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Sit Write Here: 6 Mindfulness Practices to Help You Write More and Suffer Less
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Expected 7 Jul 26A transformative path to overcome creative blocks and cultivate a joyful, sustainable writing practice through mindfulness.
In Sit Write Here, award-winning novelist and certified mindfulness instructor April Dávila presents a groundbreaking approach to writing that integrates the practice of Insight Meditation. Drawing from her personal journey and professional experience, Dávila reveals how mindfulness can help writers improve their craft and navigate common challenges such as writer's block, self-doubt, and ubiquitous distractions. Through practical exercises and relatable anecdotes, she demonstrates how cultivating present-moment awareness can enhance creativity and bring greater ease to the writing process.
Structured around six key practices, the book guides writers to:
-Get Writing by developing deep concentration to foster a state of creative flow.
-Embrace Discomfort to better portray conflict on the page.
-Keep Going by identifying and overcoming internal obstacles that masquerade as "writer's block."
-Explore Emotions to deepen authenticity.
-Engage Reality to refine the editing process with mindful awareness.
-Find Equanimity to maintain resilience in the face of feedback and rejection.
Whether you're a seasoned author or just beginning your writing journey, Sit Write Here offers a compassionate and practical framework to transform your writing practice. By embracing mindfulness, writers can not only enhance their craft but also find greater fulfillment and joy in the creative process.
In Sit Write Here, award-winning novelist and certified mindfulness instructor April Dávila presents a groundbreaking approach to writing that integrates the practice of Insight Meditation. Drawing from her personal journey and professional experience, Dávila reveals how mindfulness can help writers improve their craft and navigate common challenges such as writer's block, self-doubt, and ubiquitous distractions. Through practical exercises and relatable anecdotes, she demonstrates how cultivating present-moment awareness can enhance creativity and bring greater ease to the writing process.
Structured around six key practices, the book guides writers to:
-Get Writing by developing deep concentration to foster a state of creative flow.
-Embrace Discomfort to better portray conflict on the page.
-Keep Going by identifying and overcoming internal obstacles that masquerade as "writer's block."
-Explore Emotions to deepen authenticity.
-Engage Reality to refine the editing process with mindful awareness.
-Find Equanimity to maintain resilience in the face of feedback and rejection.
Whether you're a seasoned author or just beginning your writing journey, Sit Write Here offers a compassionate and practical framework to transform your writing practice. By embracing mindfulness, writers can not only enhance their craft but also find greater fulfillment and joy in the creative process.
- GenresWriting
224 pages, Paperback
Expected publication July 7, 2026
6 people are currently reading
3318 people want to read
About the author
April Davila
3 books107 followersApril Dávila is an award-winning author, speaker, and writing coach. Publishers Weekly called her debut novel, 142 Ostriches, a "vivid, uplifting debut" and the book went on to win the WILLA Award for Women Writing the West. Writer's Digest listed her blog (at aprildavila.com) as one of the Best 101 Websites for Writers and she is the creator of the Sit Write Here writing coaching program, helping writers quiet their inner critics, overcome writer's block, and edit more effectively.
She's a half-hearted gardener, occasional runner, and practicing buddhist living in Los Angeles.
She's a half-hearted gardener, occasional runner, and practicing buddhist living in Los Angeles.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 3, 2026
my two favorite topics mingling in the same book?! yes please.
thank you netgalley for providing me with an ARC. i loved this book!!
“mindfulness at its heart is about learning to see things as they truly are.”
“Social media is the antithesis of mindfulness. Instead of making space for ideas…social media is designed to keep you endlessly engaged while hardly even noticing what’s in front of your face.”
“The word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek word that means “to be inspired or possessed by a god,” so you can think of enthusiasm as divine direction, a nudge from the Almighty, or the universe”
“Buddhists sometimes use the metaphor of the first and second arrow. You can think of the thing that causes the initial sadness or discomfort as an arrow landing somewhere in your body. This first arrow is the unavoidable pain of life. You get sick. You get your heart broken. A story you wrote gets rejected. The second arrow is the one you shoot at yourself. It’s the mental and emotional reaction to the initial pain. You might catch yourself thinking, Why can’t I do anything right? or I’m such an idiot, or Who do I think I am trying to be a writer? The second arrow is the anger, doubt, and shame one tends to bring to already painful situations.”
“Lovingkindness….difficulties of life being like salt, and how if you mix a tablespoon of salt into a cup of water and drink it, it’s going to taste gross. But if you drop that same amount of salt into a much larger body of water, like a bathtub or swimming pool or a lake, it will be diluted to such a point that it’s indiscernible. The salt remains the same, but the spaciousness of the container makes all the difference.
The salt in this metaphor represents all life’s difficulties. As Salzberg points out, you have very little control over how much trouble you will face in your lifetime. What you can do is make your “container” more spacious so you can dilute any amount of salt that comes your way.”
thank you netgalley for providing me with an ARC. i loved this book!!
“mindfulness at its heart is about learning to see things as they truly are.”
“Social media is the antithesis of mindfulness. Instead of making space for ideas…social media is designed to keep you endlessly engaged while hardly even noticing what’s in front of your face.”
“The word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek word that means “to be inspired or possessed by a god,” so you can think of enthusiasm as divine direction, a nudge from the Almighty, or the universe”
“Buddhists sometimes use the metaphor of the first and second arrow. You can think of the thing that causes the initial sadness or discomfort as an arrow landing somewhere in your body. This first arrow is the unavoidable pain of life. You get sick. You get your heart broken. A story you wrote gets rejected. The second arrow is the one you shoot at yourself. It’s the mental and emotional reaction to the initial pain. You might catch yourself thinking, Why can’t I do anything right? or I’m such an idiot, or Who do I think I am trying to be a writer? The second arrow is the anger, doubt, and shame one tends to bring to already painful situations.”
