Welcome to the cKotch.Com blog. I’m Christopher Kotcher, and this is Life and Times. Time to share some life lessons and experiences which guide my writing.
Piles and Piles
In the senior year of high school, The Divine Comedy made me a reader. Love for that book pushed me to grab plenty more.
That summer, I started with Edgar Allan Poe’s complete works and Sir Arthur Conan Doyles’ complete Sherlock Holmes.
That Christmas, a new yearly tradition began. Christmas Eve at my grandparents’ place became my time to get new books.
Epics were the theme of that year. I snagged everything from Virgil’s Aenead to Sir Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte d’ Arthur.
Classics were my bread and butter. I didn’t really add many modern works until my college young adult literature class showed me the potential in that genre.
Unfortunately, all these books didn’t have many places to go.
At first, there were only a few books. I was able to fit them into the various bookcases scattered around the house. Living room, family room, upstairs hallway, all over the place really.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before my books filled the few empty spots that were there.
Books began to pile in my room. They towered in the corner. Laying in my bed at night, I couldn’t even see my alarm clock or my radio behind them.
My room did have two bookcases in another corner. They were already filled with plenty of old toys and kid books.
For some reason, I didn’t want to get rid of any of those things. I hadn’t used them in years, but you never know when they could prove useful or valuable down the line.
So, my books piled all over the place. I didn’t feel too much urgency to clean the mess. I had already read these books. I knew where to grab them if I needed them again.
This was my childhood bedroom. Why care for its appearance?
I figured I wouldn’t be in there long enough to justify cleaning it. I’d be going to work at my old high school. I’d have a new room in the dorms there.
Eventually, I’d be on my own. I could save organizing anything if it would just be moved someday soon anyway.
To Clean a Room
Things changed. I was back home, not just back for a weekend trip or a weekly visit. No, at least for now, I was back to stay.
I had left work and my life made there to be with my family at a time my family needed me. Now I needed to think of my best way forward. I needed a first step.
Some things were simple.
All the extra time meant getting back to writing. The start of a job search meant updating my resume and writing a new cover letter.
Still, I needed something immediate. I needed a quick goal to achieve before all others, something to help pick me up.
That thing stared me in the face every morning when I woke up.
Towers of books sitting in my room.
Not to mention, shelves filled with junk, a dresser with way too much stuff sitting on top, and a closet that hadn’t been cleaned since before I was born.
I remembered wisdom from various sources.
In my college English classes, Jane Austen’s books showed houses to be a reflection of their owners’ psyches. People shape their homes according to who they are.
(Seriously, if you ever want to know the heroes and the villains in an Austen novel, just look at their lawns.)
In my free time, I watched psychologist Jordan Peterson’s videos. His biggest emphasis was always cleaning your room. You can get yourself in order by ordering the most personal space around you.
I saw what my room had become over the years, what I had allowed it to become. I wanted to make it truly livable.
I took the same planner I had used for work and set aside particular duties for each day.
Monday was donation day for anything I could give away. Tuesday was trash day for anything better left thrown away. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday were all about moving furniture.
To guide everything, I gave myself one ultimate goal.
Make room for bookcases. Give those towers of books a proper home. Honor the stories and words recorded there with their own dedicated place in my room.
They would never be left to stack up on the floor ever again.
Target Acquired
Christmas was approaching. I had made space in the corner of my room. All the shelves already in my room had been filled with all the books they could manage.
Time had come to grab more bookcases. One small bookcase to fit under the window. One tall bookcase to fit as much as it could.
My mom got me an early Christmas present in ordering two such bookshelves.
I still remember picking up the bookcases from Target. The kid bringing them out actually brought out only one at first. We nearly had to go into the store to make sure we got the other bookcase too.
The next day became all about building the bookcases. All assembly was required.
I had never seen myself as a handyman. Last thing I had built was probably some LEGO mini kit, and not one of the complex ones with robotic parts or anything.
Still, I wanted my books to have their proper home. I wanted my room to be clean.
To achieve those goals, I had to want to build the bookcases too.
So, I played some Christmas music on my radio and got to work. I had all sorts of things to learn.
Not only did I hammer nails and turns screws, I also had to fit wooden dowels and screw in assembly dowels.
(If you don’t know what dowels are, don’t feel bad. I had no idea too long ago either. Think of them like wood or metal pegs which help hold two assembled parts together.)
My mom’s phone received constant updates from me that day. The whole bookcase-building process excited me enough to give my mom frequent progress reports.
In one update, I started geeking out over a surprisingly useful tool that came with the bookcases. It was a little clip to hold nails in place. There would be minimal risk of hammering my fingers!
My mom kept saying I reminded her of her dad, my grandpa, and all his woodworking and craftsmanship. Those older bookshelves in my room were actually made by him.
In fact, each bookcase came with that tool. My dad loved the idea of it so much that I gave him one to put in his toolbox.
Looking back, that really was one of the best days I’ve had since coming back home. Standing up those two bookcases felt like a true accomplishment.
I couldn’t let the day end there.
Filling the Shelves
I rushed through the house.
All the bookcases that held my books were emptied of my volumes. I scoured shelves throughout the living room, family room, and upstairs hallways.
I filled much of the smaller bookcase and gave the larger one with some temporary decorations. They became quite the piece in my room.
Now in my room, I wake up each morning and see no loose towers of books or random clutter. There are a few more things to move around, but my books do have their proper home.
It really is amazing how setting your mind to something simple can clear your perspective and boost your motivation. Building bookcases has helped me keep writing, reading, and living a good life.
Immediate goals have been fulfilled. Room’s been cleaned. I’m ready to take on whatever comes next.
Discussion Time!
Starting with simple goals is a great way to prepare yourself to move forward, especially in a period of great change. My bookcases have become a symbol to me of making something worthwhile during some of my most hectic days.
Maybe building these bookcases will ensure I can one day build a bookcase to hold all my future bestsellers. (One can hope!)
What simple goals have boosted you? What little accomplishments have helped you move forward in life?
Kotcher’s Call to Action
If you like my content and wish to see more, you could check out my books Five Strange Stories and Good Stuff: 50 Poems from Youth on Amazon. They are enrolled in the Kindle Matchbook program, so anyone who buys the paperbacks can also get the eBooks for free.
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