Jennifer Howard laughing

Jennifer Howard

Writer, editor, journalist.

Archives for clutter

Would You Let Marie Kondo Tidy Your Books?

As a dedicated interpreter (and reforming practitioner) of clutter, of course I’ve been watching Marie Kondo’s tidying-up show on Netflix. I have thoughts–so many thoughts!–but have been too busy with book work to write them up yet. Soon, soon. To tide you over, read novelist Anakana Schofield in the Guardian on why she reacts so… Continue reading »

Rag and Bone Shops

Victorianists! I need your help. I’m on the hunt for information about how people in the Victorian era thought about, managed, catalogued, and got rid of their stuff. And by stuff I mean household possessions: clothes, books, cookware, toys, papers and whatnot–the bric-a-brac and etceteras of daily life. I’m looking for accounts of the trade in… Continue reading »

About Jen

Jen Howard sitting in front of a brick wall. She is smiling.

Writer, journalist, editor, gadabout. Book- and nature lover. Washingtonian. LLC. Read more »

Latest Posts

Social Media

Address Book Address Card adjust align-center align-justify align-left align-right Allergies ambulance American Sign Language Interpreting Anchor Angle Double Down Angle Double Left Angle Double Right Angle Double Up angle-down angle-left angle-right angle-up Archive Alternate Arrow Circle Down Alternate Arrow Circle Left Alternate Arrow Circle Right Alternate Arrow Circle Up Arrow Circle Down Arrow Circle Left Arrow Circle Right Arrow Circle Up arrow-down arrow-left arrow-right arrow-up Alternate Arrows Alternate Arrows Horizontal Alternate Arrows Vertical Assistive Listening Systems asterisk At Audio Description backward Balance Scale ban Band-Aid barcode Bars Baseball Ball Basketball Ball Bath Battery Empty Battery Full Battery 1/2 Full Battery 1/4 Full Battery 3/4 Full Bed beer bell Bell Slash Bicycle Binoculars Birthday Cake Blind bold Lightning Bolt Bomb book bookmark Bowling Ball Box Box Open Boxes Braille Briefcase Medical Briefcase Bug Building bullhorn Bullseye Burn Bus Calculator Calendar Alternate Calendar Calendar Check Calendar Minus Calendar Plus Calendar Times camera Retro Camera Capsules Car Caret Down Caret Left Caret Right Caret Square Down Caret Square Left Caret Square Right Caret Square Up Caret Up Shopping Cart Arrow Down Add to Shopping Cart certificate Area Chart Bar Chart Line Chart Pie Chart Check Check Circle Check Square Chess Chess Bishop Chess Board Chess King Chess Knight Chess Pawn Chess Queen Chess Rook Chevron Circle Down Chevron Circle Left Chevron Circle Right Chevron Circle Up chevron-down chevron-left chevron-right chevron-up Child Circle Circle Notched Clipboard Clipboard Check Clipboard List Clock Clone Closed Captioning Cloud Cloud Download Alternate Cloud Upload Alternate Code Code Branch Coffee cog cogs Columns comment Alternate Comment Comment Dots Comment Slash comments Compass Compress Copy Copyright Couch Credit Card crop Crosshairs Cube Cubes Cut Database Deaf Desktop Diagnoses DNA Dollar Sign Dolly Dolly Flatbed Dot Circle Dove Download Edit eject Horizontal Ellipsis Vertical Ellipsis Envelope Envelope Open Envelope Square eraser Euro Sign Alternate Exchange exclamation Exclamation Circle Exclamation Triangle Expand Alternate Expand Arrows Alternate External Link Alternate External Link Square Eye Eye Dropper Eye Slash fast-backward fast-forward Fax Female fighter-jet File Alternate File Archive File Audio File Code File Excel File Image File Medical File Medical File Alternate PDF File Powerpoint File Video File Word File Film Filter fire fire-extinguisher First Aid flag flag-checkered Flask Folder Folder Open font Font Awesome Full Logo Football Ball forward Frown Futbol