How the Artist Finds Herself

The artist and entrepreneur find their authentic selves not by whom they love or hate, or what they believe, or what feats they perform.

“The Persistence of Memory” by Salvador Dali

The artist and the entrepreneur discover themselves by what they create.  They don’t know before they create it.

When they see their work on the page or the screen or rising before them forty stories high in concrete and steel, they say, “That’s me.”

DO THE WORK

Steve shows you the predictable Resistance points that every writer hits in a work-in-progress and then shows you how to deal with each one of these sticking points. This book shows you how to keep going with your work.

do the work book banner 1

THE AUTHENTIC SWING

A short book about the writing of a first novel: for Steve, The Legend of Bagger Vance. Having failed with three earlier attempts at novels, here's how Steve finally succeeded.

The-Authentic-Swing

NOBODY WANTS TO READ YOUR SH*T

Steve shares his "lessons learned" from the trenches of the five different writing careers—advertising, screenwriting, fiction, nonfiction, and self-help. This is tradecraft. An MFA in Writing in 197 pages.

noboybookcover

TURNING PRO

Amateurs have amateur habits. Pros have pro habits. When we turn pro, we give up the comfortable life but we find our power. Steve answers the question, "How do we overcome Resistance?"

Turning-Pro

53 Comments

  1. ANDY on July 3, 2024 at 1:44 am

    “tennis without a net”

    No learning or development being Laurence Olivier in your bedroom!

    • mike henderson on July 3, 2024 at 5:49 pm

      Andy…a fortunate random moment for me re “Larry Olivier”.. I was living in London with my family in 1958. My mother had a MA in English. We had only been there a couple of months and she wanted to take me to see a play at Stratford Upon Avon. The name of the play was Corialanus. We had moved from Denver and my exposure to the “arts” were Western movies. I was in 8th grade
      As the play was being introduced the presenter said ” So and So (forget now) is not going be be playing the starring role, but it will be played by a young actor by the name of Laurence Oliver.This will be his first appearance at SUA.
      We were accompanied by a young and upcoming actress Anne Price,who was the daughter of one of my parents friends, a Dr Price, who was apparently a colleague of Dr. Pasteur
      We got to go back stage after the play and meet Larry as his friends called him because of Anne. All I remember was he was very sweaty, handsome and had the most distinguished accent I had ever heard.
      Anne later changed her stage name to Henderson,which really pleased my mom..She said she wanted to quit living in the shadow of her famous dad and brother who was a star rugby player at Oxford.
      I really enjoyed your comment so thought you might enjoy that history..
      As Steve and I have talked about many times regarding golf and anything…it is that dannable concept of practice..first its resistance and then practice…like 10,000 hours !! Have a great 4th..Take the day off Mike

  2. Jennifer Ann Wiggs on July 3, 2024 at 3:44 am

    Leap and the net appears, love your writing.

  3. Pricey on July 3, 2024 at 4:47 am

    Is it resistance judging what is me?

  4. Marília (Lila) on July 3, 2024 at 5:12 am

    Thank you for reminding me of this, Steven! ❤️

  5. Jackie on July 3, 2024 at 5:29 am

    I was sorry to have missed last week’s post in real time. I was in a forest with no internet, phone, or indoor plumbing. I was unlearning and jettisoning the baggage. Take time to reconnect to yourself. Stay true all, create, and have a great week.

    • Kathy on July 3, 2024 at 6:08 am

      Jackie…. 💜

  6. Randy Gage on July 3, 2024 at 5:33 am

    BOOM!

  7. Kathy on July 3, 2024 at 6:10 am

    Thank you. I need to make some adjustments, I think.
    🍃🌸🍃

    • Kathy on July 3, 2024 at 6:27 am

      It’s a lot to consider. It’s a whole different adjustment in my being. If I concentrate on the way you put it, Mr Pressfield, I can feel it.

      I know very little about color theory. Instead, I feel the colors. In the zone, I feel my way through all of it, colors, form, message. So, if I AM my painting and sculptures…. I should be able to feel that too. This kinda puts a different slant on things. It’s that euphoria when things are falling into place and you are just a part of it.

      I write a lot of poetry and for some reason I can connect with the idea that they are me, more than I can my sculptures or paintings.

      There’s also that feeling where you wonder, how did I do that? Did I do that? And you question if you were entirely alone. That spooky feeling.

      Hummm. Stuff to think about.

      🍃🌸🍃

      • Jackie on July 3, 2024 at 9:10 am

        Right on, Kathy. How did I do that? Did I do that?
        I was at my Monday night painting class working on a painting I struggled with the last three weeks. The other two women were talking. It took a moment to realize they were addressing me. One said “it must be going good over there. She’s so quiet.” I realized it was going well. All I had left to do was my signature.
        Spooky, yes but also kind of cool.

