TEXT-MAD Tracey Moberly is so hung-up on mobile messages that she has kept every one she's received since 1999.
The artist, 47, has collected almost 100,000 since accidentally deleting her first 12 years ago - and vowing never to lose another.
Every time a text arrived, Tracey made sure she saved the contents - even writing down texts on paper when her phone ran out of room to store them.
Now she is publishing them all in a book - charting the story of her life since the end of the last millennium.
Tracey, from Shoreditch, East London, said: "Some people think I'm obsessive, but I love looking back at old messages.
It's like keeping a diary. All my friends say they wish they had kept important texts or ones which meant a lot to them.
"I'm lucky, I can go back to reading those messages any time I want."
Tracey has filled more than 30 journals with the messages - received on six different handsets. They record the breakdown of her marriage, rebuilding her life and pals' reactions to world events including 9/11 and the Haiti earthquake.
Poignant
The collection also contains messages from celebrity pals including Howard Marks, Pete Doherty and artist Banksy.
Tracey, whose book is titled Text-Me-Up!, added:
"The most poignant message was one I found on an old phone of my dad's.
"He had passed away a couple of years before, and when I opened up his phone there was one unopened message on it that just said, 'It's Dad'.
"I think he must have started to type a message and accidentally sent it to himself - but it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
"It just goes to show the power of text messages and how important they can be to our lives."
a.peake@the-sun.co.uk