Steven Pressfield's Blog, page 146

Writing Wednesdays #16: "The First Five Pages"

Trust me, this is not just for beginners

I had been writing professionally for 30 years when I read Noah Lukeman's The First Five Pages, a Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile–and I still learned a ton of valuable stuff. Get this book. If you're an aspiring writer, it'll save you from the agony of unnecessary rejection. (You may still get rejected, but at least it won't be unnecessarily.) Even if you're a grizzled pro, Mr. Lukeman's short, smart book is worth reading just to...

One Tribe at a Time #7: Size Matters, continued

If a Tribal Engagement Strategy (TES) were to be tried in Afghanistan, how exactly would it work?

Last week, in the first part of this "Size Matters" post, we spoke with Maj. Jim Gant about the optimal size for a single U.S. Tribal Engagement Team (TET)—that is, the tactical unit that would be attached to a single Afghan tribe. Maj. Gant strongly advocated the position that smaller is better. Six to twelve men, no more.

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An Interview with an Afghan Tribal Chief, Part #1

Chief Zazai, right, with his father, Chief Raiss Afzal Khan Zazi and his bodyguard, both murdered in 2000

[The blog is out of town this week.  Here is a re-boot of our first post in this ongoing series. See you Monday!:]

This will be the first of a multi-part conversation with Chief Ajmal Khan Zazai of Paktia province, Afghanistan. Let's plunge right in.

SP: Chief Zazai, this summer you were elected to the paramountcy of eleven tribes in your home region in Paktia province along the border with...

Writing Wednesdays #15: Elements of Success

I was making a long drive this week, across the desert from L.A. to Phoenix, and I got to thinking about the elements that comprise success-particularly for people like us, e.g. writers, artists and entrepreneurs, who work from the heart and on their own, without any imposed external structure. What are the skill-sets we need? Over a lifetime, what challenges do we need to master?

In today's post, I'm attaching a podcast of an interview I did with Jen Grisanti, who helms a Los Angeles-based a

One Tribe At A Time #6: Size Matters

[Today we have a special follow-up interview with Maj. Jim Gant, on the subject of how big (or small) a Tribal Engagement Team should be—and what kind of large-scale support it would need. But first I want to say thanks to the many, many readers who have responded to Maj. Gant's paper "One Tribe At A Time" and to all the members of the military, policy and journalism communities who have helped to circulate it. Special thanks to James Dao of the N.Y. Times ("Going Tribal in Afghanistan")...

Interview With a Tribal Chief #6: It Was Easier Fighting the Taliban

SP: You've been in Kabul the last couple of weeks, Chief Zazai. What were you doing there?

Chief Zazai: I was meeting with British and American commanders, trying to get support for the Tribal Police Force program in my home valley.

SP: Do I dare ask how that went?

Chief Zazai with LtGen Sir Graeme Lamb at ISAF Headquarters, Kabul

Chief Zazai: Steve, without exception the generals at the top are receptive; they are honorable, intelligent and well-meaning men who are great soldiers and who, I...

Writing Wednesdays #14: Gravitational Fields

How do you get a project started? Sometimes the thoughts in our head are so scattered, we don't know where to begin. Here's a trick that my friend Paul Abbott taught me:

Just start.

The prince's planet was small but it had enough gravity to give him a place to stand

Even if you don't know where you're going. Begin anyway. If it's a story, a painting, an idea for a business venture … just dive in.

Open a folder on your laptop. Give it a name.

Open a file in that folder. Give it a name.

Now start.

One Tribe At A Time #5: An Exchange Between Soldiers

Maj. Gant,

First I want to say Thank you, Thank you and Thank you! I just finished your "One Tribe At A Time" strategy paper and I am speechless!! You have captured and eloquently explained everything we, those of us who were in Afghanistan in the early days, have been beating our heads against the wall about since late 2004, when it all began to spiral downward.

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Writing Wednesdays # 13: Major Jim Gant

Because of the response to Monday's posting of Major Jim Gant's paper One Tribe At A Time, I'd like to keep the post "above the fold" all week, and run a shorter "Writing Wednesdays" post this week. The focus? Resistance and Major Gant.

 

Major Gant has a wife and kids; he's training now for a year-long deployment to Iraq; and has the everyday things we all share on his plate. Yet, he still completed his 45-paper within the timeline he and I discussed. No one asked him to write the paper...

One Tribe At A Time #4: The Full Document at last!

Download Major Jim Gant's "One Tribe At A Time" to your computer, or view it right now.

I've been promising for several weeks to have a free downloadable .pdf of One Tribe At A Time. Finally it's here. My thanks to our...