The art of spotting the elephant where the rest of the world sees a hat.

Published amidst the chaos of the Second World War, the children’s book Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is the most translated French piece ever written.

It is not only a beautiful novella about roses, sheep and planets told from the point of view of a stranded pilot — but a philosophical goldmine—brimming with lessons on creative living, each as pertinent today as they were over 70 years ago. Here are seven that you can take with you on your own creative journey.

Being ‘Grown Up’ Kills Creativity

The Little Prince playfully mocks the adult need to rationalize the world around them:

“I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn’t much improved my opinion of them.”

Their need to assign numbers and names instead of feeling with their hearts and imaginations.

“All grown-ups were once children…but only few of them remember it.”

If instead, you can learn to reacquaint yourself with your heart and your imagination, then your creative muse might just re-appear as well.

Don’t take life so seriously…

On his adventures, the little prince meets a businessman who is forever counting all the galaxy’s stars so that he might own them:

“I administer them,’ replied the businessman. ‘I count them and recount them. It is difficult. But I am a man who is naturally interested in matters of consequence.”

His intense seriousness has left him with a lonely and mundane existence, in which he is unable to appreciate the wonder contained in the stars he owns. The businessman’s life is devoid of the non-essential. In other words play.

There are numerous studies showing that play makes us smarter as well as making space for creative renewal and although it can be hard to prioritise this in our busy lives, if you value creativity then you should try to stop taking yourself so seriously.

Leave some room for the imagination.

When the little prince first meets the narrator, he asks him to draw a sheep. The narrator tries drawing several sheep, but the little prince feels that they are all inadequate in some way, either too sickly or too old.

The narrator eventually gets frustrated and draws this instead:

“This is only his box. The sheep you asked for is inside.”

I was very surprised to see a light break over the face of my young judge:

“That is exactly the way I wanted it!

The little prince is delighted by his box. His imagination is free to roam in the unknown. You should never underestimate the power that a well crafted mystery box can hold on a reader or viewer’s imagination.

Be Satisfied With Where You Are

When conversing with the railway switchman, as express trains thunder past shaking the cabin, the little prince asks curiously:

“Are they coming back already… Were they not satisfied with where they were before?”

To which the switchman replies:

“No-one is ever satisfied with where he is,”

In today’s world, perhaps even more so than when Antoine de Saint-Exupéry first penned the Little Prince, we humans tend to be endlessly striving—seeking higher status, accruing wealth or chasing success—it’s rare to meet anyone who is truly satisfied with where they are at that moment. As Rudyard Kipling once quipped ‘…one day you will meet someone who cares for none of these things, and you will realize how poor you have become.’

Travel Broadens Creative Horizons

On another planet, the Little Prince has a conversation with the geographer who explains to him that:

“It is not the geographer who goes out to count the towns, the rivers, the mountains, the seas, the oceans, and the deserts. The geographer is much too important to go loafing about. He does not leave his desk.”

It is now well documented in the scientific literature that traveling gives us a more creative mind. New sounds, experiences, language and places spark different synapses in our brains.

As Adam Galinsky, a professor at Columbia Business School says: “Foreign experiences increase both cognitive flexibility and depth and integrativeness of thought, the ability to make deep connections between disparate forms.”

Making connections between seemingly disconnected ideas is creativity in a nutshell. So go ahead, grab a map, leave the desk behind and explore the world for yourself.

Creativity takes Time

When expressing her love for the little prince the flower says:

“Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.”

The same is true of creative living. There are no short cuts. Most overnight successes are 10,000 hours in the making. Don’t rush the process—better still learn to enjoy it—as creating anything worthwhile takes time, love and dedication.

See the World Through a Child’s Eyes

It’s not that people find it impossible to imagine the boa constrictor in place of a hat, but the vast majority wouldn’t bother to look. After all, it wouldn’t seem very sensible.

“But, whoever it was, he, or she, would always say: ‘That is a hat.’ Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors, or primeval forests, or stars. I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.”

You were born as a creative human. It’s the education system that teaches creativity out of you.

The pictures of elephants being eaten by boa constrictors are everywhere, if you only take the time to look and stop worrying about what the rest of the world may think. Only then can we begin to pay attention to that which is invisible and essential:

“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

This is the starting point for creative living.

Add a creative spark to your wardrobe…

By popular demand, the creative team at Litographs have crafted this design entirely from the text of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s timeless tale of roses, sheep and interplanetary travel. Feast your eyes on the design below…

You can find The Little Prince t-shirts, posters and tote bags here.

Ryan Holiday shares ten books that give delight to the very marrow of his bones.

Enter Ryan

“I’ve always devoured books. Why, exactly, I’m not sure. Obviously a big reason to read is because it’s fun. As Petrarch, a famous book lover observed some 700 years ago, “books give delight to the very marrow of one’s bones.” But if I was honest, I would say the real reason that I’ve spent so much time with my nose inside this book or that book is because I have been searching for something: a way to life. There is a Latin expression: liber medicina animi (a book is the soul’s medicine). That’s what I’ve been after.

My whole life and career, I’ve been seeking out, reading, and taking notes on books that can teach me things. How to live. How to learn. How to find happiness. How to understand the past. How to prepare for the future. How to succeed. How to manage relationships. How to be a good person.

I used to go around and ask every smart person I met — even emailing important people I didn’t know — “What books do you recommend to a kid like me?” That’s how I was introduced to the Stoics. That’s how I found many of the books on the list below. The quake books — as Tyler Cowen put it — that shake you to your core.

“I’m not saying that you have to be a reader to save your soul in the modern world. I’m saying it helps.” —Walter Mosley

Having been introduced to them by those kind, patient individuals, I thought I would pay it forward by putting together a list of the books that have shaken up my life and that have helped make me the person that I am. It’s a list that has changed over time — and will continue to change — but it’s a good enough place to start.”

Below are ten books from Ryan’s bookshelf

1.

The Meditations

by Marcus Aurelius

To me, this is not only one of greatest books ever written but perhaps the only book of its kind. Just imagine: the private thoughts of the most powerful man in the world, admonishing himself on how to be better, more just, more immune to temptation, wiser. It is the definitive text on self-discipline, personal ethics, humility, self-actualization and strength. If you read it and aren’t profoundly changed by it, it’s probably because as Aurelius says “what doesn’t transmit light creates its own darkness.” You HAVE to read the Hays’s translation. If you end up loving Marcus, go get The Inner Citadel and Philosophy as a Way of Life by Pierre Hadot that studies the man (and men) behind the work. And if you want more on the topic, Marcus inspired my book The Obstacle is the Way.

