Found in a File Cabinet and Other Things

I was cleaning one of the three file cabinets holding my older written material and came across a small 2.5 x 5 inch scrap of paper with one quote written on it from an old unfinished story: "Her heart seldom spoke to her, but when it did, it asked for the impossible."

I cringe at throwing away unfinished stories because often hidden in the text are little jewels like that. I used to go through everything I wrote before I tossed it to write down bits and pieces that caught my heart, that I didn't want to lose.

Today, I mostly cleaned out printout copies of stories that have already been published. I have these stories on flash drives now, and in print copies of the books, so I can finally let go of these copies...even if it's like throwing away bits and pieces of myself. I have to keep telling myself that it's all right to let these copies go. I don't need them anymore. (Oh, the joys of being OCD.)

My brother stopped by during his tag sale travels today to pick up his and my sister's copies of the two new Talon novels. He liked the purple cover on book 4 in the series, purple being his favorite color. I didn't point out that the picture is of a casket-it's blurred, but appropriate since the main character is studying to be a mortician. Now, he and Lynnmarie will have 3-day weekend reading material.

I also removed eighteen books from my laptop files, transferring them to two different flash drives. One is locked in the safe, the other one I leave kicking around for easy access. John told me I needed to free up hard drive space so I figured today would be a good day to do that. I also deleted some images Kelly had sent me of book covers, so now I'm good to keep going for awhile again.

My last thought for today is about this epic mega-novel I wrote for my friend Darlene years ago, back when Kelly was in middle school or a freshman in high school. I never let Kelly read it because it was more grown up in theme, but she's since confessed that she read the whole 400,000+ word epic over time and liked the book, but doesn't know how I will ever edit it down to a manageable number of words. I don't know either, but these characters occasionally clear their throats and try to get my attention, so I know one day I will have to tackle this massive chore. I never gave it to Darlene...guess I owe her as it was written and meant to be a birthday present for her!! It just kept growing and growing as the three so very different male characters developed and fought over the one girl they all fell in love with for reasons of their own. The first love parallelogram ever written? I don't know. It certainly had more angles than a triangle, that's for sure!!