Steven Pressfield's Blog, page 106

Everything That Rises Must Converge

The rain drops picked up speed as I headed west along the highway.
They hit the windshield, hesitated, and then sought each other out, going from individuals to a series of streams flowing upward— until the wipers arrested their development, cleared the deck, and new drops hit and started up again. A drop, a hesitant movement—Which
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Jackson Browne’s Piano coming through the Floor

Did you see that docu on TV the other night about the history of the Eagles?
I was watching it (enjoying it tremendously) when one moment leapt out at me. I’m paraphrasing from memory now, so forgive me if I get some of this wrong:
Glenn Frey was telling the story. He was talking about the early
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The Ron Popeil Promise

I went to Los Angeles for a couple of days.  Steve and I try to meet every three months or so face to face and it was my turn to schlep the 3000 miles.
While we have a standing Monday afternoon phone conference, we’ve found that we get exponentially more done when we can read each
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The Principal and the Profile

My friend Jane worked for years for a legendary personality of the 20th century. I’m respecting her wishes by not using the gentleman’s name. Let’s call him Michael.
Michael was a target for the tabloids and the paparazzi. He was besieged relentlessly by fans and admirers, cranks, crazies, and outright stalkers. He lived on an estate.
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Putting “The Pivot” Into Play

I spent a few hours this week going over interview strategies with a friend.
My favorite play is “the pivot.”
It goes into play when the interviewer asks his or her guest a question that the guest isn’t interested in answering.
That’s an interesting question, but there’s another question that I’ve been thinking about . . .
Why not
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The Understory

I was laid up in bed with the flu this week and wound up watching the first two Bourne movies, starring Matt Damon, back-to-back. The experience got me thinking about the Understory.
When I start a new book, I open a file and title it UNDERSTORY. The understory is the architecture that undergirds and supports the
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Most Things Don’t Work Out

Through dint of brutally waged, all or nothing, creative battles, professional artists learn something amateurs never do. They discover that the visions inside their minds that enthrall them at the outset of a new endeavor rarely come to pass in the way they think they will.
They learn that recognized success is not all strawberry sundaes
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Opportunities are Bullshit, Part Two

I’ve been feeling a little bad about the first Opportunities Are Bullshit post a few weeks ago. Particularly after Callie’s wonderful “Nella from France” follow-on.
My post was a bit of a rant, I confess. Ventilation of a pet peeve. I probably overstated the case. So lemme try again.
We all want our stuff to be seen.
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A New Model for an Old Classic

“As the nation’s largest physical bookseller, Barnes & Noble supports publishers who support our bookstores.”
—B&N spokesman, as reported this week in Publishers Weekly
What does that mean? We support publishers who support us?
Remember the scene in the movie You’ve Got Mail, when Indie bookstore owner Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) sells books at full price to Joe
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All Breakthroughs come with a Fever

I first came upon this concept in the writings of Laurens van der Post, the great South African. Are you familiar with him? He wrote one of my favorite books, The Seed and the Sower. The following comes from The Lost World of the Kalahari:
It has sometimes appeared to me that fever is designed, in
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