The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield

Another book about the craft of writing. That’s two in a row, sort of. This one’s a bit more explicit than the last and, coincidentally, recommended by the author of the last.

This one is called The War of Art, and if you consider yourself a creator of anything — writing, painting, websites, photographs, businesses — and want to hone your skill to the highest form, this should be on your must-read list. In fact, it should probably be on your must-read-once-a-year list.

The War of Art is a short and easy-to-read book by Steven Pressfield, author of The Legend of Bagger Vance. Departing from his normal territory of fiction, he wrote this one as an expository piece by an artist for other artists. He expresses the idea that, to be a professional writer (or painter, or programmer), we have to fight resistance every day and continue pushing through and creating, whether we feel “inspired” or not.

It comes across as a bit of a self-help book at first, but it really does feel empowering. It was a quick encouragement that, if I’m serious about becoming a pro at anything, it’s something I have to do daily. Writer’s block does not exist in the world of the pro. They write, no matter what. If it sucks, that’s okay. At least they wrote. You can always throw it out and try again tomorrow. It’s breaking through the daily resistance that matters.

This book is too short for me to really want to say much else (I read it start to finish in a couple hours), so I’ll repeat myself: if you are someone who creates, or wants to create, anything on a professional level, at the highest quality, and not once but repeatedly, this is a book you should have in your own library. Go get yourself a copy right now.