Revisiting The War of Art

Since 2005, I've read Steven Pressfield's The War of Art multiple times. I picked it back up a few years ago and I've read it about three or four times a year since. The book is for people who feel like they need to get past their creative blocks.

My friend Molly and I had brunch on Sunday and she brought it up. I had given my copy to my ex-boyfriend and left it with him when we broke up because it was the right thing to do. I have lost/given away copies over the years and had to repurchase the book because each time I read it, depending on where I am in my life, it means something different to me. Molly and I talked a lot about how it's helping her work on her first novel. One of the main ideas in the book is this idea of Resistance - the force that keeps us from doing the things we're meant to do. A lot of that force has to do with fear and procrastination. When you have a pursuit that's meaningful, there tends to be forces that want you to fail. The book had really resonated for her and I was reminded that I needed to go out and get another copy.

I was out yesterday at Powell's Bookstore in Portland and went specifically to get the book. I walked in and searched on the computer for where the book was located. And a young woman who had used the info computer before me was looking for The War of Art. When we both went to the shelf - thankfully there was one copy for each of us - I told her I had come to get the same book and it had changed my life. She said she was trying to get unblocked and that I had completely sold her on the book. There's another companion book called Do the Work, that's kind of a condensed version that includes the principles of the book for people writing screenplays and plays. I bought that as well and I'm going to discuss it with my students.

I was on the plane today coming home to LA and I took the book out. It had been at least a year since I've read it cover to cover. I often read Pressfield's follow up, Turning Pro. Both books are great, but I wanted to go back to the original and see what new things I saw in the book now after having a year of success as a writer. I wanted to know what resonated and what lessons I had long since implemented.

Turns out I'm living out a lot of what is in the book. When I read it for the first time 11 years ago a lot didn't make sense to me. So much felt like lofty ideas or theory. I understood the concept of Resistance and I understood that things always got in the way of me trying to be productive. I had no idea how to solve any of those problems. Every time I would pick it up again, I would get something new out of it. I would check in with myself to see what concepts stuck or what ideas felt relevant to me for the first time. The War of Art is my checklist to let me know how I'm letting go of outcome and focusing on the work and not the results.

I'll be posting a few posts as a check-in on where I'm at now, after being employed as a working writer, with The War of Art.As I told the young woman at Powell's the other day, this book has changed my life. And that is no small statement.

My intention is to think big.
My intention is to expand beyond what I ever thought was possible.
My intention is to be busier than I ever thought I could be.
My intention is for all of this productivity to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I am grateful for time with my niece and nephews.
I am grateful for joy.
I am grateful for my time away to Portland.
I am grateful that I have been reconnected with The War of Art.