The Willing Embrace of Chaos

What is the first virtue of the artist?

It is—and must be—an awareness of and acceptance of the primary reality of the field upon which she will work.

That reality is chaos.

“Nothing in war,” Moshe Dayan said, “happens in a straight line.”

Nothing in art or entrepreneurship happens in a straight line either.

The birth of anything—stars and galaxies as well as people and animals—takes place amid disorder, confusion, and chaos. That’s our novel, our non-profit, our Korean vegan restaurant.

You and I must teach ourselves to be comfortable working in darkness and in crooked lines.

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.

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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. Qurban on April 15, 2026 at 2:00 am

    I really appreciate your emails every week Steven … they are short and help me shake off the resistance even for a moment. Thank you!

    • Maggie Hill on April 15, 2026 at 2:39 am

      Thanks for straightening that out.

  2. Steve Chivers on April 15, 2026 at 2:10 am

    Thank you Steven.

  3. Tolis on April 15, 2026 at 2:46 am

    Thank you very much dear Steve.

    A few weeks ago I started reading about the theory of Chaos by one of its’ fundamental historical reference books, “Chaos: a new science”, James Gleick, 1987. Even at the most stable systems there are seemingly infinitesimal disorders (actualy stimuli from the infinite world that influence it, like the forces of nature) which lead the way in the end, due to their accumulation which empowers them, while they ‘re unchecked due to their minimal state.

    I even thought that one way to see why our mind drifts off our dream is: although we may start creating the book with enthusiasm, which keeps our mind there for some time, the mind seems to be doing this: it stops and resets every moment. While at the beginning of the creation the enthusiasm makes these resets connect to the creation (and that is why we must find the element of game in our ceating path, for game connects to enthusiasm – and yesterday I made the claim that game could be a basic instinct), later on their numbers are so large and their themes so wide, that the mind slowly drifts off. And because of that accumulation of new stimuli, one day our mind isn’t there -it’s in a new state, one of thoughts and stimuli that have gathered in those “stop-and-reset” places. Now, that is good in a way: it isn’t us doing that, it is nature. We are not to blame, although we are to correct it. If we were PC’s, we would get to the end, no questions asked. In a PC the stops-and-resets of the human mind as I named them do not happen because it works through different systems than our mind.

    As I told you I write again for about 6 weeks now. This time it’s the same as and also different from the old times. The same in that I write “from my heart”, different in that I now know that my heart isn’t me, and it isn’t also what I would like to see on the page. It is an entity by itself, so I let it do its job and question not. That is easier my dear Steve. I didn’t know back then. My only question now is how much to correct it afterwards. No, I won’t make that more delaying time, don’t worry, but I will “send it” while at the same time I will be perfecting it. I also found out, as you may remember from what I observed a long time ago, that yes, there is perfection in language, but I won’t fall in the trap of doing that without sending the book out there this time. So I will do them both, simultaneously, from the beginning of the last part, the part where you get it out there.

    My love to you, Diana, all our friends.

  4. Jackie on April 15, 2026 at 2:48 am

    Your words make me think and leave me smiling. Thank you.
    Wishing the community a week of productivity.

    • Faith Watson on April 15, 2026 at 5:57 am

      Loved this one especially. Pushing through a birth, and riding along with all the uncertainty and passion that may follow. Because its all happening–It is the way. Thanks, Steve.

  5. Laura Leinweber on April 15, 2026 at 3:22 am

    Thank you Steven!

  6. John Raisor on April 15, 2026 at 4:36 am

    Isn’t creating order out of chaos the basis of the game?

  7. Muriel Palmer-Rhea on April 15, 2026 at 5:04 am

    For a few years now, I’ve committed to starting my daily schedule with a small cylinder . Called “The One Puzzle” from a games shop at the Mall, it has eight colors, very small chicklets that can be manipulated into patterns. I have devised 2 or 3 patterns that I shift between. I realized the reason this is important to me with your post on Chaos this A.M., that I am physically asserting my command over Chaos in a small, limited way in the early hour of my day in the studio. I’d never drawn the absolute paralell before. Thanks Steve!

  8. FERNANDO BERDI on April 15, 2026 at 8:09 am

    As suas reflexões apaziguam e normalizam o desconforto.Obrigado por isso, Steve.

  9. Rick Surkamer on April 15, 2026 at 12:51 pm

    Steve, I consider if writing or life was a straight line we all would be very bored

  10. Rebecca on April 16, 2026 at 10:03 am

    This, especially, so helpful for me “You and I must teach ourselves to be comfortable working in darkness. Steven, thank you for naming this.

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