photo credit: Barb Miller
Filing is something I usually put off until the teetering pile hits the floor. I did it before Christmas last year. So why am I feeling so virtuous? Or why is filing such a chore? Because it’s boring. If it’s just a receipt, sure I can stuff it in the monthly paid folder.
But if a piece of mail requires a decision or action it is an interruption to the fun of writing. My characters don’t have to worry about paying bills or filling out forms or setting up phones or activating cards. they don’t even have to worry about retaining passwords (three pages of them) for all the sites we have to get to. Why should I? Because I live in the real world where boring details of life cannot be skipped over they way they can in books. There you leave out all the boring stuff.
Still there is some satisfaction in accomplishing a duty that you don’t like on time or early, like taking the garbage to the road the night before so you don’t have to race the garbage truck in the morning. I don’t know why missing a garbage day makes me feel such a failure. They will be back next week. No big deal. Now if I could just find some virtue in filing.
Unfiling on the other hand, once you get started is very freeing. Getting rid of paper you will never need again is like burning bridges. Literally. Paper is heavy. I just incinerated about 70 pounds of stuff and that releases me from remembering it. And I could toast marshmallows over it.