Is it
still January?
I'm not sure why, but I already feel like January is over...or should be. Maybe it's the side effect of being in an author. We talk in terms of our next book release, so I've been living in March (Hard to Handle's paperback release) and June (simultaneous e/paperback release of The Millionaire Affair).
While I didn't make any new year's resolutions for 2014
per se, I did pick a few themes for the year. One of them is to simplify. After living in a house for the last decade, the hubs and I have amassed A LOT of stuff. Too much stuff. In an effort to pare down, Mr. Lemmony and I spent Saturday afternoon cleaning out an ENTIRE CLOSET filled with items that had value, but no longer were needed. Rather than spend the next six months photographing, cataloging, and shipping said items after selling them on eBay, we decided to load the car donate all the beautiful things from my previous PartyLite business to Goodwill in exchange for a hefty tax write off.
Oh, yeah, giving those things up? It nearly killed me.
About four years ago, I ended my last year as a PartyLite sales consultant. Not only did I sell various candle holders and home decor, I
romanced it. I wasn't simply selling a decorative hurricane to hold a pillar candle, no, no. I was offering the chance to own a globe with hundreds of hand-cut, hand-painted iridescent glass squares that, when they caught the sunlight just right, exploded light across your living room ceiling like a disco ball.
 |
| This is about a fifth of how much stuff I had. |
And now that I'm thinking about it, I just had a pang of loss for that hurricane now in a pile of discarded things at Goodwill.
Why is that?
Most of my beautiful, precious candle holders had been in that closet, stored,
not collecting dust or being enjoyed since I left my business behind in 2010 to pursue writing. Many, many,
many boxes took up up space in my house and in my brain, never getting any use. Yet parting with them was one of the most difficult things I've ever done.
It got me thinking yesterday about perceived value. Sure, that gorgeous hurricane was "worth" $80 retail at to someone at some point. And for me, that piece represented hours upon hours of hard work in a business I'd managed to turn into a full-time career for nearly six years.
But my keeping it (and the 50 other boxes we loaded into the car yesterday) meant I had to clear out space for it. Pack and unpack it. Rearrange it when I needed something.
What is the cost of keeping something you don't need?
I'm not sure I have the answer to that yet. And it's a great theme to explore in my books. Letting go. Clearing out the past. That's what I'll be taking from this experience. That and the courage to continue in another room. Because, I'm not done! I'm on a rampage this year to get rid of "stuff" that doesn't serve me any longer.
I want my life filled with what matters instead of things that are no longer a part of who I am.
Does that mean I can buy more books?
What about you? Do you have a hard time getting rid of things you no longer need?
Jessica Lemmon writes
sassy, sexy contemporary romance with a squeeze of humor. She blogs on this
site on rotation with the other Ever After Foxes. You can find out more at www.jessicalemmon.com,
LIKE her at www.facebook.com/authorjessicalemmon,
and tweet her in 140-character bursts on Twitter: @lemmony
And then every once in a while I get to dress up and be Rachel Lacey, romance author, for a little while. In fact, this weekend I was in Charlotte, North Carolina, for a workshop and got to spend time with my good friend and critique partner, Anna Rains. In July, we'll be attending the Romance Writers of America Annual Conference, where we'll attend classes, go to parties, book signings, and award ceremonies. Not too far in the future, I'll even have book signings of my own!
