Our Friend, Resistance

Who will teach us? Who will be our guide and mentor on this monumental passage from the Old World of working for someone else to the New World of being the “rightful sovereign of our own person?”

Fortunately, we’ve got a great mentor, the best we could possibly ask for.

Our own Resistance.

The dragon that guards the gold will be our instructor.

“The enemy,” as the Dalai Lama said, “is a great teacher.”

Let’s ask ourselves, then,

How will this enemy come at us? Where and when will he strike?

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.

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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.

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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?"

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12 Comments

  1. Jackie on February 4, 2026 at 3:23 am

    The enemy will want us to do the easy thing, to make excuses, and whispers we are not worthy. The enemy inside doesn’t want us to know we are enough and powerful. To face the enemy, ourselves, we have the chance to learn and grow.
    This is a think tank today. Not sure I’ve got it right, but I’m in the arena. Thanks Steve for pushing us past ourselves.



    • FERNANDO BERDI on February 5, 2026 at 11:54 am

      Concordo com você, Jackie. O inimigo não deixará de ser inimigo, mas poderá, mesmo sem querer, nos mostrar por onde devemos ir, sem tropeçarmos nos pedregulhos que estão no caminho – como ali, na ilustração.



  2. Haruna Shuaibu Usman on February 4, 2026 at 3:43 am

    Lovely. Lesson learnt. Thank you.



  3. Gregory on February 4, 2026 at 5:16 am

    He wants me to cut firewood for him today in order to keep warm. But then he reminds me under the din of the running chainsaw that I should be writing the thoughts in my head instead of felling dead ash trees.



  4. Muriel Palmer-Rhea on February 4, 2026 at 5:38 am

    Then you go in, get warm, write about CUTTING FIREWOOD. Sounds simplistic, and for that I apologize/ don’t apologize. How would Hemingway tell us about Cutting Firewood? What would Chaucer say? I’d love to see what YOU have to say. I’m here in Mass. melting snow to water my houseplants to keep the humidity level up because our Town water system is both undrinkable for humans, and kills my Ficus. Yeah, I could be telling how I chose the cleanest snowbank the far side of the parking spaces, took a big orange Home Depot bucket and loaded it up with that clean snow, hauled it inside, up the stairs to the bath, filled a TtupperWare jug with snow, ran hot water into a sink, set the jug into the warm water….cut to filling 3 half-gallon cider bottles with rhe results and waterered the first starving plant…cutting firewood sounds much more romantic…Thanks, Gregory for the inspiration..I’ve now opened up my taps for word-flow!



  5. Joe on February 4, 2026 at 6:02 am

    Love the image. Going into the wilderness. What’s around that next bend.



  6. Scott Mitchell on February 4, 2026 at 6:47 am

    This ongoing column reminds me that Resistance is a shared experience. I keep thinking of Michelangelo, sculptor, laboring away on the scaffold of the Sistine chapel, trying to execute somebody else’s vision (the Pope & his art advisors) of what Biblical scenes should be represented in fresco. You have to wonder how many times he must have felt like chucking the whole project.



  7. Craig Lueck on February 4, 2026 at 6:53 am

    Thanks Steven.
    The dragon, yes. It’s protecting something of great value.
    The Wizard of Oz tried that too. But then the curtain was removed – and the adventure began! It was only then that the real storyline made sense.



  8. Brad Graft on February 4, 2026 at 7:31 am

    “The enemy is a great teacher…” Why? Because Resistance is like an army perfectly-trained to execute an endless collection of tactics, tricks of the trade.. with each ploy adhering to the single strategic aim of sidetracking us from our goals.

    Just when we feel we have Resistance figured out, beaten, another head of the vile beast appears…

    “How will this enemy come at us? Where and when will he strike?” How, where and when we least expect…. Keep swinging your swords, mates…



  9. Ran on February 4, 2026 at 7:41 am

    Jackie’s comment is perfectly written! As a student of Steven’s “Resistance Reset,” I would add that Resustance also likes the change up, as does the pitcher in a baseball game. Rather than claim 👉🏻 “You’re unworthy!” 👈🏻, Resistance might whisper, “Take a break…do it tomorrow…”
    Steven’s “Resistance Reset” taught me a lot about pushing past that and concentrating on the writing I need to be doing, because if you think about it, there IS no “tomorrow.”
    Just make it exist first. You can make it good – or better – later.



  10. Hugo on February 4, 2026 at 9:31 am

    Ran, agree. As an artisan self-employed, i have to fight agasint myself every fuc$%? day because i have also to be a business man and ve a manager, have to talk with architects & enginneers having 0 respect for the Craftsman knowledge. At least 5 times a week i think of quitting. Been on the path for the last 3 years. Never did something harder. And i am 56. Never thought having a salary was so easy. But at the same time… I don’t know how i could have someone manage my time/sweat/life anymore. I am thankful for Stephen’s Wednesday anf for the different commentaries i read here.

    Walk the Path. Just fight.



  11. Tolis on February 4, 2026 at 11:43 am

    Thank you so much dear Steve.

    The wholeness of this world – the fact that everything is relative and, in addition, all relations between two can be infinite.

    To use Resistance as a guide and mentor. Hm. The compass that shows true North like you said back then. Although I let it guide me, the path is long.

    I must make it. I must find the way.



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