monkey mind

Nat’s Second Rule

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Bailey

“Don’t be tossed away by your monkey mind. You say you want to do something—“I really want to be a writer”—then that little voice comes along, “but I might not make enough money as a writer.” “Oh, okay, then I won’t write.” That’s being tossed away. These little voices are constantly going to be nagging us. If you make a decision to do something, you do it. Don’t be tossed away. But part of not being tossed away is understanding your mind, not believing it so much when it comes up with all these objections and then loads you with all these insecurities and reasons not to do something.”

Natalie Goldberg

 

 

Nanowrimo

 

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Green Chameleon

Whose idea was it to have Nanowrimo in November?

My husband’s birthday is in November – his 50th birthday, so we partied for TWO weekends. And then there’s Thanksgiving. To say it’s been challenging to write is an understatement, what with work, family, and parties…but it’s SUPER FUN!

I’ve set a goal for myself to write a “novella,” (7,500 to 40,000 words)  instead of a novel (60,000 to 100,000 words). I wanted to set myself up for success, afterall!  So I targeted 25,000 words and averaged it the number of days in November. Here is my excel sheet to monitor daily progress:

Nov goal actual  balance
1 834 300 534
2 1668 368 1300
3 2502 2218 284
4 3336 3327 9
5 4170 3870 300
6 5004 3870 1134
7 5838 4401 1437
8 6672 6014 658
9 7506 6440 1066
10 8340 7603 737
11 9174 on the road, wrote in word
12 10008 9122 886
13 10842 10682 160
14 11676 11201 475
15 12510
16 13344

As you can see, I have to write at least 475  more words tonight. So here I go! I hope you are enjoying the process and making progress. Once in awhile, I have to remind myself to HAVE FUN and not stress about the word count or listen to Monkey Mind! 

 

Just keep writing!

Mute It, Monkey!

Monkey Mind. It’s what Buddhists call the mind that jumps from one worrying thought to another worrying thought, like monkeys swinging from tree to tree.

I am well acquainted with my Monkey Mind  – especially since I’ve been working on my novella for Nanowrimo this month. I’m chugging along and it keeps saying, “This is terrible. Seriously. Why do you continue? You should scrap this.”

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Sorry, it’s really awful. I’m just trying to help you.

But I do my best to ignore it and I continue to write because if I listen to it, I’ll stop writing. I’ll be a quitter and the only thing worse than being a bad writer is being a quitter.

I know you’re familiar with Monkey Mind, because you’re listening to it all the time.

What if I miss my plane?

What if I don’t lose the weight before the reunion?

What if I fail as a parent?  

Donald Trump is our President! He has no experience! I’m worried that he’ll get us into a war because some other world leader makes fun of his hair!

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They actually voted for him? Oh dear, they’re in trouble now!

How do we handle Monkey Mind?

Focus on your breath. Focus on the present moment. Notice it and say, “Oh hello, Monkey Mind. You don’t bother me,” and continue on your way.

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No, seriously, your novella sucks.