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On November 9, 2009, I wrote a short book review of The War of Art. I think it is an amazing book and wanted to share it with people.

On November 11, 2009, I was contacted by Callie R. Oettinger, of Oettinger & Associates, Mr. Pressfield’s PR agency. She let me know about Steven’s “Writing Wednesdays“, blog posts similar in vein to The War of Art chapters, and that Steven was available for a short, 3-question Q&A of themes covered in WOA. In the world of online author promotion, this was brilliant.

Unfortunately, I was sucked into the end-of-year holidays and did not get back with Callie until January 7, 2010. I honestly didn’t think I would receive a reply, but it was worth a shot.

Mr. Pressfield answered my questions on January 11, 2010. And here they are:

ME:WOA was publish in 2002. Given the books you’ve written since then, and your adventures in blogging, are there any updates you’d want to make to WOA? Any additions or deletions?

SP: If I ever thought I was over-stressing the power and insidiousness of Resistance in WOA, I’d go back and stress it even more the next time. I have learned, for sure, that that devil never goes away, never slackens and, if anything, shows itself in even more subtle and devious ways than I noted before. Right now, for instance, I am locked in a monumental battle with this alligator and it’s not at all clear which one of us is gonna come out on top. Resistance has manifested itself (for me) in areas of projection onto other people, including the ones closest to me (perhaps them most of all)–and I’ve even projected it onto myself, in the sense of self-disempowerment. I have learned that I’m not superman and just because I “wrote the book,” that doesn’t mean Resistance can’t and won’t kick my ass. It’s a bitch!

ME: I really enjoyed your chapters on defining oneself hierarchically or territorially. Given the abundance of interactions online (MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, forums, etc.), do you think it’s more difficult for a creative to stay territorial.

SP: I have a theory that, if you want to come up with a sure-fire profitable business, invent one that thrives on human weakness. Like the credit card industry, which banks of us being late in our payments and overextending ourselves in expenses. Facebook and Twitter can be very positive media, used the right way, but, alas, they are mass incubators of distraction, shallowness, short attention spans and Resistance. We can blow a morning like that, tweeting around. It’s ridiculous. On the other hand, we can look at these social networking boondoggles as challenges to be overcome–like Twinkies and Oreo cheesecake. “Get thee behind me, Satan!”

ME: You’ve been very generous and answered a lot of “3 Questions” for a lot of people. Is there a question you want to answer that you haven’t been asked yet?

SP: Wow, that’s a great one, Heidi. There’s one that I don’t have the answer to, one that I’d like to hear somebody really smart answer for me. “What is nature’s purpose for Resistance?”

In other words, why put something so negative on us all? It’s like nipples on men. Why? Seth Godin calls it “the lizard brain,” and I think there’s something to that. I have an explanation in WOA that it’s the Little Ego trying to protect itself and keep us from operation out of our Deeper Selves. Maybe it’s simply entropy. The thought I’ve been entertaining lately is that it springs from the evolutionary/tribal impulse NOT to change. Just as being able to change and grow serves a survival purpose in evolution, so also must (one would think) the hereditary tendency to keep things just as they are. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Maybe some ancient tribes who had learned how to hunt mastodons survived better by sticking with what worked, while other more innovative hunting bands perished.

Still none of those answers satisfy me. If you’ve got a flash, Heidi, lemme know!

I would like to thank Mr. Pressfield for taking the time to answer my questions and for Callie for contacting me in the first place. Freelancery also has a post of Steven Pressfield’s Q&A with a list of additional blogs that have posted his Q&A’s as well.

Major Kira: if you’re not fighting them, you’re helping them.
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, “The Darkness and the Light”, 5.11

• Resistance – Defining the Enemy
• Combating Resistance – Turning Pro
• Beyond Resistance – Higher Realm

collecting happiness

Each book contains topics, usually no more than a page or two. I rarely mark up my books, but I found myself underlining and bracketing off passages about every 7-10 pages.

The most significant passage for me was on page 30:

Resistance also told me I shouldn’t seek to instruct, or put myself forward as a purveyor of wisdom; that this was vain, egotistical, possible even corrupt, and that it would work harm to me in the end. That scared me. It made a lot of sense.

What finally convinced me to go ahead was simply that I was so unhappy not going ahead. I was developing symptoms. As soon as I sat down and began, I was okay.

So in order to overcome my personal Resistance, I created this website.

What will you do when you overcome your Resistance?

Title: The War of Art
Author: Steven Pressfield
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Pages: 192
Genre: non-fiction, self-help
ISBN 978-0446691437