Steven Pressfield's Blog, page 124

Glaukos and Sarpedon

Was there a greater war story, ever, than Homer's Iliad? It's almost a crime to call the Iliad a war story, by so many magnitudes does it transcend that and every other genre. What works of literature stand beside it? The Bible. The Bhagavad-Gita. The collected works of Shakespeare. Not much else.
I took a full-semester
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Endless Possibilities

Whenever I tell someone about Bob Danzig, they're inspired to learn that someone who lived in five foster homes by the time he was eleven achieved so much—and then they're shocked to learn that he was with the same company for 40+ years.
I met Bob in 1997, just as he was heading into his 1998
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Screwing the Writer

I was at a Writers Guild meeting in Hollywood a few years ago; the members were debating whether or not to go out on strike. A microphone had been set up; one screenwriter after another stepped forward and spoke, pro or con. Each time the same Jekyll-and-Hyde transformation took place. The scribe started out low-key,
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Thoughts on 9/11 from Winston Churchill

When I was a kid, Winston Churchill was still very much alive. I remember the newspapers always noted his birthday, which seemed to come around with unnatural frequency. I used to ask my Dad, "What's the story with Winston Churchill? The guy has a birthday every three months!"
Churchill died in 1965. I was in boot
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The Right Team

Jose Bautista joked that he led for foul balls.
And then he landed on the Blue Jays' doorstep.
Jays' manager Cito Gaston saw something in him.
And Jays' batting coach Dwayne Murphy pointed out how to fix his swing.
And then he hit 54 home runs in 2010.
And then his 2010 record was called a fluke.
And
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Saying Yes and Saying No

A friend of mine said something to me a couple of years ago that, the more I think about it, the more profound it becomes. Let's call her Jane. She's a happily married woman with a couple of almost-grown kids and an all-around fine and healthy life; she was talking about the evening before she
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On Becoming More of a Pr#@k

What we're really talking about is learning how to say no. (Thanks to Fabian Pallares who suggested this topic in a Comment two weeks ago after our post, An Ask Too Far.)
When Gates of Fire was first optioned by Universal Studios in 1998, the director Michael Mann was attached. I sent him hand-written congratulations and
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Moving On

I was waiting for a bus. I had two bags.
One was a carry-on with wallet, phone, iPod, keys, MacBook, manuscripts, Kindle, medication, and eyeglasses that I would hold on to dear possession unless my life was literally in the balance. The other contained my clothes and Dopp kit for a three day fun filled excursion
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Crackpot, Problem Child, Great Fighting Leader

One of these things is not like the others:
Crackpot. Problem Child. Great Fighting Leader.
Or is it?
What does a leader look like?
Eisenhower called Patton a "crackpot" and a "problem child" and a "great fighting leader in pursuit and exploitation." (See letter below from General Eisenhower to General Marshall.)

"Old Blood and Guts" Patton was like many
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"The God-damned Infantry" by Ernie Pyle

Along with Bill Mauldin, Ernie Pyle was probably the most famous American war correspondent of World War II. His dispatches from the front were carried by over 300 newspapers. (Thanks to Tina McCann for sending in this piece.)
Pyle loved the foot soldiers, the dogfaces, the grunts; he ate with them, tramped beside them under fire
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