This is the Mask: A Book Blog

Thank you very much NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC of April Davila’s book sit. write. here.

Take a book about writing: all the fun, fulfillment, and frustration; add in solid, science-backed benefits of meditation, and season with a dash of humor, and you have April Davila’s excellent book sit. write. here.

This book is not a writing guide; it is a guide for writers to tap into their deepest reserves of creativity and approach their writing with confidence and direction. Davila reaches down to the roots of writing resistance, exploring the myriad reasons writers don’t write despite the desperate urge to do so. Case in point: I have folded laundry, washed dishes, made brownies for my husband’s birthday, washed more dishes, and wrote this review instead of working on the poem I started last night. (Yes, I understand that writing a book review is writing; however, I find reviews much easier to write than any of the writing projects I have going on.) Next, you will probably find me color-coding my facial serums or organizing my sock drawer. For whatever reason, a writer’s biggest roadblock to writing is themselves. Very often it is fear of the inner critic, an insidious voice that lives in our heads and is an absolute wretch. Ironically, my writing is the one thing my inner critic doesn’t complain about. Thank heaven for small mercies.

Davila’s book teaches writers how to approach, accept, and move on from these mental blocks. Don’t ignore them, she advises, that only makes the problem worse. Instead, accept the block, allow that you are struggling, and then meditate on why you have that block. When you come to an answer, ask why again. And again. Keep asking until you are able to acknowledge that you as a writer is not the problem, nor is your writing; but that outside factors influencing you are. And then, Davila says, go write.

I received this ARC as an eBook and highlighted many passages. I want a hard copy as well, because this is the kind of book you make notes in and turn to again and again, and because I’m a book goblin that piles writing books on my desk and writes in bed. Writers of all types, artists, any kind of creative person who has ever felt stuck or doubted their skill will greatly benefit from reading this book.

sit. write. here. is set for publication July 7, 2026.