Welcome!

Welcome to the first entry of my brand new blog! My hope is that you'll enjoy reading it as much as I know I'll enjoy writing it.

It's so appropriate that my blog starts today, because even as I write this I am watching out the window for the FedEx man, knowing he will be here soon to drop off a box containing copies of my new book, The House That Cleans Itself. You'd think after nine books that the thrill of that moment when I first hold a new one in my hand would have dimmed somewhat, but nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, every time one of these big days arrives, as soon as I see the white truck with the orange and blue lettering turn into my driveway, my heart starts pounding, my hands get sweaty, and it's all I can do not to jump up and down hollering—or at the very least, do a little happy dance.

I try to play it cool when I meet the delivery man at the door, of course. But as soon as he's gone, I know I'll tear open that box, pull out a copy of the book, and let loose. Once I have managed to calm down, I will run my hands over the cover, flip through the pages, read the back cover and maybe the first page—and marvel at the miracle of how God has once again blessed me by making my biggest dreams come true. Then I'll count the hours until my kids get home from school and my husband gets home from work so that they can enjoy the thrill of the new book with me!

This time will especially exciting. As my very first nonfiction trade paperback, The House That Cleans Itself is decidedly different from anything I have ever written before. The idea for this book came out of my novel-writing, (more on that in future blog entries) but in fact it is a nonfiction book, a how-to guide written for people like me, people who have trouble keeping their house neat and clean. After a lifetime of struggling in this area, I finally figured out a way to conquer the problem of a messy house once and for all. By tossing out the conventional housekeeping advice and starting from scratch with my own unique approach, I was able to design a system that worked for me and my family and the way that we think and live. As I spread the word about my system, others who implemented my ideas found great success with them as well—so much so that sometimes it seemed as if our houses were practically cleaning themselves.

And thus The House That Cleans Itself was born. Eager to share this approach with even more people, I finally put my ideas, experience, and research into a book. Once the book begins to hit the shelves (which should be very soon), I cannot wait to see the ways my radical new approach to housekeeping will begin to transform even more homes, more lives.

Of course, you don't need to get the book to enjoy this blog, and you don't need to read this blog to complete the book. (Though they do make a nice compliment to each other!) My hope is that this blog will become a forum for all of us to explore a new way of thinking about housekeeping, a new method of home care so that the burden is not nearly so heavy. How can that be? Keep coming back for subsequent entries and you'll see. Ever heard of "creative problem solving"? My friend, we are about to take that concept to a whole new level!

In future blog entries, I'll tell you more about this new book, the innovative concepts that it presents, and how I came up with the idea in the first place. I also hope to learn about your housekeeping experiences as well. Care to answer the question of the day? What I'd like to know this time is: When it comes to cleaning your house, what step do you dislike the most (Cleaning the toilets? Vacuuming? Mopping? Something else?) and which (if any) do you actually enjoy? To leave your response, use the comment function below. (Though I won't be able to send you a personal reply, I will definitely read every response—and I may discuss some of them on future blog entries.)

I think this blog is going to be an enormous amount of fun. Until next time, I probably won't be doing much cleaning (these days, I don't really need to!), but I will be busy at work on my next novel.

When I'm not watching out the window for the FedEx man, that is.

Blessings,
Mindy