Steven Pressfield's Blog, page 85

The Authentic Swing

[Continuing our look back at The Legend of Bagger Vance, seeking writers' lessons and insights on the book's 20th anniversary. P.S. Don't forget this year's Black Irish Christmas Special, featuring the brand-new, leather-bound, signed and numbered (only 2500 available) anniversary edition of Bagger Vance.]
Sometimes a story—particularly fantasy, historical or sci-fi—needs a conceptual Premise. By that
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Steal Without Shame, Part Two

[Don't forget to check out the Great Black Irish Christmas Sale, featuring the brand-new, leather-bound, signed and numbered edition of The Legend of Bagger Vance.]
Continuing our 20th-anniversary look-back at the writing of The Legend of Bagger Vance:
We were talking last week about stealing the structure of works we admire. I was confessing that, for Bagger,
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Steal Without Shame

Today marks (more or less) the 20th anniversary of The Legend of Bagger Vance, the first book I ever got published (after almost thirty years of trying)—and, in its brand-new, leather-bound incarnation, the centerpiece of this year’s Christmas Special at Black Irish Books. The video below is me telling all about this one-time-only Holiday Gift
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Ranger Up Leads the Way

Nick Palmisciano was earning a quarter million a year when he learned he was being promoted — a promotion that would add another hundred thousand or so to his income.
The promotion announcement landed on a Friday. The following Monday he gave his notice.
“I knew that if I took that promotion, the golden handcuffs were being
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How High is High?

Back again to the subject of Personal Culture. What are the aspects of this beast?
First is Level of Aspiration. “How high are we aiming?”
Last year’s NBA champs were the San Antonio Spurs. Two up-and-coming teams from that season are the L.A. Clippers and the Golden State Warriors. Both squads are young and loaded with stars.
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Thinking Like a Writer

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We all know this story, or some variation of it.
Back in the wilderness days, a mountain man pulls fish out of a creek bed, one after the other with seemingly little effort.  He’s made a bunch of traps out of brush and twigs and has set them in
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The Jack Lord Rule

Remember Jack Lord? He played Steve McGarrett on the original Hawaii Five-O.
Jack Lord had a rule for himself as a character. The rule was: “I don’t ask questions. I answer them.”
I learned this from my friend Ernie Pintoff, who directed a gaggle of Hawaii Five-Os back in the day. According to Ernie, every time a
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Click and Clack, the Crossover Brothers

I knew little about cars—yet I tuned into NPR’s “Car Talk” and then stuck around for years, clinging to “Click and Clack’s” words.
Tom and Ray Magliozzi (a.k.a. Click and Clack the Tappet brothers) were a mainstay in my life, introduced by my father, who was a fan of their humor, accents, alma mater, and car
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The Most Important Minutes of the Day

Continuing on our theme from two weeks ago, personal culture: What is the most important part of the artist’s or entrepreneur’s working day?
To me it’s the minutes right after the day is over. Why? Because that’s the time when it’s absolutely essential that you and I acknowledge our day’s efforts and give ourselves some props.
Self-validation.
Self-reinforcement.
Nobody
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Category Killer

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In honor of Halloween, here’s my favorite insider book publishing expression which represents the most desired property of any publisher, The Category Killer.
What it means is this:
When a book (or author) hits on all cylinders and is absolutely way above the standards of its genre—be it fiction
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