2 + 3

Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Life and Love from Dear Sugar & Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

by Cheryl Strayed & Anne Lamott

It was wonderful to read these two provocative books of essays by two incredibly wise and compassionate women. Cheryl Strayed, also the author of Wild, was the anonymous columnist behind the online column, Dear Sugar and boy, are we better off for it. This is not a random smattering of advice. This book contains some of the most cogent insights on life, pain, loss, love, success, youth that I have ever seen. I won’t belabor the point: read this book. Thank me later. Anne Lamott’s book is ostensibly about the art of writing, but really it too is about life and how to tackle the problems, temptations and opportunities life throws at us. Both will make you think and both made me a better person.

4.

Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son by George Horace Lorimer and Letters to His Son

by Lord Chesterfield

These two books of letters are great — I wish my father had written me stuff this good. The first book is the (supposedly) preserved correspondence between Old Gorgon Graham, a self-made millionaire in Chicago, and his son who is coming of age and entering the family business. The letters date back to the 1890s but feel like they could have been written in any era. Honest. Genuine.Packed with good advice. Chesterfield wrote his letters to his illegitimate son, tutoring him on how to learn, how to think, how to act, how to deal with important people. I don’t agree with all his advice but most of it is great.

5.

48 Laws of Power and Mastery

by Robert Greene

There is no living writer (or person) who has been more influential to me than Robert Greene. I met him when I was 19 years old and he’s shaped me as a person, as a writer, as a thinker. You MUST read his books. His work on power and strategy are critical for anyone trying to accomplish anything. In life, power is force we are constantly bumping up against. People have power of over us, we seek power ourselves that we might be free enough and influential enough to accomplish our goals — so we must understand where power comes from, how it works and how to get it. But pure power is meaningless. It must be joined to mastery and purpose. So read his book Mastery so that you can figure your life’s task and how to dedicate yourself to it.

6.

Man’s Search for Meaning

by Viktor Frankl

Frankl is one of the most profound modern thinkers on meaning and purpose. His contribution was to change the question from the vague philosophy of “What is the meaning of life?” to man being asked and forced to answer with his actions. He looks at how we find purpose by dedicating ourselves to a cause, learning to love and finding a meaning to our suffering. His other two books on the topic, Will To Meaning and Man’s Search for Ultimate Meaning have gems in them as well.

7.

Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window

by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi

The book has sold something like 5 million copies in Japan alone (an insane number). Totto-Chan is a special figure in modern Japanese culture — she is a celebrity on par with Oprah or Ellen, with a magazine, news show and exalted position to boot. The book describes a childhood in pre-WWII Japan as a poorly misunderstood girl who obviously suffered from attention disorders and excess energy. It wasn’t until she met a special school principal — unlike any I have ever heard of — who finally GOT her. And I mean understood and cared about and unconditionally supported her in a way that both inspires me and makes me deeply jealous. If only all of us could be so lucky…

8.

Fight Club

by Chuck Palahniuk

I’m amazed how many young people haven’t read this book. Truly life-changing. This is the classic of my generation; it is the book that defines our age and ultimately, how to find meaning in it. It’s a cautionary tale too — about being too caught up in revolutionary ideas.

9.

Letters from a Stoic

by Seneca

After Marcus Aurelius, this is one of my favorite books. While Marcus wrote mainly for himself, Seneca had no trouble advising and aiding others. In fact, that was his job — he was Nero’s tutor, tasked with reducing the terrible impulses of a terrible man. His advice on grief, on wealth, on power, on religion, and on life are always there when you need them. Seneca’s letters are the best place to start, but the essays in On the Shortness of Life are excellent as well. You can draw a pretty straight line from Seneca to the essays of Montaigne (also read: How To Live, a biography of Montaigne) to the modern day writings of Nassim Nicholas Taleb (read: The Black Swan, Fooled By Randomness and The Bed of Procrustes).

10.

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

by Mordecai Richler

What a book. It’s not as good as What Makes Sammy Runbut it’s so damn good. “A boy can be two, three, four potential people,” Duddy’s uncle tells him, “but a man is only one. He murders the others.” Which potential person will you be? Which part of you will you allow to rule? The part that betrays your friends, family, principles to achieve success? Or are there other priorities?

You can find Ryan’s latest book ‘Ego is the Enemy’ which an Olympic Gold Medalist read and said that she would: “like to rip out every page and use them as wallpaper so she could be reminded constantly of the humility and work it takes to truly succeed. You can also find Ryan’s full list of life-changing books here or sign up for his reading newsletter.

If you’re looking for a unique gift for a literary friend then be sure to also peruse Litographs collection of t-shirts, tote-bags and posters created entirely from the text of their favorite books.

Books To Base Your Life On was originally published in The Journal on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

— Your Writing Prompt —

How Do You Overcome Writer’s Block?

We all have days when, as Kurt Vonnegut eloquently put it — “you feel like an armless, legless man with a crayon in his mouth.”

When Dr. Seuss got writer’s block, he would try on a different silly hat and imagine what kind of character would wear that hat, before angling that perspective at his problem.

Before the 1940s, writer’s block didn’t exist, heck, there wasn’t even a word for it.

Has this ever happened to you? Tell us how you cure your Blank Page Syndrome. What hammers do you hold in your toolkit for crushing your creative gremlins?

The writing prompt: Over to you…

• What do you do when the muse refuses to show up?
• What quirks get you into the sacred realm of flowing inspiration? Do you have any creative routines?
• How do you slay the beasts of distraction, drown out the noise of self-doubt?
• Who have you borrowed wisdom from to get back on track?

Keep reading to see what you can win and for inspiration straight from the pens of 15 literary geniuses.

A note from the founder at Litographs

We’re rallying writers around the world to ask for support in launching our latest project on Kickstarter. We’ve always wanted to print your words, and now each and every backer will be able to wear their own unique text on a fully customized scarf or t-shirt.

When all is said and done with this writing prompt, we’ll select one winner from the most creative responses and send one of our first custom scarves or t-shirts — filled with any text you wish (up to 40,000 words). So whether you would love to see your own writing in print (you can export your Medium archive too)— we will handcraft you a truly one-of-a-kind scarf or t-shirt. You can even customize the color, style and size of your text.

We can’t wait to read your responses!

– Danny Fein, Founder at Litographs

1

“No one ever gets talker’s block. No one wakes up in the morning, discovers he has nothing to say and sits quietly, for days or weeks, until the muse hits, until the moment is right, until all the craziness in his life has died down… The reason we don’t get talker’s block is that we’re in the habit of talking without a lot of concern for whether or not our inane blather will come back to haunt us. Talk is cheap. Talk is ephemeral. How can one get talker’s block after all this practice? Writer’s block isn’t hard to cure. Just write poorly. Continue to write poorly, in public, until you can write better. Do it every day. Every single day. Not a diary, not fiction, but analysis. Clear, crisp, honest writing about what you see in the world.”

