Inner Weather and Outer Weather
As I write this, a gale is howling outside. Rain is dumping in sheets; it’s the kind of weather that makes the voice of Resistance between my ears say, “This is nuts! You should take today off.”
But there’s an entirely different atmospheric condition inside my head.
My inner weather doesn’t know what’s going on outside. It doesn’t care. It operates by its own meteorological laws. And right now—in the midst of this October storm—it’s 81 degrees and sunny.
Are you working on a memoir, a nonfiction think-piece, a ballet, an art installation? Then you have created your own inner weather.
Your physical person may exist in the outer weather, but the inner atmosphere is where you really live.
I’ve compared notes with friends in different fields—actors, photographers, filmmakers, entrepreneurs like restaurant owners and even one friend who runs his own canning factory. They all report the same phenomenon.
Sometimes, when things are at their worst externally, they’re fertile and vibrant internally—creatively.
I have no idea why this is so, but it is.
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.
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.
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.
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?"
