Monkey mind—
According to Wikipedia, “a Buddhist term meaning unsettled, restless, capricious, whimsical, fanciful …” According to me, a term meaning the deluge of ideas for stories I could be writing that invades my brain when I sit down to write the story I should be writing.
My Gethsemane Brown series is set in a fictional modern-day Irish village and stars an African-American classical musician and the ghost of a murdered composer. So, of course, when I take pen in hand or set fingers to keyboard I think,
“Hey, I could write a story set in post-World War Two London about an American hotel guest who teams up with the hotel detective to solve a murder.”
Or,
“How about a story set in nineteen-thirties Paris about an American art collector who’s secretly helping Jews escape from the Nazis?”
Or even,
“I know; I’ll write about a woman who has an affair with her brother-in-law then has to prove her husband innocent of his murder.” (That last one’s definitely not a cozy.)
None of which have anything to do with the task at hand: finish the next Gethsemane Brown manuscript.
How do I fight monkey mind? I don’t. Fighting monkey mind makes me anxious to the point of inertia. In the words of the borg, “Resistance is futile.” I’ve learned through experience (and a tip from Chris Baty in No Plot, No Problem) monkey mind must be accommodated. Instead of trying to ignore the flood of brilliant ideas for the next runaway bestseller I scribble the ideas down. I keep several small notebooks and a variety of pens handy. Whenever an idea unrelated to my current manuscript pops into my head I jot the idea in a notebook, take a deep refocusing breath, and get back to work. Acknowledging the intrusion seems to sate whatever dark recess of my brain is playing tricks on me.
As a bonus I have a catalog in case anyone ever asks, “What else have you got?” I can flip to a page in a notebook and say, “I’ve got this great idea about a hotel detective …”
How do you tame monkey mind?
Stranded in Ireland after losing both a gig and her luggage, African-American classical musician Gethsemane Brown hopes to win her way back to the States by accepting a challenge: turn rowdy school boys into a champion orchestra. She’s offered lodging in a beautiful cliffside cottage once owned by her favorite composer. The catch? The composer’s ghost. He can’t rest in peace until he’s cleared of false charges of murder-suicide. Desperate after a quarter-century, he begs Gethsemane for help. A growing friendship with the charming ghost spurs Gethsemane to investigate. Her snooping provokes a long-dormant killer and she soon finds herself on the wrong sort of top ten hit list. Will Gethsemane uncover the truth as she races to prevent a murderous encore or will she star in her own farewell performance?
PRAISE FOR MURDER IN G MAJOR
(US ONLY
|
9/20
|
Author Interview #1
|
|
|
9/21
|
Review
|
|
|
9/22
|
Excerpt
|
|
|
9/23
|
Review
|
|
|
9/24
|
Guest Post #1
|
|
|
9/25
|
Promo
|
|
|
9/26
|
Review
|
|
|
9/27
|
Author Interview #2
|
|
|
9/28
|
Guest Post #2
|
|
|
9/29
|
Review
|
blog tour services by
the librarian talks 