— Seth Godin on writing like you talk

2

“They say an elephant never forgets. Well, you are not an elephant. Take notes, constantly. Save interesting thoughts, quotations, films, technologies…the medium doesn’t matter, so long as it inspires you. When you’re stumped, go to your notes like a wizard to his spellbook. Mash those thoughts together. Extend them in every direction until they meet.”

— Aaron Koblin on saving thoughts

3

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

— Ira Glass on fighting your way through…

4

“I’ve long been inspired by an idea I first learned about in The Artist’s Way called morning pages. Morning pages are three pages of writing done every day, typically encouraged to be in “long hand”, typically done in the morning, that can be about anything and everything that comes into your head. It’s about getting it all out of your head, and is not supposed to be edited or censored in any way. The idea is that if you can get in the habit of writing three pages a day, that it will help clear your mind and get the ideas flowing for the rest of the day. Unlike many of the other exercises in that book, I found that this one actually worked and was really really useful.”

— Buster Benson on morning pages

5

“I don’t believe in writer’s block. Think about it — when you were blocked in college and had to write a paper, didn’t it always manage to fix itself the night before the paper was due? Writer’s block is having too much time on your hands. If you have a limited amount of time to write, you just sit down and do it. You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”

— Jodi Picoult on time constraints

6

“Stop waiting for motivation or inspiration to strike you and set a schedule for your habits. This is the difference between professionals and amateurs. Professionals set a schedule and stick to it. Amateurs wait until they feel inspired or motivated.”

— James Clear on sticking to a schedule

7

“How can you defeat the snarling goblins of creative block? With books, of course. Just grab one… Now, open it to a random page. Stare at a random sentence. Every book holds the seed of a thousand stories. Every sentence can trigger an avalanche of ideas. Mix ideas across books: one thought from Aesop and one line from Chomsky, or a fragment from the IKEA catalog melded with a scrap of dialog from Kerouac. By forcing your mind to connect disparate bits of information, you’ll jump-start your thinking, and you’ll fill in blank after blank with thought after thought. The goblins of creative block have stopped snarling and have been shooed away, you’re dashing down thoughts, and your synapses are clanging away in a symphonic burst of ideas. And if you’re not, whip open another book. Pluck out another sentence. And ponder mash-ups of out-of-context ideas until your mind wanders and you end up in a new place, a place that no one else ever visited.”

— Jessica Hagy on pondering mash-ups

8

“If you’ve got writer’s block, you don’t have writer’s block. You have reporter’s block. You only are having trouble writing because you don’t actually yet know what you’re trying to say, and that usually means you don’t have enough information. That’s the signal to walk away from the keyboard, think about what it is that you don’t really know yet, and go do that reporting.”

— Susan Orlean on reporter’s block

9

“I don’t believe in writer’s block. Nor thinkers block, entrepreneur’s block, musician’s block, sculptor’s block, painter’s block, architect’s block, coder’s block, designer’s block. You get the idea. With rare exception, your best stuff never comes from the dogged pursuit of a quest in a vacuum. It comes from space and life. Living and connecting so deeply that what’s inside simply must come out. Next time you find yourself out of ideas. Stop trying to get ideas. Step away. Make art in another arena. Run. Jump. Hug. Play. Talk until 5am. Travel. Laugh uncontrollably. Weep relentlessly. Love deeply. Then come back. And do your art.”

— Jonathan Fields on making art in another arena

10

“I deal with writer’s block by lowering my expectations. I think the trouble starts when you sit down to write and imagine that you will achieve something magical and magnificent — and when you don’t, panic sets in. The solution is never to sit down and imagine that you will achieve something magical and magnificent. I write a little bit, almost every day, and if it results in two or three or (on a good day) four good paragraphs, I consider myself a lucky man. Never try to be the hare. All hail the tortoise.”

― Malcolm Gladwell on hailing the tortoise

11

“The first two, three, four weeks are wasted. I just show up in front of the computer. Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too. If she doesn’t show up invited, eventually she just shows up.”

— Isabel Allende on showing up

12

“If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to ­music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don’t just stick there scowling at the problem. But don’t make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people’s words will pour in where your lost words should be. Open a gap for them, create a space. Be patient.”

— Hilary Mantel on getting away from your desk

13

“I encourage my students at times like these to get one page of anything written, three hundred words of memories or dreams or stream of consciousness on how much they hate writing — just for the hell of it, just to keep their fingers from becoming too arthritic, just because they have made a commitment to try to write three hundred words every day. Then, on bad days and weeks, let things go at that… Your unconscious can’t work when you are breathing down its neck. You’ll sit there going, ‘Are you done in there yet, are you done in there yet?’ But it is trying to tell you nicely, ‘Shut up and go away.’”

— Anne Lamott on writing just for the hell of it

14

“I write while walking on a treadmill. I started this practice when I was working on Drop Dead Healthy, and read all these studies about the dangers of the sedentary life. Sitting is alarmingly bad for you. One doctor told me that “sitting is the new smoking.” So I bought a treadmill and put my computer on top of it. It took me about 1,200 miles to write my book. I kind of love it — it keeps me awake, for one thing… Force yourself to generate dozens of ideas. A lot of those ideas will be terrible. Most of them, in fact. But there will be some sparkling gems in there too. Try to set aside 20 minutes a day just for brainstorming.”

— A.J. Jacobs on counting the miles

15

“Remember how L-U-C-K-Y you are to be a creative person to begin with and quit your bellyaching. Get to work now!”

— Debbie Millman on gratitude

The most thoughtful response submitted before midnight PST on May 9th will not only be shared by Litographs, but you’ll also be sent one of the first custom scarves or tees handcrafted with the words of your choice!

Once you have published your response below, be sure to tweet it out using #WritingPrompt and mentioning @Litographs

– Poet Tyler Knott Gregson asks you to –

Find Miracles in the Mundane

Are you a creative soul? Does the challenge of recognizing the beauty in everyday life excite you? If so, read on to learn about how you can take part in this month’s exciting Medium prompt and win one of Tyler Knott Gregson’s signed Litographs.

Enter Tyler Knott Gregson:

“When I began this journey of trying to write an original haiku, every single day, I never intended on making it this far; I never intended on keeping that promise to myself. I wanted to use haiku, and the daily creation of them, as a way to pay closer attention to what I believe to be the most dominant and vital element we have.”

