Clash of Clans: Getting attacked?

Ok, so I just started Clash of Clans, and I have a shield on me, but the game tells me once that shield wears off, I'll be attacked? It takes SO LONG to do anything in this game and I don't want to be set back by being attacked. How often will I be attacked and how badly will it set me back?

Depends how many times you get attacked.

More attacks mean longer shields.

Don't upgrade town hall unless you're absulutey ready.

You should set you're town hall outside your walls so it'll be the first thing that goes down with very minimal loss to gold and elixir, you'll have earned an easy shield.

You can gather a lot of resources that way.

Or you may try Boom Beach, another good game from Supercell along with CoC. Afaik at starter levels you lose less then in CoC. Also BB looks like a bit more faster paced game. However this opinion may depend upon personal preferences.

Well, I did get attacked like eight or nine times, and lost twice. I decided to spend some gems to get a week long shield to avoid interruptions. I've put a wall up around my gold and elixir storages and defenses, and then the rest of the buildings (town hall included) I dotted around the walls leaving a square of space in between. Any other tips on improving my defenses?

@JustPlainLucas: only put important buildings and defenses behind your walls. Stack everything else like army camps, gold mines, research/ spell factory outside around your base. Doing that makes enemy troops stop to attack before they can reach your walls but your cannons and archers will still attack them.