Steven Pressfield’s book The War of Art has been so influential to my life and my pursuit of prolific practice, that I naturally went down a Pressfield rabbit hole, reading nearly everything written by the man himself, a lot written about him, and watched dozens of interviews. The more I learned about him, the more … Read more
Steven Pressfield shares some advice for young writers who are struggling to find their voice in his book Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: I was trying to find a voice. Trying to find my voice. Was I really a “writer?” No. Was what I was doing “writing.” No. I was trying to save my … Read more
How do you become a good writer? There are many paths, but there’s an interesting section in Steven Pressfield’s memoir Govt Cheese. He tells tales from his time in Hollywood, when he still had no wins under his belt and was working under Ronald Shusett. Officially they worked as a team of writers, but Pressfield … Read more
If you’re getting nowhere with your art, and you’re seriously wondering whether you’re just making a fool out of your self with your quixotic quest, here’s a bit of advice bestselling author Steven Pressfield received when he was in his fourties. Pressfield had been pursuing his dream of being a writer for almost 30 years … Read more
Ryan Holiday recently published a conversation between him and Stephen Pressfield. Right from the get go, they touch on an interesting subject: Ryan had a day where he wasn’t feeling well, and struggled to get into a writing groove. But he sat down and wrote anyway, and it turned out to be one of the … Read more
“Is the writing process fundamentally lonely?” is a question Lex Fridman asked Steven Pressfield in an interview. I loved his answer: No, because you’re with your characters. […] My desk used to face the wall, and people would say: Don’t you want to look out the window?” But I’m in here, I’m seeing the spartans. … Read more
Can you pursue your dream when you’ve got a full-time job, a family to take care of, and other responsibilities? I personally have postponed pursuing my dream for these and similar reasons for many years, and when I heard Steven Pressfield and Marie Forleo discuss this, their take resonated strongly with me. It’s actually based … Read more
I just revisited one of my favorite books, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, and came across this prayer to the muse which he recites every day before starting to work: O Divine Poesy, goddess, daughter of Zeus, sustain for me this song of the various-minded man who, after he had plundered the innermost … Read more