Steven Pressfield's Blog, page 118

What I Learned in the Ad Biz, Part Three

Here's a concept from the world of Mad Men that has served me (and saved me) many times over the years:
The idea of "new business."
When I worked in the ad biz in New York many moons ago, we had to account for our hours every week on a time sheet. The creative department was divided
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Today's Boys: Tomorrow's Warriors

They were "just boys" or "babies" or "young." Often in war stories, it is the men who are at battle, but the boys who go to war. Those deciding and those fighting are men and boys, as are those leaving and those returning home.
Lieutenant General Samuel Vaughan Wilson, retelling a Civil War story told to
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Quotidian Setbacks

There are days when Steve and I feel as if we've entered the real life publishing version of Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci's movie Big Night.  Have you seen this movie?  It's the story of two brothers from Abruzzo, Italy, who've come to America in the 1950s to open their dream restaurant.  They call it
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What I Learned in the Ad Biz, Part Two

Advertising is a much-reviled industry (selling us junk we don't need, etc.) Let me not be last in line to heap my own scorn and derision upon this hell-spawned profession.
That being said, my own time as a copywriter (I worked for Grey, Benton & Bowles and Ted Bates in NYC) was more valuable than a
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War Is ?

Wars—and the ways they are remembered and shared—are unique. There is no one experience—from the child watching it on the news to the service member fighting within it.
"The war is what A.D. is elsewhere: they date from it."
Mark Twain's Civil War by Mark Twain
The war is the great chief topic of conversation. The interest in
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Why is "The War of Art" $60.00 on Amazon?

My wife and I need a new car. The one we have now has served our family well, but it's starting to have quirky issues and occasional breakdowns.
It's in that prime moment when the warranty has run out and we just have that sinking sensation that it's only a matter of time before we get
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"Beware the Saboteur!"

My friend Kate tells this story:
I was visiting my friend Bob Gilbert, who among many other talents was a fabulous boat builder. This was at Harvey Swindall's boatyard in Ventura [California], where Bob was building a 92-foot yacht based on the plans for the famous ocean racer Bloodhound, which had been built originally in the
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SOB

S+O+B=Three letters that appear in almost every war story, in the same order, but with dozens of different meanings.
SOB=Love and Respect
From, Clare Boothe Luce's foreword to GEN Victor H. Krulak's First to Fight:
My only brother enlisted in the Marine Corps at the age of eighteen when the United States entered World War I. . .
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George Peper, Bill Murray and Broderick Crawford

For quite a while now (almost two years), Steve Pressfield and I have been tossing drafts of one of his manuscripts back and forth.  It's just about ready to share. I think we're on draft nine or ten, not sure. I bet Steve knows how many we've burned through, but he doesn't bitch about it.
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Work Over Your Head

Writers of fiction learn early that they can write characters who are smarter than they are.
How can that be? It doesn't seem possible.
The answer lies in the Mystery.
The place that we write from (or paint from or compose from or innovate from) is far deeper than our petty personal ego. That place is beyond intellect.
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