Mindfulness is the idea of becoming aware of our mind; we notice when it wanders and strive to bring it back to the task at hand.  Mindfulness is all about being present and living fully in the moment.

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about mindfulness and its connection to writing.   In particular, how can we as writers, improve our writing practice by being more present in the moment?  Here are 5 steps I’ve discovered that bring me to more mindful writing. 

1)  Show up at the page.  This is the “being present” part of mindfulness practice.  It might seem like a no-brainer, but you can’t write if you don’t actually show up at the page.  These days it’s so easy to putter around and “look busy.”  You can tweet or post on Facebook that you’re writing.  You can hang out with writing friends and talk about how you’re going to write.  You can do lots of things instead of writing, but if you don’t actually pull out your pen and paper to write, you won’t get any writing done.  It’s that simple.

2)  Be aware.  Are you feeling overly judgmental about the current project?  Are you loving your idea a little too much?  Is your inner critic gnashing at the bit?  Notice your emotional impulses (especially fears and worries) as you write, then set them aside and keep writing. 

Tip:  I keep a worry jar on my desk where I write my fears on a slip of paper and put it in the jar.  This way, I get them out of my head and put them away for safe-keeping so that I can keep writing. 

3)  Draw on your Wise Mind.  Wise Mind is where Emotional Mind and Rational Mind intersect.  Wise Mind is where you find the resources to write mindfully and push forward in your work.  When you write, your Rational Mind might be worried about pragmatics: how tough it is to get published and why you should be researching potential agents before you write your book.  Your Emotional Mind will probably focus on emotions like: What’s the use?  Whatever you write will never be perfect so why bother?

Wise mind is the part of you that tells the other two to shush.  It’s the part of your mind that acknowledges that both Rational Mind and Emotional Mind do have a point but that they’re not right about everything.  Yes you need to know something about the business, but if you don’t write, you won’t have anything to sell.  And maybe your book won’t be perfect, but you can work at it and make it better, as long as you put words on the page in the first place.

4)  Sit with your discomfort (for a little while).  I hate mindfulness exercises.  I fidget too much and can’t keep still.  My left knee is always bouncing and I have a nervous tick where I start to laugh if I think people are looking at me.  Still, I make myself do them because I know it’s important.   I do my best to sit with my discomfort for a while, until it starts to melt away.

The same is true for writing.  I used to have this knee-jerk reaction whenever writing something would get hard: I’d start writing something else.  Now I force myself to sit with the uncomfortable project for a little while, to see if my decision to set it aside is one of pragmatics (the project just isn’t feasible) or based on my own discomfort.  If the latter, I try to work through the discomfort.

5) Practice, practice, practice.  This comes back to showing up at the page.  The goal with mindfulness isn’t to be aware of every thought every minute of the day.  The point is to be able to turn on the “mindful” switch and become aware when you need to be.  The same is true for writing.  You need to practice getting “in the zone” so that eventually you will be able to do it on command.

Contrary to popular belief, the brain is a muscle and you need to work it often.  As you become more accustomed to switching on this level of awareness–this mindfulness–you’ll be able to do it whenever your writing needs a boost.

Hello Dear Friends of iggi!

I just realized that the contest for My Funny Valentine closed yesterday and I completely forgot to post the winner this morning!  I’m so sorry to keep you waiting.  (Note to self: don’t move apartments the week you’re running a contest on the blog.)

Without further delay… (drum roll, please)… the winner is…

Prof. Bragg with his Oedipal Ode (in haiku form)!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! *throws confetti*

Prof. Bragg–Please email me with your info(name and address) so I can get that Amazon.com gift card to you.

Thank you to everyone who participated for giving me so many smiles.  You guys are the best!

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Welcome Back to YA Cafe, where book lovers can gather and chat about teen literature.  I’m your barista, along with Ghenet from All About Them Words.

Each Friday we pick from a menu of topics and share our thoughts on our respective blogs.  We’ve also got plans brewing for interviews, events and even some exciting giveaways, so stay tuned!  Join the discussion by responding in the comments, on your own blogs or on twitter using the hash tag #yacafe.

Today’s Special is: Why Contemporary YA Rocks!

Have you been in a Barnes & Noble store lately?  A few months ago, I was browsing my favorite section (teen, duh) and was stunned to discover that they had re-shelved the books into new sub-genres.  There was one huge shelf for Teen Paranormal Romance, one for Teen Fantasy and Adventure and one shelf labeled Teen, which I’m assuming was supposed to house “everything else.”

Am I the only person in the world who is horrified by this idea?

