The Gunner household invested in a new sofa and loveseat this past weekend.  It arrives today and I’m really excited.  Our old set was ripping (a lot) and I knew it was time to replace it when a good friend’s one-year-old was pulling stuffing out of a pillow and attempting to eat it.  (Never fear, we did the finger sweep and he’s fine.  Has a bit of an oral fixation that one.  Was chewing on my flip flop yesterday.  Blech.)

But while I’m excited about our new furniture, I was a little nostalgic about the old furniture.  I get like that.  I’m that person who cries over sappy movies and commercials, who saves every manner of memento commemorating any number of things.  The ticket for my husband’s and my first date (a hockey game).  The entrance pass for my son’s first trip to the Philadelphia zoo.  My nametag from the NJ RWA conference, my first one.  I’m the person the family passes sentimental family items to because they know I’ll keep them safe.  I have my grandmother’s engagement ring and my mom’s class ring.  I hang on to stuff and I smile and reminisce. 

So, of course new furniture would make me think about the past, the good times on the couches now littering our front curb like the trash they’ve become.  They were the first sofa/loveseat my husband and I bought together.  They adorned the living room in our first place, a little bitty condo we bought six years ago.  Friends have crashed on them.  Family.  My father who’s now passed on. 

I’m a sap, I know.

But sometimes it’s good to mix things up, to force ourselves to move forward, even for the sentimentalists among us.  It’s good to try something new, to make new memories and forge new paths in our life.  Because sometimes the old has become ratty, worn, and well, food for an orally fixated one-year-old.

I think it’s that way with writing too.  If we aren’t getting the results we need by doing what we’ve always done, sometimes we’ve got to mix it up.  Try something new.  Send the stale to the curb.

Whether that’s a writing habit that isn’t working, a manuscript that hasn’t fulfilled our expectations, or finding new or additional critique partners or readers, sometimes we’ve got to stretch out.  Maybe try a new genre or theme.  Sometimes it’s good to spice up our writing nests a bit. 

I by no means suggest throwing out all old or comfortable things.  Trust this sentimentalist; I am a firm believer in holding on to the things that work, that we care about.  But there’s always room for exploration, for trying something new, for adding new weapons to our arsenal.

What things have you done or are planning to do to spice up your writing life?  Have you found any things in your writing that don’t work, that you have changed?  Any things you couldn’t live without?  Anyone else get sentimental over stuff like me?