The Book Drop

Since mid-November, my writing room has been stuffed with presents, wrapping paper, luggage, and furniture (temporarily stored here to accommodate a tree in the living room). But all of that stuff is finally gone!

So why does it still look so messy in here?

As many people have told me, "It's the books!"

On my desk, I've got my inspirational writing books, like Stephen King's On Writing and Ray Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing, as well as the foreign editions of Thirteen Reasons Why. On a stand to the right of my desk are my Harry Potters. On a shelf beside the stand are a whole bunch of advance reader copies for upcoming teen novels (a few of which are going to be huge hits).

On the floor to the left are our yearbooks. Beside the yearbooks is a bookcase with five shelves packed tight with autographed children's books. It's hard to pull out one book without a few more falling to the floor. The top shelf has pop-up and picture books. The next two shelves are hardcover novels, followed by two shelves of paperbacks.

The bookcase on the opposite wall has eight shelves. Four shelves contain unsigned children's books, and the rest hold various adult fiction and non-fiction titles.

And then there's the closet. Inside, two shelves hold books two layers deep.

And then there are the scattered piles in front of the bookcases, near the desk, and beside the guest bed. Those piles are made up of books I've read parts of and plan to get back to, just bought and haven't had time to crack open, or need to return to the library. I'm pretty sure it's the piles on the floor that are causing the problem, but I simply have nowhere to put them!

So...

I've decided it's time to do something drastic. It's time to get rid of some of them. I'll donate some to the library, some to the homeless shelter, and take some to a used book store. Getting rid of books is something I've never done before.

What if I suddenly find time to read The Historian?

What if I want to read All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten again?

What if someone comes over who's never read Growing Up Brady?

But it's time. Yes, it's time. It's time! (Sorry, sometimes I have to say it over and over because I start to rationalize why I need to keep every single one.)

It'll probably take me the rest of the month to slowly weed through the books. I'm guessing thirty minutes a day is all I'll be able to handle emotionally. How do you tell a book that it's wisdom will never be needed again...ever!

So wish me luck.

Oh! I almost forgot to tell you about the six boxes of books my mom and dad were storing in their attic. Yep, I'm going through those, too.