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Subject:Re: How long to keep work samples? From:Philomena Hoopes <PHILA -at- MAIL -dot- VIPS -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 27 May 1999 14:05:14 -0400
One suggestion, as an alternative to tossing out old periodicals: check
local university libraries' policies on accepting donations.
Philomena Hoopes
Phila -at- vips -dot- com <mailto:Phila -at- vips -dot- com>
VIPS Healthcare Information Solutions, Inc.
(410) 832-8330 ext 845
-----Original Message-----
From: Sally Yeo [mailto:SYeo -at- ELUCIDEX -dot- COM]
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 1999 2:11 PM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: Re: How long to keep work samples?
I had a similar problem when I moved from Milwaukee to
Washington in
April. I through out so much stuff it was incredible. Week
after week of
huge piles of bags and boxes of paper for recycling. What
helped me
(writer, English major, packrat) was that it was going to
cost 50 cents
a pound to move the stuff. All tax records older than 3
years went into
recycling. All Tech Comm journals and magazines before 1994
went. (And
now I want one from 1992!) My partner still objected
strenuously to what
I did bring!
Good luck,
Sally
-----Original Message-----
From: Kat Nagel
[mailto:katnagel -at- EZNET -dot- NET]
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 1999 11:34 AM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: Re: How long to keep work
samples?
Monica wrote:
>I've been in the business for 12 years,
both freelance
>and as a direct employee. I've saved major
manuals and
>other projects I've worked on during this
time.
[snippetysnip]
>I'd love to hear how you've successfully
"thinned"
>your samples.
I'm facing the same task.
13 years of freelancing...
Packrat genes...
Baaaad combination.
When we moved 4 years ago, I filled a room
in the new
house---wall to wall,
floor to ceiling, just a narrow path through
the
room---with file cabinets
and cardboard crates. Since it all fit in
an unused
room, and I could
close the door on it, the only time I
thought about all
that STUFF was when
I had to retrieve a particular file to write
a proposal
for a similar
project or to extract a writing sample for a
targeted
portfolio.
Now, we are beginning to renovate the second
floor of
the house, shifting
our bedroom temporarily to the third floor,
moving my
office across the
hall, and moving Andy's office to (you
guessed it) the
room that I call
'file archives' and HE calls 'the junk
room'. <sigh>
To avoid the pain of discarding even the
tiniest pieces
of my own stuff
(doesn't EVERYBODY save their grade school
book
reports?) I'm working
through the piles, pretending it's someone
else's
accumulated paper
mountain and that I've been hired as a
document
management consultant.
RULES:
~ Recent projects (<4 years)---keep
proposal, any drafts
with handwritten
notes, returned review copies (complete),
final draft,
published copy (if I
got one), all letters, invoices, expense
records, email
messages, project
notes; keep all electronic files
~Older projects (4-7 years)---keep proposal,
1st and
final drafts,
published copy, letters, invoices, expense
records,
project notes; keep
electronic files for original material from
client,
proposal, final draft,
all graphics files, project notes
~Ancient history (8+ years)---keep proposal,
final
draft, published copy,
invoices and expense records; keep
electronic files for
proposal and final
draft
KEY PRINCIPLE:
At least one pound of paper must be recycled
for every
pound re-filed.
At the moment, it seems to be working well
as long as I
don't get bogged
down in actually reading the stuff.
Kat Nagel
MasterWork Consulting Services
katnagel -at- eznet -dot- net
"Every year, back comes Spring, with nasty
little birds
yapping their fool heads off and the ground
all mucked
up with plants."
--Dorothy
Parker
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