Time To Clean House

At the end of every year I spend time cleaning out my house. I call it “the purge”. I go through closets, and cupboards, and nooks and crannies to get rid of things that I really don’t need anymore. And when I’m done, I have such a sense of accomplishment as it prepares me for the new year.

This can also be a part of my writing too. I can clean up the cobwebs in my literary attic and prepare for the new year of writing to come.

But this philosophy can extend to far more than extra closet space or more words on the page. I also need to look inside myself and purge the out-dated, preconceived ideas of the world and the people who live in it. To learn about the world through others people’s experiences, not just my own. The side benefit is it can make me a better writer, but more importantly, it can make me a better person and that is what I’m striving for.