the writer, as Rachel Carson said. So -- in a couple of weeks, we will start regular biweekly meetings. The goal is to be finished by next Spring.

And of course, I have a zillion ideas for op-eds, and all I need to do is pick one and write the darned thing. And send it to the mentor program at the Op-Ed project to have it vetted and help me shop it around for publication.

But now, I have a space that is conducive to doing that sort of thing, so I have no more excuses. And I got word today that the Washington Ethical Society is starting a concerted effort to form and support a community of creative people, which is something I have been talking about in the abstract for a few years now. So it looks like the Universe is taking me seriously and removing my reasons to remain stuck, one by one. And that's a good thing.