“Doing this for a month was a challenge, to come up with something new each day. Doing it for half a year was even more difficult… doing it for over six years is something I could have never imagined, and the effect it’s had on me is the biggest surprise of all.”

“In short, it changed my life, and it changed absolutely everything about the way I see the world. I’ve come to see that all my poems share a common thread.”

“I’ve partnered with Litographs and Medium to invite you to do the same. Join me for 30 days to find the beauty in the commonplace and search for the everyday #miracleinthemundane”

Namaste,

Tyler

WHAT IS A “LITOGRAPH”?

– Creating Art entirely from Text –

Here at Litographs our talented illustrators worked with Tyler to create a beautiful design inspired by the poems from his book ‘Chasers of the Light’. Then we printed the words of his book in the shape of the design. We’re so thrilled with how the design turned out!

You can find Tyler’s t-shirts, posters and tote-bags using the link below (it might just be the best looking poem collection you’ve ever worn)

HOW TO PLAY

– And win a signed poster –

Our everyday experience is framed by our own attention and perceptions. We can get so caught up in being productive that we rarely take the time to notice and appreciate the world around us.

Our challenge to you is to be a careful observer of everyday life. Start from the premise that everything has the potential to be fascinating. The world is full of astonishing beauty and wonder if you open your eyes to it.

Ready? Take these steps to enter:

• Notice something that feels like a miniature miracle to you. This could be anything from flowers peaking through a snow cover to the way a loved one crinkles her nose when she reads. Find the beauty that’s been overlooked in your life.
• Write it down or take a photo. This might be pencil scribblings, a handwritten haiku, or spontaneous self-expression. You might photograph your words (perhaps they were on the back of a receipt or hidden away inside a coffee cup).
• Share to Instagram or Medium using #miracleinthemundane and tag both @Litographs and @TylerKnott (perhaps dedicate it to someone and tag them too). You can enter as many times as you like during the next 30 days (don’t forget to use #miracleinthemundane and tag both Litographs and Tyler Knott so that we can find your posts!).

INSPIRATION

– Six ideas from Tyler–

1.

“Magic is everywhere. Go looking.”

–@TylerKnott

2.

“There are always new ways to see the world, always new ways to reflect. Look closer at the world around you, open your eyes wide, there is so much more to see.”

–@TylerKnott

3.

“You flatter me too much little fortune cookie. Feels odd to receive a compliment the very moment before you eat the thing leaving you such sweet notes.”

–@TylerKnott

4.

“In a past life I firmly believe I was a Disney princess that could speak to all animals. I understood their whistles and clicks and growls and howls, and they understood me, singing or speaking. I think that sometimes that past me bleeds through and they still can. I am wildly in love with every living thing on this planet, and will never stop being overwhelmingly excited when I see any reminder of their existence.”

–@TylerKnott

5.

“If they can love, judge-less and open, compassionate and simple hearted, can we, too? If they can give every drop of affection and face all days with joy and reckless abandon, why not we? We began as more than all this, pure in infant ways, free from the chains of cynicism and callousness. We began full, soaked sponges, saturated with kindness and light; we cannot let the hand wringing and tight squeezing of life weary hands empty us. We cannot dry up.”

–@TylerKnott

6.

“I see them now, grown and large in the largest ways, and I cannot understand how they came from this. How they sprouted tall and wide from such tiny seeds. I see the grey and white around their eyes and can trace the years that have passed, but I still see the sparkle inside them. While all else has begun to fade and wear, they have never lost that joy. Neither have I. Nor will we ever.”

–@TylerKnott

– OVER TO YOU –

It’s time to share your “Miracle in the Mundane”… simply post to Instagram with #miracleinthemundane or start writing your response below!

Submissions are now closed. Congratulations to our winners!

The Bookshelf

– Join our Literary Community –

Join over 150,000 people who get the Litographs Bookshelf — our monthly newsletter with more inspiring writing prompts (like this one!), author anniversaries and literary interestingness.

— Your Writing Prompt —

In our November prompt nearly a hundred of you shared thoughtful responses around why you love to read. To round off 2015 we’ve partnered with bestselling author M.T. Anderson who wants to ask you:

“Why is it Important to Write for All Ages and Genres?”

The Writing Prompt: Over to You!

• Do you believe that it’s important for children and teenagers to fall in love with reading, and that YA fiction can often be the gateway to a life-long reading habit? (Or perhaps like John Green you feel that teens are smarter than most adults give them credit for!)
• Which genres have you fallen in love with? With options ranging from Bizarro Fiction to Asemic Writing and Ergodic Literature to more traditional genres, what value does this multitude of weird and wonderful literary genres add to society?
• Do you feel that it is a privilege to explore those early years that tend to be a significant point of change for most of us, when we are at our most vulnerable and when everything in life is still possible? Do you appreciate the opportunity to experiment with brave categories and to take risks with your penmanship?

Already have thoughts brewing? Fantastic! Skip to the end of this post to see what you can win and to start writing your response. Otherwise keep reading for thoughts by M. T. Anderson, John Green and others…

Enter M.T. Anderson

“Like a lot of professional writers, I’ve built my career in various genres: from picture books to historical novels, from nonfiction to science fiction, from kids’ adventure stories to absurdist fiction for adults. But I’m best known for the books I’ve written for teens — and so I’m asked all the time why I bother to write for that audience.

As soon as I could, at age thirteen or so, I stopped reading books for teens and started reading books for adults. Given who I was, this mainly meant space opera — the more extra eyes the better — and fantasy novels about lonely, geeky young men who discovered they had incredible psionic powers that made them nationally important and strikingly attractive. While my taste may not have been everyone’s, that experience of moving on early to books for adults used to be pretty common.

Back then, it often felt like books written for teens talked down to us, patted us on the head, hid the difficult stuff.

So as an adult, I wanted to write books for younger people that were as sophisticated as novels for adults. It strikes me as weird — if kindly intended — when an adult says to me, “This book is too good for teens. You should have sold it to adults.” What is that supposed to mean? That kids deserve something dumber, crappier? Who do they think teens are? Teens are full of wonderfully strange ideas and eccentric enthusiasms. That’s who I want to write to”

Each one of my books comes out of the experiences I remember from when I was a kid. In the case of Feed, my sci-fi satire, of course technology was not as advanced back in the 80s as it is now — and yet, at the same time, I already felt like I had the voice of advertising in my head. It whispered to me not just about what I should desire, but also about who I should be, how I could be loved. Those voices in all our heads have simply gotten louder in the decades since then.

I wanted to write this book for an audience still fresh enough, still young enough, to be able to imagine the world in a different way. Teen readers are passionate because they’re still building their world. Adults have already stacked up a world around them and are squatting in it, complacent. I wanted readers to seize on this book and argue intensely with it as they read it — and young readers are much more likely to do that.