“Lovingkindness….difficulties of life being like salt, and how if you mix a tablespoon of salt into a cup of water and drink it, it’s going to taste gross. But if you drop that same amount of salt into a much larger body of water, like a bathtub or swimming pool or a lake, it will be diluted to such a point that it’s indiscernible. The salt remains the same, but the spaciousness of the container makes all the difference.
The salt in this metaphor represents all life’s difficulties. As Salzberg points out, you have very little control over how much trouble you will face in your lifetime. What you can do is make your “container” more spacious so you can dilute any amount of salt that comes your way.”
February 15, 2026
This book feels like a warm hug for any writer struggling with a project. The author details a series common and practical mindful meditation tips alongside how they can help with the different aspects (and challenges) of writing. And the book solidly delivers on its promise of providing you with the tools to "write more and suffer less." It even has a lovely check-in in the middle of the book, calling you out for skipping the practices to finish the book (guilty) and reminding you that these tips can only help if you actually do them!
Initially, I wasn't sold on the balance between writing advice and meditation advice. The beginning is heavily weighted toward meditation (which is fair). It felt more like a meditation 101 book than a writing book. However, the second half of the book transitioned back to a focus on writing while connecting to the practices from earlier. I personally enjoyed the second half of the book much more than the first. This organization of content makes perfect sense, but as someone who has an good understanding of meditation already, I kept waiting for some new or insightful tool in the first half that never came. Instead, the second half offered the payoff I was looking for by connecting the practices to the actual craft of writing.
My favorite aspect of the book was how it shows that it's okay to write a lackluster first draft and then slow down to be more mindful as you go back to edit through your subsequent drafts. This subject is touched on in many books on writing, but this book actually walks through what those changes or improvements might actually look like from draft to draft --- all because you can be much more present and mindful as you edit rather than when you're vomiting out that first draft.
I would strongly recommend this book to a new writer or a writer who is entirely new to meditation.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this book.
Initially, I wasn't sold on the balance between writing advice and meditation advice. The beginning is heavily weighted toward meditation (which is fair). It felt more like a meditation 101 book than a writing book. However, the second half of the book transitioned back to a focus on writing while connecting to the practices from earlier. I personally enjoyed the second half of the book much more than the first. This organization of content makes perfect sense, but as someone who has an good understanding of meditation already, I kept waiting for some new or insightful tool in the first half that never came. Instead, the second half offered the payoff I was looking for by connecting the practices to the actual craft of writing.
My favorite aspect of the book was how it shows that it's okay to write a lackluster first draft and then slow down to be more mindful as you go back to edit through your subsequent drafts. This subject is touched on in many books on writing, but this book actually walks through what those changes or improvements might actually look like from draft to draft --- all because you can be much more present and mindful as you edit rather than when you're vomiting out that first draft.
I would strongly recommend this book to a new writer or a writer who is entirely new to meditation.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this book.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
As a writer, I’m always on the lookout for new craft books, but this one is a little different, in a very good way. Sit Write Here explores six key practices of mindfulness and meditation with a specific aim to incorporate mindfulness into one’s writing practice. I’m not big on meditation, but I know it offers so many benefits, especially as our society moves further away from quiet and stillness and it becomes harder to escape the noise of life.
I really enjoyed reading about these concepts such as embracing discomfort in order to be more equipped to portray conflict in writing, learning to dive deeper into your emotions in order to more effectively portray emotions of characters on the page, and learning to persevere through the many obstacles that can get in the way of your writing. The author offers practical and written exercises to help the reader implement these concepts. The section on dealing with feedback and rejection was particularly meaningful, as every writer I know struggles with how to keep going when it feels as though they’ve failed. This book offers clear ways to train your brain to be kinder to yourself and to find more joy in the process of creation. I am already enthusiastically recommending this handy mindfulness guide to every writer I know!
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this book.
I really enjoyed reading about these concepts such as embracing discomfort in order to be more equipped to portray conflict in writing, learning to dive deeper into your emotions in order to more effectively portray emotions of characters on the page, and learning to persevere through the many obstacles that can get in the way of your writing. The author offers practical and written exercises to help the reader implement these concepts. The section on dealing with feedback and rejection was particularly meaningful, as every writer I know struggles with how to keep going when it feels as though they’ve failed. This book offers clear ways to train your brain to be kinder to yourself and to find more joy in the process of creation. I am already enthusiastically recommending this handy mindfulness guide to every writer I know!
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this book.
February 16, 2026
I enjoyed this book and underlined plenty of inspiration, even as I am not a meditator. And while it didn't inspire me to start, it did pique my interest, and I can see how meditating can really make writing more focused. As I read, though, I realized that I do meditate - just not sitting still. I meditate every morning on my walks. The ideas for focusing my thoughts and breath were helpful, and I incorporated the spirit, if not the specifics. There are so many writing books out there, and this one has a little different spin. Definitely recommend. Also love the cover. Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
A wonderful book on using mindfulness to strengthen one's writing practice. So excited to apply these strategies to my own writing life!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I like books about creative processes in general. This book has many useful ideas for creative writing, which the author based on different kinds of meditations. Therefore, I think it's a book to slow down and take time for yourself so you can go back to writing again or connect with the work you're already doing. Beautiful cover! I would have loved illustrations inside!
Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC of Sit Write Here by April Dávila, to be published on July 7th, 2026.
Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC of Sit Write Here by April Dávila, to be published on July 7th, 2026.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews