Let's see how many times I can use the word 'Everything'...

I love my desk. My grandfather made it for my mom... a long time ago. So it's old-ish and beautiful. Its big, too, and has a lot of drawers and space.

My Desk <3 After cleaning...

I put everything made of paper on my desk and Friday I cleaned it off. After a treasure hunt experience through several layers of parchment and pictures and well, weird stuff, I made an observation.

I keep everything. EVERYTHING. 

This observation is the bane of my existence. This is why I never actually see the shiny, chestnut brown, varnished, nice smooth top of my desk. This is also why I never see the bottoms of my book shelves or the floor of my closet. Or the top of my closet...

I'm getting a little better. I threw away a lot of stuff that night. Granted, most of it was college information that stressed me out and that I didn't want to think about but my desk looks better! It's a process, right?

The first step is admitting I have a problem. Okay, I have a problem. See? Progress.

a book that told me to keep everything :P
Although it's very good. :)

Sometimes I read books on writing. Almost all of them tell you to keep everything you write. I hate them. Because I'm really good at following that advice and I need encouragement like I need giant spiders in my hair. Ew. :/

My current manuscript began at the end of my eighth grade year. This May the idea will be three years old. *sniff* It's changed tremendously since that first draft I wrote for my awesome composition teacher but it's still quite delicious and I love it.

I do not love the fact that I have everything I ever, EVER, wrote for it since May 2009. Two big three-ring binders, at least two notebooks and a large stack of papers that get moved from bookshelves to desk, bookshelves to desk. I could take you on a tour - starting at the first few pieces of handwritten (eighth grader handwriting, mind you) scenes that blossomed into an actual story - and ending with 2011's Nano draft of my second book and the first chapter of the third. You can see every character change - every plot hole - how much my handwriting improved - every complication that I added just to give myself a brain malfunction - every brilliant back story... I even have some illustrations. I also have notebooks and papers and well, everything, for everything else I've ever written or brainstormed about.

It's bad. But is it really bad? If I had a room twice the size of what mine is now it wouldn't be very bad. I could have four more bookshelves. But that would be extremely bad because empty bookshelves are simply depressing so I would have to fill them up which gives me an excuse to keep more stuff which means I'll have four bookshelves of story ideas and yeah, no, that wouldn't work at all.

I can't watch Hoarders because it terrifies me. What if I end up like that? What if Mrs. Levine is crazy?! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
This is a serious dilemma!!! Should I keep it all? Or should I *gulp* throw it all away and de-clutter my desk/bookshelves/closet/floor? I love my three ring binders and notebooks and stacks of paper! But I love cleanliness too...

What to do... Is this just the way my life is going to be? Do all writers have this problem? Urgh.

 Advice is much appreciated. :)