Once when I was speaking about the book at a college, a kid came up to me and waved a copy of Feed in my face. “I hated this book,” he said. “I hated it so much I bit it.”

He wasn’t wrong. He held the book up. It’s not a short book, and he’d chomped off the whole corner — really admirably strong jaws — with the torn pages scalloped by the ridges of his teeth.

“Wow. Yeah,” I said, and we high-fived, and then both started laughing until we cried.”

Here at Litographs we have collaborated with M. T. Anderson to create this design entirely from the text of ‘FEED’. Learn more about that process here… or keep reading to find out how you can win one of these t-shirts and a signed copy of FEED for yourself.

The most thoughtful response will receive a signed copy of M T Anderson’s ‘FEED’, a brilliantly ironic satire about identity crises, consumerism, and star-crossed teenage love and one of the first Litographs FEED T-shirts! One runner up will also receive a signed copy of Feed.

**Contest now over, but we’d still love to hear your response!**

Below are 7 insights on the value of writing for all ages to spark your imagination…

1

“I think teenagers are asking big and interesting questions… there’s an intensity to it, they’re asking them for the first time, when you’re coming of age you’ve never thought about them before… when you were 7 you just didn’t have that thought yet, when you’re trying to grapple with these big questions over whether there is meaning in human life, or whether you should be deriving it from some source… that’s a really interesting question and I think that we should credit teenagers with the way that they grapple with that. I don’t know I find them inspirational actually, I think a lot times they’re smarter than I am, a lot smarter than I am in terms of the way that they grab onto a question and really really wrestle with it without fear.”

— John Green

2

“Young adult literature has long been the refuge of those on the outer edges of the societal zeitgeist. Women have legitimacy within its realm, seeing successes not often available to them on the mainstream market. And with such successes, pushback has happened regularly upon gendered lines — realliterature is literature written by white men. Books by young women about young women are called “fluffy,” “immature,” and not dealing with serious enough topics. Ruth Graham rolls her eyes not because emotional catharsis and likability are inherently unworthy, but because these books are about girl things experienced by girls. We’ve been trained that this is less important than listening to Jonathan Franzen pontificate.”

– Dianna Anderson

3

“By writing YA, we’re not crossing out adult readers. YA isn’t a reading level, it’s a category of story about a particular stage in life. Many of my adult friends thought if I started writing “teen fiction” it wouldn’t be a story they’d enjoy. But about half of YA readers are over 18, and a huge portion of the adult readers of YA are over 30. I didn’t find YA and start reading it myself until I was in college — and I’m so glad I did find it, because it reminded me how honest and surprising and deeply human fiction can be. When you write YA, you’re writing to a wide, diverse audience. Adults buy and read YA all the time. Of course, it’s important to write with teen readers in mind, too, since they’re a significant portion of the audience, and no one can sense preachy messages or condescending stories like a teen.”

— Chuck Sambuchino

4

“I’ve had other friends look at me in bewilderment when they realize my books are young adult novels. I can practically see all their assumptions whirling through their mind: These books are for teens, so I probably won’t be interested. They’re probably dumbed down and not worth it. What is my friend doing writing for teens, anyway? She’s better than that! As a writer, my own path to young adult fiction was an unexpected one. Some stereotypes about YA fiction are based on the idea that a YA novelist is deeply nostalgic for her teen years and wants to relive them through fiction. For me, there are some very specific things about YA that make creative sense. YA is particularly story-based. Think TV and film: you are drawn in to a story immediately, or at least, that’s the goal. Story, story, story. This is YA. I’m the first to admit that I’ve never been especially drawn to adult literary fiction. I very rarely connect with it, although I have read and loved the odd literary novel. This is because I generally value story over literary affect. I tend to prefer an arresting tale over a pretty sentence.”

— Malinda Lo

5

“The truth of the matter is that writing for young adults is, for many authors, simply more rewarding than writing for adults. Remember being a teenager? The excruciating embarrassment, the wanting to be noticed whilst wanting to disappear, the massive questions about the point of everything, the just-as-important questions about sexuality, religion, and how to make your hair behave? Well teens today have moved beyond all that (they have Google, Wikipedia and a whole host of hair-styling tutorials on YouTube). What they’re looking for instead is brave new worlds where the things that adults prefer to brush under the carpet (rape, suicide, self harm, poverty, compulsive gaming, racism and, more generally, the utterly unfair nature of life on this planet) can be held up to the light, considered, explored and, ideally, used as the basis for a fantastic story.”

– Gemma Malley

6

“When people comment that I managed to create an authentic teenage voice with the main characters in both my novels I often joke that it’s because I’m very immature for my age. Having met teenagers who are far more articulate and intelligent than I am, it’s definitely only a joke, but for me, adolescence still doesn’t feel that far removed. There is something about that time — all the anxiety and worry and insecurity but also all the excitement and thrill of discovering boys and sex and drinking for the first time — that seems to be indelibly imprinted onto my subconscious and, as a result, accessing all those emotions is easy for me.”

— Louise O’Neill

7

“My theory is that we’re always every age we ever were. My teenage self is still hanging around; it’s just choosing to engage with him, writing books for him, seeing what he felt and needed that he wasn’t getting. I genuinely think it’s the simple action of taking a teenager seriously, which is amazingly rare.”

— Patrick Ness

Now it’s your turn! Tell us why you think it’s important to write for all ages below…

REMEMBER…

Tag your response on Medium with “Writing Prompt” then tweet it using #WriteforAll & @Litographs. You must submit your response before 26th December for a chance to win one of the beautiful Litograph ‘FEED’ t-shirts and a signed copy of FEED.

We look forward to reading your responses!

To celebrate the launch of Litographs Book Club we’re asking literature lovers from all over the world to share their answer to the question, “Why do you read?”

Read on to find inspiration for your answer from 19 well-known authors and inspiring public figures — from Barack Obama to John Green— and to find out why they read. The four most thoughtful responses will win a book of their choice from this season’s Litographs Book Club recommendations and the overall winner will have their response tweeted to millions of literary lovers around the world by @Litographs & @Medium.

How To Take Part

• Start your response below with “I Read Because…”
• Tell us more. Do you enjoy losing yourself in different worlds? Escaping reality? Appreciating a beautifully crafted sentence?
• What has reading given you? Does it keep your brain sharp? Inform you about the ways of the world? Can you even imagine a world without books?
• What was the first book you loved? Was there a book or an author in particular that got you hooked? (We love a good story…)
• How much do you read? Do you dip your toes in occasionally or devour pages like a flame does kindling? What keeps you coming back?