Gamepad Gavel Gem Genderless gift Martini Glass Globe Golf Ball Graduation Cap H Square Hand Holding Hand Holding Heart Hand Holding US Dollar Lizard (Hand) Paper (Hand) Peace (Hand) Hand Pointing Down Hand Pointing Left Hand Pointing Right Hand Pointing Up Pointer (Hand) Rock (Hand) Scissors (Hand) Spock (Hand) Hands Helping Hands Handshake Hashtag HDD heading headphones Heart Heartbeat History Hockey Puck home hospital Hospital Alternate Hospital Symbol Hourglass Hourglass End Hourglass Half Hourglass Start I Beam Cursor Identification Badge Identification Card Identification Card Alternate Image Images inbox Indent Industry Info Info Circle italic key Keyboard Language Laptop leaf Lemon Level Down Alternate Level Up Alternate Life Ring Lightbulb Link Turkish Lira Sign List List Alternate list-ol list-ul location-arrow lock Lock Open Alternate Long Arrow Down Alternate Long Arrow Left Alternate Long Arrow Right Alternate Long Arrow Up Low Vision magic magnet Male Map map-marker Map Marker Alternate Map Pin Map Signs Mars Mars Double Mars Stroke Mars Stroke Horizontal Mars Stroke Vertical medkit Meh Mercury Microchip microphone Microphone Slash minus Minus Circle Minus Square Mobile Phone Alternate Mobile Money Bill Alternate Moon Motorcycle Mouse Pointer Music Neuter Newspaper Medical Notes Object Group Object Ungroup Outdent Paint Brush Pallet Paper Plane Paperclip Parachute Box paragraph Paste pause Pause Circle Paw Pen Square Alternate Pencil People Carry Percent Phone Phone Slash Phone Square Phone Volume Piggy Bank Pills plane play Play Circle Plug plus Plus Circle Plus Square Podcast Poo Portrait Pound Sign Power Off Prescription Bottle Alternate Prescription Bottle print Procedures Puzzle Piece qrcode Question Question Circle Quidditch quote-left quote-right random Recycle Redo Alternate Redo Registered Trademark Reply reply-all Retweet Ribbon road rocket rss RSS Square Ruble Sign Indian Rupee Sign Save Search Search Minus Search Plus Seedling Server Share Alternate Share Alternate Share Square Share Square Shekel Sign Alternate Shield Ship Shipping Fast Shopping Bag Shopping Basket shopping-cart Shower Sign Alternate Sign In Sign Language Alternate Sign Out signal Sitemap Horizontal Sliders Smile Smoking Snowflake Sort Sort Alpha Down Sort Alpha Up Sort Amount Down Sort Amount Up Sort Down (Descending) Sort Numeric Down Sort Numeric Up Sort Up (Ascending) Space Shuttle Spinner Square Square Full Star star-half step-backward step-forward Stethoscope Sticky Note stop Stop Circle Stopwatch Street View Strikethrough subscript Subway Suitcase Sun superscript Sync Alternate Sync Syringe table Table Tennis tablet Alternate Tablet Tablets Alternate Tachometer tag tags Tape Tasks Taxi Terminal text-height text-width th th-large th-list Thermometer Thermometer Empty Thermometer Full Thermometer 1/2 Full Thermometer 1/4 Full Thermometer 3/4 Full thumbs-down thumbs-up Thumbtack Alternate Ticket Times Times Circle tint Toggle Off Toggle On Trademark Train Transgender Alternate Transgender Trash Alternate Trash Tree trophy truck Truck Loading Truck Moving TTY Television Umbrella Underline Undo Alternate Undo Universal Access University unlink unlock Alternate Unlock Upload User Alternate User User Alt-slash User Astronaut User Check User Circle User Clock User Cog User Edit User Friends User Graduate User Lock user-md User Minus User Ninja Add User User Secret User Shield User Slash User Tag User Tie Remove User Users Users Cog Utensil Spoon Utensils Venus Venus Double Venus Mars Vial Vials Video Video Slash Volleyball Ball volume-down volume-off volume-up Warehouse Weight Wheelchair WiFi Window Close Window Maximize Window Minimize Window Restore Wine Glass Won Sign Wrench X-Ray Yen Sign