Writers consistently rank the War of Art as one the top books on writing. But as I read it, I found its message not limited to writing. It’s kick-in-the-butt manifesto to all waiting-to-be-motivated visionaries.
With a callous war-is-hell style which he’s mastered in his novels, Stephen Pressfield characterizes the forces which war against our work and compel us to quit as a real enemy. He calls it the Resistance.
Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experience it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potiential. It’s a repelling force. It’s negative. It’s aim is to shove
The book’s message is rather simple. We can and must defeat it. But its Pressfield’s shut-up-and-do-your-job-soldier approach which makes its advice work so well.
When you begin the book you may feel the Resistence working against you as if you were among the ill-equipped band of highlanders before King’s army in the movie Braveheart. Pressfield confronts your weak knees like William Wallace. And by the end of the book you’ll feel inspired to wave your private parts and rush headlong into it’s crush of bodies, wood and steal.
If you lack motivation to finish a project and accomplish a goal, this is a must read. I plan on reading it a couple times a year.