At Litographs our mission is to help readers express their love of books and share the joy of reading with literary lovers around the world. In the past, we’ve invited our community to tattoo Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland across 5,000 bodies as well as crowdsource a work of art to pay tribute to the genius and lasting influence of Dr. Maya Angelou. For our next community project, we’ve teamed up with our favorite independent bookstores to launch the first national online book club. The end result is Litographs Book Club. To kick things off, we asked four booksellers from these stores:

“If you could recommend one book, what would it be?”

These were their choices: bookclub.litographs.com/recommendations

We’re proud to be working alongside such passionate and dedicated booksellers. As Jeff Mayersohn, owner of Harvard Book Store says:

“While reading is often a solitary experience, the love of books is not. Bookstores are about conversation — among readers and between writers and the reading public. We love the fact that Litographs is seeking to bring that experience online.”

Support Indie Booksellers

The link below is good for 500 clicks — be one of the first to join and get beautiful literary gifts for free!

Which brings us back to your prompt…

Once you’ve written your response, here are the next steps:

1. Tag your Medium response with ‘IReadBecause’ and hit publish! Be sure to share your post on Twitter using #IReadBecause, mentioning both @Litographs and @Medium.
2. Head over to Litographs Book Club and choose one of the four titles recommended by our partner Indie Booksellers.

The four most thoughtful responses will win a book of their choice from this season’s Litographs Book Club recommendations and one overall winner will have their response shared with millions of literary lovers around the world by @Litographs & @Medium. (You must publish your response before 26th November for a chance to win.)

Still thinking about your response? Below are 19 insights on reading to spark your imagination…

1

Barack Obama, the 44th and current President of the United States, reads voraciously to expand his worldview.

“Reading is important. If you know how to read then the whole world opens up to you.”

2

John Green, author of ‘The Fault in our Stars,’ YouTube video blogger and educator, reads to feel loved.

“Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they’ll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they always love you back.”

3

Neil Gaiman, author of ‘American Gods’, believes our future depends on reading.

“Words are more important than they ever were: we navigate the world with words, and as the world slips onto the web, we need to follow, to communicate and to comprehend what we are reading… People who cannot understand each other cannot exchange ideas, cannot communicate, and translation programs only go so far… The simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity.”

4

Alain de Botton, philosopher, author, TED Speaker & founder of The School of Life, reads to experience a reality simulator.

“It looks like it’s wasting time, but literature is actually the ultimate time-saver — because it gives us access to a range of emotions and events that it would take you years, decades, millennia to try to experience directly. Literature is the greatest reality simulator — a machine that puts you through infinitely more situations than you can ever directly witness.”

5

Maya Angelou, the much-loved American author, poet, and civil rights activist, read to orientate herself in the world.

“When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.”

6

Maria Popova reads all day (every day) to cross-pollinate ideas for Brainpickings.

“In order for us to truly create and contribute to the world, we have to be able to connect countless dots, to cross-pollinate ideas from a wealth of disciplines, to combine and recombine these pieces and build new ideas… The richer and more diverse that pool of resources, that mental library of building blocks, the more visionary and compelling our combinatorial ideas can be.”

7

James Altucher, bestselling author, and podcaster, reads to pass the time.

“I read because it lets me re-live the lives of all of the authors, curated by them into a compact form so I can re-live that life in days instead of decades. Reading has saved my life more than once. It’s taught me to rob banks, it’s taught me to love better. It’s taught me how to be good and competent at things.”

8

Derek Sivers, best known for being the founder and former president of CD Baby, and now a writer, reads to fill his mind with knowledge.

“I read because there’s something I want to know, and books are the most efficient well-structured way to get that knowledge into my head. They’re also the only media left that are free from intrusive advertising.”

9

James Clear, entrepreneur, weightlifter, and travel photographer, reads to shape his thinking.

“I read because books shape my thinking. The central question that drives my own writing and work is, “How can we live better?” Reading widely has been essential in helping me answer that question and I believe that it is an essential habit for living well in our modern world.”

10

Ryan Holiday, American author, marketer, and entrepreneur, reads to understand himself better.

“I read because human beings have been recording their knowledge in book form for more than 5,000 years. That means that whatever you’re working on right now, whatever problem you’re struggling with, is probably addressed in some book somewhere by someone a lot smarter than you. But the purpose of reading is not just raw knowledge. It is part of the human experience. It helps you find meaning, understand yourself, and make your life better.”

11

Elissa Erwin, Editorial Assistant at Sourcebooks, likes to visit imagined worlds.

“Books tell the stories of people we don’t know, places we haven’t been, and worlds we can only imagine.”

12

Jon Acuff, a New York Times Bestselling author, including reads to make his world bigger.

“I read because books are a small way to make the world bigger. A book isn’t a collection of paper, it’s an invitation to different worlds.”

13

Virginia Woolf, the famous English author of ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ and ‘To the Lighthouse, just hoped to get through those pearly gates.

“When the Day of Judgment dawns and people, great and small, come marching in to receive their heavenly rewards, the Almighty will gaze upon the mere bookworms and say to Peter, ‘Look, these need no reward. We have nothing to give them. They have loved reading.’”

14

Brett McKay, founder of The Art of Manliness, reads to facilitate self-reflection.

“I read because books offer valuable opportunities for this kind of needed reflection and can help think through the kind of man you are, don’t want to be, and definitely hope to become. Great books facilitate reflection in a unique way because they present us with characters or stories (be they real-life or fictional) that we can relate to.”

15

Leo Babauta of Zen Habits reads for those moments of transformative experience.

“Reading a good book is one of my favorite things in the world. A novel is a time machine, a worm-hole to different dimensions, a special magic that puts you into the minds and bodies of fascinating people, a transporter that lets you travel the world, a dizzying exploration of love and death and sex and seedy criminal underworlds and fairylands, a creator of new best friends. All in one. I read because I love the experience, because it is a powerful teacher of life, because it transforms me.”

16

Paul Auster, American author and director, whose writing blends absurdism, existentialism, crime fiction, reads for pure pleasure.

“Reading was my escape and my comfort, my consolation, my stimulant of choice: reading for the pure pleasure of it, for the beautiful stillness that surrounds you when you hear an author’s words reverberating in your head.”

17

Mary Karr, American poet, essayist and memoirist, reads to detach herself from reality.

“Reading is socially accepted disassociation. You flip a switch and you’re not there anymore. It’s better than heroin. More effective and cheaper and legal.”

18

Rebecca Solnit, Writer, historian, and activist, grew up fasting on speech but feasting on books!

