Decluttering question:

[Mist]

I’m busy trying to declutter my house and streamline my life a bit. Some things are just hard to get rid of. My father died in 2003, and I’ve got some of his papers. When Dad retired, he wrote a sci-fi novel. He wrote it mostly to entertain himself, and never thought of trying to get it published. It’s not terrible, but it’s not great either. I feel guilty getting rid of it, but see no reason to keep it. Anyone have any advice for how to respectfully get rid of something like this, and feel okay about it? Anything I keep will someday be someone else’s problem to deal with, so in a way it feels more respectful to dispose of things like Dad’s novel myself, rather than a friend or executor dealing with it in an impersonal way.

[cbayer]

1. I would scan it and put it on a small, removable memory device, then you can dispose of the paper.

:hi:

[lizziegrace]

2. I like that idea

:)

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Send it to us. We have a 10 x 20 storage locker full of stuff like that from our parents

Sparkly and I have this one basic incompatibility: A complete inability to throw out sentimental but otherwise worthless CRAP. Your Dad's manuscript would be right at home in our storage locker.

I'm joking about sending the manuscript here, but am completely the wrong person to give advice in that department.

Would you like a box of used 1970s dress patterns?

Maybe two quilt racks my Dad made to display some of the quilts my Mom made? How about Sparkly's Dad's leather suitcase with stickers from his concert tour of Europe in the 1950s; it only has a few missing trim strips.

[Jamastiene]

5. I'm glad I'm not the only sentimental one around these parts.

My step dad is constantly picking on me for having so much "stuff" as he calls it. He calls me a pack rat. I have stuff when I need it though. I just don't have room to neaten all this "stuff" up like I want. :/

[Mist]

4. Scanning is a good idea, but I'd have to fool around with it more than

I'd like to get it in disc form. Actually, sounds like I'm about ready to let it go...

[Jamastiene]

6. I wish I had my bookcase/wardrobe/storage cabinets already built.

I would say send it to me. I love reading and would treasure something like that. I'm a pack rat though. So, I'm not the one to ask when it comes to "decluttering." That word never seemed to make it into any of my vocabulary lessons as a child...or adult.

[Warpy]

7. Tell me about it.

When my dad died and I cleaned that house up, I ended up with three large cartons of photographs and memorabilia. I've gotten it down to one carton over the last 4 years, weeding out stuff that meant something to them versus the things that meant something to me.

If it sits unopened for more than 5 years, I'll force myself to open it up again and get it down to a shoe box.

I can live with a shoe box.

If you have siblings or cousins, find out if any of them would like it. If not, you're not being disloyal to toss it. You read it, you enjoyed it, and I think that's more than he ever expected since he'd written it for his own enjoyment.

I'm decluttering, too. What I have the most problem getting rid of is craft stuff I have no earthly use for now. I keep fantasizing about a front end loader and a dumpster.

[Mist]

8. What a great way of thinking about others' stuff: things that meant something to them,

versus things that mean something to me. A great guideline.

[mntleo2]

9. In the beginning, Robert Heinlien was not that good either but ...

He was quite a character and got better as he got older. I met him once, what a funny man.

But I digress. Here is what I would do: Put his novel on CD and then copy them and pass them around to your relatives and old friends. I am saying this because WAY before computers, my aunt did the same thing with our great-grandfather's memoirs. They are not the fanciest written accounts in the world but to this day a lost one in a "move" or fire, etc., is requested over and over, even by my grandchildren, who use it in class and for reports, etc! He was the next generation of settler from his parents who staked out land in the Midwest, he was in the Oklahoma Land Rush, he describes the terror of a flash flood and how he and his brother had to go for supplies that took two days on horseback.

The point is perhaps the story is a little "dated" but it will not matter to the younger members and perhaps to those who knew him and loved him. This comes from a relative who tells something that is in a way "straight from his voice to your ears". It is almost better than a recording because his voice will come out loud and clear as to who he was. This is important for family especially to hear, because in many ways, they will hear themselves.

It will be passed around and used to show the next generations what "Uncle Art" wrote and they can be printed out, put in book form and some family artist could even illustrate them, etc. Who knows? Maybe someday one of the relatives will be inspired to become the next Robert Heinlien or Arthur C. Clark. Neither of them were the greatest novelists when they began ~ and I take that from Heinlien's own mouth who told me he was terrible in the beginning. Yet this man went on to weave stories so amazing that did you know, every single story is connected to all his other books and short stories?

This might be a way to preserve them AND inspire the next generation. Keep the original in a safe place. It is precious!

Hope this helps

Love
Cat in Seattle

[ccinamon]

10. I would keep it....

someone in the family might want it in the future....scanning would still be a good idea, but keeping the hard copy - that is like a special treausre!

[tavalon]

11. Did he have fellow coposectic writers?

Perhaps they could edit.

[supernova]

12. I like the scanning and passing around

to family idea. That way, you're not the only one who is responsible for his "masterpiece." ;-)

As for the ms itself, is there someone in the family who is a wordsmith or budding writer? They might get a kick out of a real family keepsake like this.

[Mist]

13. Actually, I read it and let it go. nt