Last weekend I took a trip to the local zoo, but not to visit the
animals. I went to take advantage of one of my county’s periodic paper-shredding
events.
After snaking around the parking lot in a long line, I handed over multiple years’ worth of tax returns, financial statements, and other documents containing personal information. The mobile shredders did their thing, and I drove home lighter both in paper and in mind.
I feel confident that in today’s world of paperless statements, online
bill paying, and account histories available with a single click of a mouse,
the odds of my accumulating more such paper clutter are very slim. Digital
clutter, though, is another story.
I have many files from my short story writing. Many, many files.
There are published stories in multiple versions, including numerous
drafts and the final form I submitted for possible publication. Then there’s
the revision incorporating the editor’s feedback that became the published
version. Sometimes there’s yet another copy with identifying data redacted for
contest submissions.
Of course, I also have completed stories that have not (yet) been
published. Some are things I haven’t sent out for consideration. Others are
stories that were rejected from one publication and that I plan to resubmit elsewhere.
In those cases, there might be the original iteration of the story and then a version
that I think is improved, or that I have tweaked to fit a different anthology
call.
There are plenty of unfinished works as well. Stories that started strong but then don’t quite work. Things I realized I wouldn’t finish to meet a deadline and left incomplete. Some files consist of only a single sentence, a story idea that may one day come to fruition. Others contain notes for works that are a little further along in their development.
I also do a decent job at shredding old physical papers. And for financial records, I annually delete expired digital files.
ReplyDeleteFor writing, I have been and continue to be a hoarder. At the price of a 3Tb external hard drive, i can keep it all -- and do. Prior drafts, abandoned works, Scrivener folders long after I brought the manuscript to word. I've got them all.
Will that change? Unlikely, if I'm honest. My kids will use the electronic form of the shredder after I'm gone and it will take a lot less time than I took shredding my parents accumulated financial records.
Our annual village shredding day is the Saturday after tax day. I'm excited already--so much paper! I do keep different versions of short stories, with an abbreviation added to the title (KRL, MD). And I keep the editor's notes. I don't know why, but I do.
ReplyDeleteI try to eliminate earlier versions of a work since I sometimes can't remember which one is the one I'm working on (I started adding "use this one, dummy" to the most recent one) but I do have some "finished" works that either have never been accepted (or in some cases, submitted) and some that belong exactly where they are, discarded in an almost-dead file, either electronic or paper.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to business files, I'm very organized. Periodically (like when I move), I call a shredder service to remove everything but the records of the past 7 years. This last move, I also shredded things I'd kept from or about the kids forever and a day (creating one box per child to go through of things they might actually want.....amazing 4 boxes vs. 20 boxes). For my writing files, that's another thing. They are on my current computer, in the cloud, in a drawer, who knows where. I'd like to say I know where each is, but I'd be lying.
ReplyDeleteI hear you! I managed an effective Kondo of my paper files at each move so that's in fairly good shape, but electronic files - AWK - that's my story, I'm sticking to it!
ReplyDelete