“The object we call a book is not the real book, but its potential, like a musical score or seed. It exists fully only in the act of being read; and its real home is inside the head of the reader, where the symphony resounds, the seed germinates. A book is a heart that only beats in the chest of another. The child I once was read constantly and hardly spoke, because she was ambivalent about the merits of communication, about the risks of being mocked or punished or exposed… so she read, taking in words in huge quantities, a children’s and then an adult’s novel a day for many years, seven books a week or so, gorging on books, fasting on speech, carrying piles of books home from the library.”

19

Jeff Goins, writer, speaker, and author of ‘The Art of Work’, reads for writing inspiration.

“I read because it’s an important part of becoming a good writer. Nothing inspires a writer like reading someone else’s words.”

Now it’s your turn! Tell us why you read in the responses below…

REMEMBER…

Tag your response on Medium with ‘IReadBecause’ then tweet it using #IReadBecause & @Litographs. You must submit your response before 26th November for a chance to win. If you have also signed up to Litographs Book Club, the 4 most interesting responses will each receive their chosen book for free and one overall winning response will be tweeted to millions of readers by @Litographs & @Medium.

We look forward to reading your responses!

— Your Writing Prompt —

What’s the Best Writing Advice You‘ve Ever Received?

The writing prompt: Over to you…

• What was the advice? Share so that others can benefit too.
• Where did it come from? An author, a teacher or maybe a reader?
• How did it help? Did it give you confidence to take your writing seriously or perhaps it was a graduation speech that inspired you to pick up a pen in the first place?
• How do you remind yourself? Maybe you have a literary totem sitting above your desk, a post it note reminder that unlocks the words from your fingers? Show it to us!

Have something in mind already? Excellent! Click on the button above and start writing your response while the idea is fresh. Otherwise keep reading for some inspiration from some of our favorite authors!

Below are 14 writerly insights to spark your imagination…

1

“Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, and not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style.”

— Kurt Vonnegut on finding a subject

2

“Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.”

— Neil Gaiman on filtering feedback

3

“You have to simply love writing, and you have to remind yourself often that you love it.”

— Susan Orlean on loving the process

4

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”

– Jack London on inspiration

5

“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life.”

– Anne Lamott on perfectionism

6

“In private correspondence the great mystery writer Raymond Chandler once confessed that even if he didn’t write anything, he made sure he sat down at his desk every single day and concentrated. I understand the purpose behind his doing this. This is the way Chandler gave himself the physical stamina a professional writer needs, quietly strengthening his willpower. This sort of daily training was indispensable to him.”

– Haruki Murakami: On concentratation

7

“If you start thinking about being likable you are not going to tell your story honestly, because you are going to be so concerned with not offending, and that’s going to ruin your story, so forget about likability.”

– Chimamanda N. Adichie on likability

8

“Steal stylistically from other writers, as all great writers do.”

– Demian Farnworth on borrowing style

9

“I do my best writing between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.. Almost every friend I have who is a consistently productive writer, does their best writing between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. My quota is two crappy pages per day. I keep it really low so I’m not so intimidated that I never get started.”

— Tim Ferriss on creative routines

10

“Stop in the middle of a sentence, leaving a rough edge for you to start from the next day — that way, you can write three or five words without being “creative” and before you know it, you’re writing.”

– Cory Doctorow on rough edges

11

“What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks ‘the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat.’ And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try. When I’m writing, I write. And then it’s as if the muse is convinced that I’m serious and says, ‘Okay. Okay. I’ll come.’”

— Maya Angelou on convincing the muse

12

“At its best, the sensation of writing is that of any unmerited grace. It is handed to you, but only if you look for it. You search, you break your heart, your back, your brain, and then — and only then — it is handed to you.”

– Annie Dillard on writing’s sensation

13

“You can never read your own book with the innocent anticipation that comes with that first delicious page of a new book, because you wrote the thing. You’ve been backstage. You’ve seen how the rabbits were smuggled into the hat. Therefore ask a reading friend or two to look at it before you give it to anyone in the publishing business. This friend should not be someone with whom you have a romantic relationship, unless you want to break up.”

– Margaret Atwood: On feedback

14

H.D. Thoreau said, “Simplify, simplify.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson replied, “One ‘simplify’ would have sufficed.”

– Thoreau and Emerson on brevity

– Over to you –

It’s time to share the best writing advice you’ve ever received… simply start writing your response below!

The most thoughtful response submitted before midnight PST on August 13th will not only be shared by Litographs, but you’ll also be sent one Litographs t-shirt of your choice, some official Medium swag and a T-shirt from 826 National!

Once you have published your response below, be sure to tweet it out using #WritingWisdom and mentioning @Litographs & @826National.

— Your Writing Prompt —

Why give away your work for free?

What do acclaimed authors Cory Doctorow, Paulo Coelho, Neil Gaiman, Seth Godin, Tim Ferriss and Hugh Howey all have in common?

They give away their best work — for free.

The Writing Prompt: Over to You!

• Tell us why you choose to give away your creative work for free. Or if you choose not to — what are your reasons?
• What provoked you to start, or stop giving your creative work away?
• Did you feel nervous before hitting publish? Has giving your work away led to serendipitous benefits?
• Share your work! Attach a preview, include a design, embed a video, link to your project. Tell us about the gifts that you’ve put into the world.

Already have thoughts brewing? Fantastic! Skip to the end of this post and start writing your response. Otherwise keep reading for thoughts by Cory Doctorow, Seth Godin, Neil Gaiman and others…

Enter Cory Doctorow

“I’ve been giving away my books ever since my first novel came out, and boy has it ever made me a bunch of money…”

“When my first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, was published by Tor Books in January 2003, I also put the entire electronic text of the novel on the Internet under a Creative Commons License that encouraged my readers to copy it far and wide. Within a day, there were 30,000 downloads from my site (and those downloaders were in turn free to make more copies).”

“My problem isn’t piracy, it’s obscurity, and free ebooks generate more sales than they displace.”

“Most people who download the book don’t end up buying it, but they wouldn’’t have bought it in any event, so I haven’’t lost any sales, I’’ve just won an audience. A tiny minority of downloaders treat the free e-book as a substitute for the printed book–those are the lost sales. But a much larger minority treat the e-book as an enticement to buy the printed book. They’re gained sales.

The thing about an e-book is that it’s a social object. It wants to be copied from friend to friend, transmitted between mobile devices, pasted into a mailing list. It begs to be converted to witty signatures at the bottom of e-mails. It is so fluid and intangible that it can spread itself over your whole life. Nothing sells books like a personal recommendation–when I worked in a bookstore, the sweetest words we could hear were “My friend suggested I pick up….”