        • Maureen Anderson on July 3, 2024 at 10:15 am

          I love this image, Jackie!

        • Kathy on July 3, 2024 at 1:17 pm

          Jackie!, you were in the zone! Mega cool.
          🍃🌸🍃

  8. Gabriel on July 3, 2024 at 6:14 am

    And how do you articulate the difference between the artist & the entrepreneur?

  9. Harrison Laine on July 3, 2024 at 6:19 am

    Just like Howard Roark, eh, Steven?😎☮️🤙

  10. Teresa Cox on July 3, 2024 at 6:35 am

    Yes. every time. YES.

  11. Joe Jansen on July 3, 2024 at 6:43 am

    Yeah, man. Tons of great quotes from artists along these lines:

    “I don’t have my novel outlined and I have to write to discover what I am doing.” — Flannery O’Connor

    “I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking.” — Joan Didion

    “You write to find out what it is that you’re writing.” — E.L. Doctorow

    “I never know what I think about something until I read what I’ve written on it.” — William Faulkner

    “I write to find out what I think.” — Stephen King

  12. Jan on July 3, 2024 at 7:05 am

    I sincerely hope what you say is true.

  13. Gaby on July 3, 2024 at 7:42 am

    Thank you! Really needed to read that .. it’s a profound insight.
    Much gratitude.. x

  14. Nic on July 3, 2024 at 7:53 am

    I love all the comments. Especially Kathy’s about the spooky feeling. Did I do that alone? Is it real or is it Memorex?

    • Kathy on July 3, 2024 at 1:19 pm

      Nic, and you relate, right? Isn’t it crazy?
      🍃🌸🍃

  15. Michael J. Lotus on July 3, 2024 at 8:33 am

    Good advice, as usual.
    Focus on the work, not on negative or positive comments about it, and certainly not on any negative thoughts about anybody else. To actually make something takes all the energy and focus that you have.

  16. Carolyn on July 3, 2024 at 8:36 am

    Love this, thank you!

  17. Celia on July 3, 2024 at 9:06 am

    But what if “me” is also an idea, a creation?

  18. Anonymous on July 3, 2024 at 9:24 am

    Thank you so much dear Steve.

    That’s so strange.

    When I see myself in a video that someone has recorded for example, I say “that’s definitely not me”. Indeed my matter, my moves, my smile, my energy, all these realities, they are all strange and unfamiliar. They are not me, they are estranged.

    How can it be that I am my creation after I’ve created it? I guess it would seem to me as strange and unfamiliar as my video image. So true, but also so “not me at all”.

    My creation (the book) is also so wrong. I change it all the time. The end result is a Frankenstein monster.

    Food for thought.

    • Tolis on July 3, 2024 at 10:20 am

      (It’s me Tolis)

  19. Ross Starr on July 3, 2024 at 9:34 am

    The essence of “The Artist’s Journey” condensed into a single blog post! Well done, Steve!

  20. Gregory on July 3, 2024 at 9:46 am

    I was surprised by what my corporate keyboard told me and others I was then. I’m even more surprised by what my pen tells me I am now.
    You don’t find your purpose. Your purpose finds you.

  21. Daniel Moody on July 4, 2024 at 3:23 am

    Brilliant post, simple yet profound, 70 words, 7th grade English, almost as good as Hemingway 🙂

    We are defined by our work. Not by the awards we win, not by the books we sell, not by Amazon stars, not by positive reviews, not by the money we make, not by the number of twitter followers we have – this is the smoke, not the fire

    Case in point: Vincent van Gogh, a dude who lived on handouts all his life, only sold one painting during his lifetime and killed himself before he reached his prime – yet his work lives on and is now considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time

    What Steve is saying is (I think) is that even if no-one is buying your paintings, reading your books, listening to your music or buying your products, keep painting, writing, composing and entrepreneuring!

    Though let’s hope you get discovered before Vincent did 🙂

    And definitely don’t kill yourself – imagine what VvG would have produced if he lived to 107 instead of 37 – the whole world still weeps at the thought…

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    Hi! I’m new here, and my art is writing songs. The most recent “Slam/ Bang” of creativity I’ve experienced was to reply to an Online Prompt from a site I belonged to at the time. The prompt was simply: “DREAM”. I felt that this was an area that deserved FRESH, and proceeded to grab a fresh yellow legal pad. I number the drafts of a song and use a fresh page for each suceeding numbered page as a kind of history. After rewrite #5 I still knew I hadn’t dug deep enough for what I was sure I must be looking for. Draft #6, I picked up my Sharpie and found my mind quite empty, but my hand was writing…line after line… I was GOBSMACKED! What had found it’s way to the page was definitely from my heart, and a true picture of what I thought of the way others seemed to think of “DREAM”. I haven’t finished the music yet, but this was my experience with pushing for what I suspected I really harbored. Grateful to the Muse.

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