As most of you know, I'm in book-writing mode. The Introduction and first three chapters of Minimalist Parenting are sitting on our editor's desk.
It's so exciting. Christine and I keep marveling at how smoothly the process is going. I don't mean to make it sound easy or effortless; it's time-consuming work, and the writing is more challenging than blogging in many ways. But the stuff we're talking about — prioritizing, identifying values, recognizing one's competency, just for a start — has been rattling in our heads so long, and it's just the right time to be writing about it.
So, book writing = awesome. But it's difficult to pull my myself out of the big-picture philosophical mindspace. Everything's so symbolic! Everything's connected! Everything's a metaphor! I'm sure my friends think I'm obnoxious right now. Oh God, here she goes again about embracing @#$% constraints.
It's hard to flip back and forth between that and daily-tips-practical-hacks mode. Which means I'm not doing a great job putting out the usual flow of hacks. They're coming, just slowly. I am putting up longer-format stuff at The Accidental Expert (my Babble Voices blog) and it feels great. I'll also be posting at the lovely new Minimalist Parenting blog. And, as always, I'm here!
I hope you'll bear with me as I attempt to find a better balance between book-writing and blogging. The hacks will continue, and you'll be getting more big-picture stuff from me for the next few weeks. I'm going to bring back some favorite hacks from the archives. I'll also share the inspiration coming from other peoples' sites. Maybe even some guest posts!
Not exactly sure. Whatever I end up doing as I write the book, I'm as grateful as ever for this amazing community. I love talking to you and feeling your smart, grounded presence as I write. So many of your stories are helping me tell mine. Thank you, thank you, my friends.
PS. I can't wait to get you more involved in Minimalist Parenting. Stay tuned.
I know that you have a queue of items to post, and a queue of emails to read for PH. Is there any way you can let someone help you with that? Maybe have a guest editor for a few weeks?
Mamacita: What an intelligent, reasonable question. This is something I’ve bantered about for YEARS and it’s rather silly that I’ve never done anything about it. The answer is “Yes, but.” Having a guest editor is the smart answer, but I’m not totally sure how to bring on someone to help at this moment. I’m probably making it out to be more complicated than it needs to be, but that’s what tends to happen when I’m in “big picture” mode on a project.
Figuring out how to delegate is one of my Achilles heels, not because I’m such a control freak, but because I have a hard time breaking what I do into hand-overable tasks. And why I’m more comfortable with the “writing and community” part of blogging than the “entrepreneur” part.
Let me give this some devoted thought this week. Feedback is absolutely welcome. I’ve got a mental block about this.
I find that once I let go of my controlling nature – I totally get it – and let someone help a bit, I realize how much more amazing things I can do. Perhaps, ask a few of your business colleagues write a few short posts to get started?
UPDATE! Between all of your very gentle, reasonable suggestions and a nudge from a friend, I’ve got some wonderful help on board! More details soon, but I just wanted to thank you all for your encouragement to stretch a little. xo
It is so exciting to think of the possibilities there are for social change and we are part of that – amazing! I look forward to meeting you in Ethiopia.