“There has never been a time when more people were reading more words by more authors. I’d rather stake my future on a literature that people care about enough to steal than devote my life to a form that has no home in the dominant medium of the century.”

“The Internet is a literary world of written words. What a fine thing that is for writers.”

– Cory Doctorow

Here at Litographs we have collaborated with Cory to create this design entirely from the text of ‘Little Brother’. Learn more about that process here… or keep reading to find out how you can win one of these t-shirts for yourself.

Below you will find more food for thought on the merits of giving things away shared by nine authors, entrepreneurs and photographers.

What have you given away for free?

Start writing your response below…

Once you have published your response, be sure to tweet starting with #IGiveAwayMyWorkBecause tagging @Litographs & @Doctorow.

Share your response far and wide. If it receives the most recommends by midnight PST on the 22nd July it will be also shared by @Medium @Litographs & @Doctorow. You’ll also be sent one of Cory’s t-shirts & some official Medium Swag!

A collaboration between Litographs (we make art from books!) and Buddhist author and meditation teacher Lodro Rinzler.

—Writing Prompt —

Share Your Daily Mindfulness Routine

What do Leonard Cohen, Bill Gates, Oprah, and even Wolverine all have in common? They all have a mindfulness practice.

Meditation is supported by a huge body of mainstream scientific research which has suggested that at any given time almost half of us are lost in thought unrelated to what’s in front of us — and when we are mentally wandering — we are significantly less happy.

Today there are millions around the world from all manner of professions, faiths and nationalities and even entire organisations such as Medium, the team who built the beautiful platform that you are currently reading from, who have embraced mindfulness in their own unique way.

Below are four more questions and Lodro Rinzler’s personal meditation routine as inspiration to get started with writing your response. Be sure to read to the end for details on how to win a surprise gift from the Litographs Team!

Lodro Rinzler’s Mindfulness Routine

Lodro Rinzler is the founder of the Institute for Compassionate Leadership and the author of several books on mindfulness including the best-selling “The Buddha Walks into a Bar”.

“I often practice in the morning after my morning coffee. I also teach meditation several evenings a week; thus book-ending my day with meditation practice.”

“One thing I have found helpful over the last several years is to set a timer when I know I am going to be working for many hours straight. Every hour when it goes off I close my laptop, raise my gaze, and practice calm-abiding meditation. After a minute or so I return to my work, setting the timer again for another hour.”

“Doing so breaks up the work routine and habitual momentum, and allows me to return to what’s going on right now, several times throughout my day.”

— Lodro Rinzler

There is no ‘right’ way to be mindful — you may prefer to do it in a group, or whilst running, or using the Headspace app, or sitting alone on a cushion, whilst eating or simply walking through a park. Tell us whatever it is that you have found to be helpful as it might be useful for others!

Credit to Erin @coach.me for providing these quotes from her interview series.

Start writing your response below the recommend button to share your daily mindfulness routine.

You can also check out Lodro’s book ‘The Buddha Walks into a Bar: A Guide to Life for a New Generation’ and you can also sign up here to receive the first chapter of his next book ‘How to Love Yourself’ for free.

The response with the most recommends at midnight PST Wednesday 15th April will be tweeted out by both @Litographs and @LodroRinzler and the winner will be sent a surprise gift from the Litographs Team!

Lodro has partnered with Litographs — who have created the below illustration using the entire text from Lodro’s ‘The Buddha Walks into a Bar’ and printed it onto a t-shirt, poster and tote bag.

Click here to download a pack of 13 creative commons photos that we have curated for you to include in your responses — enjoy!

Once you have written and published your response be sure to share it wherever you can and tweet using #mindfulprompt and mention both @Litographs and @lodrorinzler.

Note that you will need to be logged into your Medium account to write a response below — you can do this via the green button in the top-right hand corner.

Click here to download the high-res version

Huge thanks to @jeremyanderberg from the Art of Manliness who wrote an exceptional post on the library of Ernest Hemingway which inspired the illustration above:

“What follows below isn’t a compilation of every book he ever mentioned, but these are the ones that came up again and again in multiple sources. You’ll notice there’s isn’t much non-fiction, nor much in the way of “classical” literature from ancient Greece and Rome. I note that only because our previous instalments of this series all featured works from antiquity.” — Jeremy Anderberg

Hemingway stuck largely with what was considered to be great literature (even today you’ll recognize most of these titles) so that, in his own words from 1958 “he knows what he has to beat.”

1. Ulysses by James Joyce

See the t-shirt design or read the book

2. Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert

See the t-shirt design or read the book

3. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

See the t-shirt design or read the book

4. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

See the t-shirt design or read the book

5. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain

See the t-shirt design or read the book

6. Collected Poems — T.S. Eliot

See the t-shirt design or read the book

7. War and Peace — Leo Tolstoy

See the t-shirt design or read the book

8. Complete Works — Rudyard Kipling

read the book

9. A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man — James Joyce

read the book

10. Queen Margot — Alexandre Dumas

read the book

11. King Lear — Shakespeare

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12. The Brothers Karamazov — Fyodor Dostoevsky

read the book

13. Dubliners — James Joyce

read the book

14. Sentimental Education — Gustave Flaubert

read the book

15. The Common Reader — Virginia Woolf

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16. House Divided — Ben Ames Williams

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17. The Republic — Charles Beard

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18. Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia — Eugene Tarle

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19. How Young You Look — Peggy Wood

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20. African Hunting — William Charles Baldwin

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21. The Open Boat and Other Stories — Stephen Crane

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22. The Red Badge of Courage — Stephen Crane

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23. The Red and the Black — Stendahl

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24. Of Human Bondage — W. Somerset Maugham

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25. Buddenbrooks — Thomas Mann

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26. Hail and Farewell — George Moore

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27. The Enormous Room — E.E. Cummings

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28. Far Away and Long Ago — W. H. Hudson

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29. Complete Short Stories — Henry James

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30. Mr. Midshipman Easy — Frederick Marryat

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31. Frank Mildmay — Frederick Marryat

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32. Peter Simple — Frederick Marryat

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33. Tom Jones — Henry Fielding

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34. Joseph Andrews — Henry Fielding

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35. Autobiographies — W. B. Yeats

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36. A Sportsman’s Sketches — Ivan Turgenev

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37. Fathers and Sons — Ivan Turgenev

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38. Winesburg, Ohio — Sherwood Anderson

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39. In Search of Lost Time — Marcel Proust

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40. The American — Henry James

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Bonus: The Sun Also Rises — by Papa himself!

Hemingway once said:

‘There is no friend as loyal as a book.’

Find more of his t-shirt, tote bag and poster designs here, perhaps as a gift for one of your good friends.