I have survived a week that was trumped full of work responsibilities. I even made it to the gym Wednesday night to work out with my trainer (though my eyes were glazed and 
my body barely functioning). I also managed to remember to get two (unviewed) DVDs back to the library to avoid the $1.00/day fine (yeah, my city library is wacky like that).
As for the cleaning house challenge? Well, can I get credit for rewashing the same load of laundry twice? No? Six days in and I’m just at 30 minutes of credited cleaning time…none of which included those two bookshelves. I knew this would be super psycho week so I’m not going to feel any letdown on not being able to immediately dive in. I’ve still got 23.5 good days to go toward goal.
The plan:
- Clean off a rolling coffee table of unused “stuff” that is in a corner of my bedroom.
- Purge what isn’t needed and move anything useful to a temporary spot.
- Move the rolling table out of the bedroom (not sure to where yet).
- Move the new bookcase into the bedroom corner.
- Start with my fave, handmade bookcase at the foot of my bed and remove the non-reading material.
- I suppose I need to determine how I will organize the books again. Maybe fiction A-Z by author, essay and memoir A-Z by author, short story collections with multiple authors, poetry collections, writing books, textbooks, other non-fiction A-Z?
For that last step, I know it won’t all fit onto one bookcase, but the sections can be spread out in a way that feels right. So far, fiction has always been on the shelves in my bedroom and I think I’ll keep it that way. Every morning, one of my first sights will be the organized novels/short stories and the endless possibilities of what can be created from a writer’s mind.
Barbara McDowell 
It’s a creative marathon, but hell, it’s worth it. You’ve inspired me. Tomorrow is NaIrReDa. National ironing pile reduction day.
Love it Kate! I gave up on ironing when I bought my first steamer. So now instead of ironing piles I have hanging piles of stuff that still needs steaming. I go on steam binges at that point to get it all done.
I wake before daylight, so I guess it would not inspire me to have books in my bedroom. Nor do I read in bed, though I used to love to as a child and teen.
I have most of my books shelved down my wide central hallway, separated by fiction and (some) non-fiction. Non-fiction by topic. General fiction by author A-Z, with horror in its own section by author A-Z. My writing, art, craft, and genealogy books are in the office.
A steamer? Why don’t I have one of those? It would certainly come in handy when I forget the clothes in dryer … or worse yet, stuffed in a laundry basket. 😉
Linda, I like your organization pattern for the books in your central hallway. Non-fiction by topic would be a better fit for that section of my collection. I too keep my writing and craft (crochet) books in the office shelves by my recliner. And yes the steamer rescues clothes left too long in the washing machine before being hung up. 🙂