Greetings from the Shore

I'm posting this entry from a library at the Jersey Shore. A very generous family member owns a vacation house here and often lets me use it when it's empty. I come here to get away from the distractions of home, dig in, and write. But being just a block from the bay and three blocks from the ocean, I take a lot of lovely walks, too!

It helps that the house has no internet or telephone, because I'm forced to focus on my work. Mid-week, however, I always pay a visit to this cute little library to get online, handle any book orders or other business matters, and touch base with the world. As long as I'm here today, I could resist posting to my blog.

My new website is finally up and running, and it's awesome if I do say so myself! My webmaster and designer is Maddee James of xuni.com, and she's one in a million. I think she did an amazing job. Check it out at www.mindystarnsclark.com.

As soon as I get back home (and back to life as usual), I'll be sending out an announcement to my email mailing list. I wish I could give out cigars as well, because it really feels like my new baby has come into the world (and yes, there was a lot of labor involved, LOL.)

I am one of those people who is "time challenged", as in I always bite off more than I can chew, I never estimate correctly how long something is going to take, and when I get lost in a project I lose all track of time. Most days, I am overwhelmed with all that there is to get done. But I've been learning a big lesson these days, that sometimes a little time investment in the present will save a lot time in the future. I started realizing that a while back, when my church had a big volunteer drive and I ended up with some new workers for the church library (where I'm the Director). As thrilled as I was to expand the library staff, I didn't have time to train them! I knew each worker would need several hours of hands-on help, and those were hours I didn't have.

Anyway, I somehow found the time, and once they were trained, the most miraculous thing happened: The time I spent in the library taking care of business significantly decreased! For most folks, this would have been a big "duh", like, "What did you expect? You've got more people helping you now." But I'm one who cannot see the trees for the forest, and it hadn't occurred to me that spending the extra time training new volunteers would have a big impact on my own workload down the line.

That was my hope as I worked on my website as well. Now that I have put so much information up on the web, from book club resources to frequently asked questions to speaking engagement info and much more, my hope is that I will save time in the long run by not having to handle so many individual requests for this info. (Not that I ever mind responding to requests like that, just that I knew there had to be a more efficient way!) A little time investment in the present will save a lot of time in the future.

Creating a House That Cleans Itself is all about this principle. Yes, it takes time to make changes to your house that will keep it clean. But a little time now will pay off tenfold in the future. More on that later, as soon as I get back from the shore and my little writing vacation. In the meantime, take a look around and see if there's something you could do today that takes time but that will end up saving you much more time in the long run.

For me, it's time to get offline and get back to the book I came here to write--after I take a quick walk along the ocean first, of course!

Blessings,
Mindy