For starters, I have serious doubts about separating teen literature from the general fiction section because this type of division does nothing more than imply value judgments as to some books being “real literature” and some being “just for teens.”  Not to mention that there are so many books that cross the teen-adult barrier, it’s hard to know what to do with these books.  Do we shelve them in both sections?  Make an executive decision?  There are some countries where teen literature and adult literature are shelved together and it seems to work just fine.  What is it with our American culture that makes us want to quarantine teen literature in its own special section?

And now, the largest book chain is also dividing teen literature according to sub-genres.  I suppose I can see the sales motivation behind this idea.  Paranormal romance and teen fantasy are really hot right now, so why not make it easy for teens to find the books they really want to read, right?

Wrong.

When all sub-genres of Teen Fiction were shelved together, there was a good chance that readers looking for some paranormal teen stuff would also come across a “quieter” contemporary book or something historical.  Maybe a reluctant reader who fell in love with books because of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Saga, will discover Carolyn Mackler’s books (for instance The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things).  These books are also about teens and romance, and would be shelved right nearby to boot.

It also goes both ways.  Just like a fantasy-reader might pick up a piece of contemporary YA because it’s right next to Twilight on the shelf, there may also be a teen who reads only contemporary YA but would be drawn to a work of fantasy while browsing.  But now that the books are separated by genre in the teen section, the likelihood of that happening are next to nil.

And while I love fantasy and dystopian YA and even some paranormal romance, I also believe we have to respect the contemporaries.  These books show us life as it is in the here and now.  The stories aren’t set in some crazy futuristic world and people don’t have magic powers.  In fact, the magic of contemporary YA comes from seeing ourselves (or our teen selves) in the stories.

In the end, separating genres within the teen section seems ridiculous to me.  In fact, it seems almost dangerous.  Personally, I don’t believe in separating books by genre or age-group.  Who’s to say that some books are for kids of one age and not for kids of another?  The minute you start separating books or limiting access to certain books, you’re only a small step away from banning them altogether.

This is why, in my new home, I have decided to shelve all works of fiction and narrative non-fiction (from all genres and age groups) mixed together.  I’ve alphabetized by author’s last name, but that is for pragmatic reasons only (so I can actually find the books I’m looking for without having to tear apart the whole house).  I have E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web right next to Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.  I have Virgil (translations and original Latin text) on the shelf next to Rachel Vail’s Brilliant.

By putting all my books of all genres together, I like to think I’m taking one tiny step toward conceptualizing genres as equal, rather than “separate but equal.” (Based on history, we all know how well “separate but equal” turned out in the past.  Why, oh why can’t we humans ever learn?)  OK, so I may not be able change the world with one bookshelf, but it’s a start.

What do you think?  Should books be separated by genre or age group?

Still craving more jolts of YA-licious java?  Fellow barista, Ghenet shares her thoughts on her blog: All About Them Words.  Check it out, then tell us why you love contemporary YA!

BONUS!  To celebrate today’s topic we’re giving away a signed copy of a seriously awesome piece of contemporary YA literature: Sara Zarr’s Story of a Girl.  Ghenet and I got a chance to meet Sara Zarr at the SCBWI conference and she was so inspiring.  Here’s a picture of us with her:


Details about the contest…

 All you have to do to enter the contest is fill out the form either below.  You’ll get extra entries for leaving comments here or on About Them Words.  Deadline is next Wednesday, March 2nd at 11:59PM EST. We’ll announce the winner in next week’s YA Cafe post. Good luck!
 

Let’s suppose you have this super-amazing, sparkly idea and you know it’s a winner and you realize you have to copyright it right now.  (After all you don’t want someone to steal your super-amazing, sparkly idea, right?)  You call up a lawyer friend and ask what you need to do to copyright your super-amazing, sparkly idea and lawyer friend says:

Your heart sinks.  It seems so unfair!  Your idea is so super-amazing and sparkly, someone’s bound to steal it and make gazillions.  Why can’t you protect your idea?

Here are two things to remember:

1) You can protect your idea.  It’s called a trade secret, so as long as you don’t spill the secret, it’s protected.  If you want to protect your idea, zip the lip.

2) The idea is not the book.  We’ve talked about what makes ideas unique and one of the most important things to remember is that ideas are not books.  You could have two books with very similar ideas and yet the execution of the concept turns out to be completely different.  This is true in works outside of literature too.

Examples:

Dracula vs. Twilight
These two books couldn’t be more different.  But, if you strip away all the peripheral details, the idea behind these books is strangely similar.

Antz vs. A Bug’s Life
Anyone who’s ever seen both of these movies knows that while the concept is the same, the execution couldn’t be more different.  Even looking at the DVD covers you get a sense that these are two very different movies.