Sit Write Here

01/31/2026

The first page is more than an introduction. It’s an invitation. In this edit, I help a writer craft a stronger invitation by making the reader’s role more active. That meant cutting a few lines of explanation and shifting the focus to discovery. Once the reader had something to lean into, the tension increased and the page gained momentum.

Watch the edit in full: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vAUZcp8Mqc

If this kind of grounded, reader-focused editing helps you in your own work, I’d love for you to subscribe.

01/31/2026

Hi friends, I’ve have a new Facebook profile. 💜
I’d love to have you there. Follow me here:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570089042208

April Dávila is an award-winning author, speaker, and creator of the Sit Write Here writing coaching program, which integrates mindfulness meditation techniques to help writers quiet their inner critics, overcome writer's block, and edit more effectively

01/29/2026

Writing can feel like something you’re supposed to figure out alone, and most of us never get real guidance on how to build a writing life that actually works.
There’s an event in January that will help you move forward and build the writing life you dreamed about.

On January 10–11, writer and writing coach Paulette Perhach is hosting The Writing Life You’ve Always Wanted, a live two-day summit to help you map out your 2026 writing year with clarity and support.

This summit will help you choose your project, build your writing routine, and set up a realistic system that enables you to complete your story and make writing feel less daunting.
Paulette has 20 New York Times pieces, two viral essays read by over two million people, and bylines in publications like Vox and Elle, but what she does best is help writers create a routine and structure that feels human and realistic.
If you want more direction next year, comment WRITING, and I’ll send you the link. You also get 10% off when you sign up with the code APRIL.

01/29/2026

Nerd Word of the Week:
Prolix – using too many words
As in: His prolix speech bored the audience.

Wordiness is often a symptom, not a style. Sometimes we’re trying to earn the sentence instead of trusting it.

Where are you being prolix right now? Share the paragraph you suspect could be cut by a third.

01/28/2026

When I edit, I’m always thinking about the reader. Not just what they’re told, but what they feel. In this clip, we focus on a first page that was technically sound but emotionally flat. We didn’t need to change the premise. We needed to tune the emotional pacing. Through just a few line-level changes, we brought forward the story’s deeper tension and made the character’s experience more vivid.
Watch the full edit here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vAUZcp8Mqc

Subscribe if you want weekly examples of how to bring more emotional texture to your scenes.

01/28/2026

I hear this all the time:
“I have an idea I love… but I don’t know how to start it.”

The opening matters. It sets the tone. It teaches your nervous system whether the work feels possible or overwhelming.

That’s why I’m teaching Hooked from the Start.
A live Zoom workshop on February 3, 2026 at 5pm.

We’ll talk about how to open a story in a way that pulls the reader in and steadies you as the writer. Not tricks. Not hype. Craft you can actually use, paired with the mindset that helps you stay with the work.

If starting feels harder than it should, this is for you.

Register now 👉 https://aprildavila.com/hook-from-the-start/

Unlock the secrets to crafting an irresistible first page that captivates readers from the start, with writing coach April Dávila.

01/27/2026

That voice in your head saying:
“Is this good enough?”
“Who do you think you are?”
“What if this fails?”

It’s not trying to stop you.
It’s trying to protect you.

From judgment.
From disappointment.
From going all in and getting hurt.

But here’s the mistake most writers make:
They either fight that voice… or they obey it.

Both slow you down.

📌 The inner critic doesn’t need to be silenced.
📌 It needs to stop making decisions.
📌 You can acknowledge it — and keep writing anyway.

Finished novels aren’t written by people without self-doubt.
They’re written by people who don’t let self-doubt drive.

That’s a skill.
And like any skill, it can be learned.

01/26/2026

It’s easy to think of editing as cutting words or rewriting paragraphs, but more often, editing is about listening. In this session, I listen to what the story is already trying to say and help the writer shape it more clearly. We focus on one section of a first page where the intention was buried under extra explanation. Once we cleared that space, the voice sharpened and the reader’s path into the story became much clearer.
Watch how it unfolds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vAUZcp8Mqc

Subscribe if you’re looking for edits that clarify your story without rewriting your voice.

01/26/2026

"“Writers don’t write from experience… If you wrote from experience, you’d get maybe one book. Writers write from empathy.” — Nikki Giovanni

Empathy keeps characters from becoming ideas. It asks you to stay with someone else’s interior long enough to understand it. The work deepens when you stop judging and start witnessing.

Who are you being asked to understand more deeply in your draft?

"

01/24/2026

The truth is, readers don’t engage with what you write on a logical level first. They respond emotionally. In this clip, I work with a writer to shape the emotional flow of their first page, not by rewriting content, but by slowing the pacing at one key moment. That pause created space for the reader to feel what the character was feeling. That’s where connection happens.

See the full First Page Friday episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt2gvfjz3v8

And if you’re looking for more emotional precision in your work, subscribe for new edits every week.