Mormon Mommy Writers and Friends

Spring Cleaning is not just for your house—or spring time.

Recently I have had the opportunity to help my sister in law move from a 3 bedroom home to a 2

 bedroom apartment. All of her furniture didn’t fit into her new home—to be honest, I don’t know how it fit into her old home. Every time I walked into her home I wanted to turn around and run. Everything was big, bulky and in my face. Finally, I took a deep breath and told her it drove me crazy to come visit her. She was a good sport and agreed to let my husband and I rearrange her living/dining room. After hefting a piano, a couch, an entertainment center, dining room table, a display cabinet I could breathe again. The room was open and inviting.

She called me up the next day to thank me and asked if I would help go through some of her boxes. I agreed and the next weekend we turned 11 boxes into 5—no need to keep cotton pasted to a piece of paper her son did 15 years ago. I made her promise to call someone to pick up all the things she decided not to keep or throw away. I got another call a few days later after her extra piles were picked up, thanking me again.

This motivated me to go through my house and make sure it was open and inviting. I became the world’s meanest mom and made my kids clean out their rooms and get rid of things they didn’t use anymore. I rearranged rooms, and got rid of bulky furniture. As I sat in our game/library room—my new favorite room—I was soaking up all the positive energy in it and thought to myself, “I love this feeling. What else can I clean and declutter?” My WIP came to mind.

So, I sat down and cut 5 chapters. No need for an overstuffed chapter that tells not shows. I also got rid of an entire POV. Too many voices your head can make you feel unwelcomed and Closter phobic. Then I spent time cleaning it up—adding a bit of back-story here and throwing in an extra death, just to keep my readers interested. As I have been working on this I have felt a huge lift happen to me. My story is stronger, inviting and cleaner.

If you know me, you know organization is something I struggle with, but when I do it, I find peace and joy in it. Now I’m on a kick and I want to get rid of anything that clutters my life and drags me down. There are more things in my life than I realized that effect my happiness and I’m ready to take back my life.

-Tiffany