Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Many many thanks Lauren.  I did get a copy of the book last night and
am looking forward to working with it.
  

    
Great discussion!
  

    
yes thank you so much -- I've bought your book and am getting a great deal
out of it, not all related to clutter.
  

    

Thanks Lauren. I've started working through my "junk" and there's
less of it now than before.
  

    
Lauren, I've been reading, not participating, but you've given me a
lot to think about.  I'm giving some stuff the cold eye, looking
forward to doing another purge.
  

    
Yes, Thank you!  Although really I want to take this conversation and put 
it in a little box and keep it FOREVER.

Is that wrong?  :O)
  

    
Really great book, and a great conversation.
  

    
I'm coming in at the tail end of this conversation, because life has
been too cluttered to read the book along with the discussion.  

Just wanted to mention how timely this is:  the New England Journal of
Medicine  May 22nd issue has a review article about Hoarding Disorder,
which is one of the new psychiatric diagnoses included in the DSM-5,
and the discussion here seems spot on to help those of us with hoarding
tendencies from sliding down that slippery slope to the disorder.  

It's definitely more about us than our stuff.  
  

    
Lauren, that reminds me -- one of my patients' son is a hoarder.  His
behavior just gets worse and worse, yelling and screaming in public and
so on.  He's in his 50's.  She supports him, he has a nice (well it
was nice) apartment and food and money on a credit card and a
psychiatrist and nothing seems to help.  I've read that hoarding is one
of the hardest of syndromes to treat.  Do you have any advice?
  

    
Dear Renshin,

I wish I could help give some insight into your son's friends'
disorder. Unfortunately, I am not a psychiatrist -- and as noted above
-- true hoarding is classified as a psychiatric illness, so it's an
obsessive compulsive disorder that is different than simply cluttering.
However, it may be helpful for your friend to read Breathing Room, in
that it might give her some insight into how our consuming emotions
cause us to hang on to objects and even trash -- which is true for both
hoarders and clutterers. Holding both your friend and her son in my
heart. 
  

    
I want to say "thank you" in return to everyone who has read and
participated in this discussion. It's been extremely lively and
engaging. You've asked some great questions and offered me wonderful
stories and insights and humor that have touched my heart and tickled
my funny bone. I feel very privileged to have been invited here. It's a
very special community.

Thank you to those of you who have purchased and read the book. And
also to those who are recommending it to friends. The more decluttered
we are in both home and heart, the world becomes that much more
compassionate, happy, and free. 

If you are interested in continuing on with this topic, you can join
me at http://facebook.com/getbreathingroom or you can go to my website
and sign up for the newsletter (where you'll receive a complimentary
e-book entitled "Ten Simple Soul Decluttering Tips") by going to:
http://lgrosenfeld.com/free-stuff/free-e-books/

Wishing everyone peace, strength, and joy on your decluttering
journey.

Warmly,

Lauren 
  

    
Thanks again, Lauren. 
  

    
I just tossed out the following: (after some sad deliberations)

about 1500 flea circus cards (I had 3000, which was a giant heavy box of 
itself)

about 1000 clown cards and envelopes (they had the wrong address on them-- 
beautifully printed artwork by <bratwood> but I kept another 400 or so 
which I can change the address on-- but realistically I wasn't going to 
use all those cards.

about 500 flea circus bumperstickers-- I printed them 15 years ago, and 
still haven't gone through my stock.  I kept half, they are still good, 
but if I need more I'll print them

I whittle down 5 boxes down to 2-- which seems fair.

I still have boxes and boxes of stuff to go through however.
  

    
Good work.
  

    
Good job!  
  

    
Last week-- I started going through the boxes of books in the garage-- 
they are in surprisingly good shape, considering they've been there for 8 
years.

I have 65 boxes of books-- I'd like to have around 12 when I am done.

There are many books it's easy to say no to, but many of them I remember 
buying, I searched for them, or they are part of a collection that I 
completed (all the Nero Wolfe's, all the Ian Flemin bond's, etc)

Keeping circus and theater arts books, 

I've been through 23 boxes so far, and I'm getting rid of 18.  Not a bad 
ratio, really.
  

    
I decide years ago to concentrate on a few areas of real and lasting
interest to me, some very broad (WW II) and some very narrow (water and
ecology in the American West). I also have boxes of books acquired
before I reached that decision. Good for you! I should grab a box or
two and start sifting.
  

    
We did this as well -- looking at half.com we discovered many of our
books were worth USD $1 at most.  Those went to recycling, and many
others went to donation.

At the same time we discovered that some of our "cheap paperback
trash" was worth serious $$$ as it had never been reprinted.
  

    
Yeah-- I just don't know what's valuable, and don't have the time or the 
bandwidth to sift through 50+ books a box to see if something is still 
around.

I'm not even keeping most of the plays (over 700 as I recall)  some are 
sure to be valuable, but I am not going to have the space for them.  I'm 
sad, but I'm going to move on. 

I've got tons of art books also, going to keep a few, but for the most 
part, I'll either find a buyer to buy all the books, or I'll donate them 
and claim large amounts on my tax returns.  Many of these books at a 
bookstore at half list price would still be $20-$25.  (I bought them at 
40% or more off)