Meg's Diary

I Got My Mind Set On You

Today I made a startling discovery.

I was putting on my eye makeup and listening to the 80s channel on XM radio (as I do every morning) when they played George Harrison’s I Got My Mind Set On You.

That’s when I realized it:

This song is totally about writing a book!

I know everyone thinks it’s about a girl.

But it isn’t at all.

I don’t know how many of you are writing novels right now, or thinking about writing a novel (perhaps next month, for NaNoWriMo).

But if you need inspiration, listen to I Got My Mind Set On You.

Because it’s about pysching yourself up to tackle your current writing project, not about winning the object of your affections, like everyone thinks.

Seriously. Check out the lyrics:

This time I know its for real
The feelings that I feel
I know if I put my mind to it
I know that I really can do it

Translation: Here George is describing the feelings he is having for the novel he is currently writing. This time, he knows he’s going to commit to this novel, and not cheat on it with some other novel about zombies that he thought up in the middle of the night while working on this current novel.

No! This novel that he’s currently writing is IT! He knows if he really puts his mind to it, he can finish this novel, and make it into the huge bestseller it’s meant to be!

Genius.

I got my mind set on you
I got my mind set on you
I got my mind set on you
I got my mind set on you

Translation: George is really going to concentrate this time. He’s got his mind SET on this current novel. He’s not going to download The Fast and the Furious package on Comcast this weekend for $9.99 and spend 48 hours lying in bed watching it with his cat on his stomach, yelling at his husband to bring him another Coke Zero.

No! He’s got his mind set on his novel. George Harrison really means it this time!

Its gonna take time
A whole lot of precious time
Its gonna take patience and time
To do it, to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it,
To do it right child

Translation: Obviously, George knows it’s going to take time—a lot of time—to finish this novel. It’s not going to be a week. Or even ten days. It might take a month. MAYBE LONGER (perish the thought).

This means it’s going to take patience. You can’t write a novel in a day. George is probably going to have to call all his friends and be like, “Don’t ask me to lunch at the Yacht Club because I can’t go. I’m committed to this novel. I’m going to do it right this time, because I’ve found the perfect novel. Okay, maybe there aren’t zombies in it, but—”

“What? NO! No, I’m not going to go to Tuscany with you. Shut up! No! Stop it. I don’t care if the zucchini blossoms are in bloom right now and would be delicious fried and filled with cream cheese….”

But its gonna take money
A whole lotta spending money
Its gonna take plenty of money
To do it right child

This part of George’s song may seem to make no sense in the context of writing a novel, since it certainly doesn’t take any spending money to write or to publish a book.

But don’t worry, I figured it out. Clearly in this part, George’s no good friend who invited him to Tuscany to try the fried zucchini blossoms bet him that he couldn’t finish his novel in a month.

So if George is anything like me, then yes, it’s going to take money—a whole lot of spending money—to do it right, child. Because George probably went, “I’ll take that bet!”

But George will prevail, and win that bet, and get his novel in on time.

Because he’s going to do it right, child. He knows it’s just going to take patience and time. Since:

This time he knows its for real
The feelings that he feels
He knows if he puts his mind to it
He knows that he really can do it

This is a truly inspirational song for all writers. We should adopt it as our motto this year for NaNoWriMo. Or at least, I’m going to.

Bravo, George. Who knew?

More later.

Much love,

Meg

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