Steven Pressfield
Joe Galloway set the standard for today’s journalists. Whether he was reporting from Vietnam with General Hal Moore or the Persian Gulf with General Norman Schwarzkopf, or writing about the battles of today, his work has been steeped in honesty and integrity. He remains the only civilian to receive a medal of valor from the U.S. Army, for heroism during the Vietnam War—the Bronze Star Medal with “V” device. In 1991, he received a National Magazine Award for his U.S. News & World Report cover story “Vietnam Story.” With General Hal Moore, he wrote the classics We Were Soldiers Once…
Read MoreI was introduced to Sunni Brown via the visual book summaries she did of The War of Art. I’ve read different things people have written about the book in the past, but this was the first visual. And it blew my mind. I’ve talked about doing a “2.0” version of The War of Art in the past. Sunni’s work introduced me to what one part of 2.0 might look like—kind of like going from living in the first dimension book world to the fourth dimension multi-media world, where we work on multiple “planes.” On her site, there’s a quote about…
Read MoreI met Mark Safranski last year, just after launching “It’s the Tribes, Stupid.” Soon after the videos launched, he wrote a post for his blog “Zenpundit.” Though he didn’t agree with everything I said, he showed respect for the effort. That’s one sign of a professional. He might not always agree with you, but he’ll respect the effort, and avoid personal attacks. In addition to setting a high standard for blogging at ZenPundit, Mark holds an MA in diplomatic history and an MS.Ed in administration, is a teacher, educational consultant and was an adviser to a privately held internet platform company, Conversationbase,…
Read More“The Story of a Reluctant Entrepreneur” was my introduction to Mark McGuinness. Read it. Mark wears a number of hats—and wears them all well. He is a poet, an entrepreneur, a creative coach and trainer, and the author of Wishful Thinking and Lateral Action. You can also find his work at http://www.markmcguinness.com/ and Magma Poetry. SP: Mark, your site (which is terrific and tremendously helpful to many, many people including me) is called Lateral Action. What exactly is “lateral action?”
Read More[Writing Wednesdays is taking a break this week. Here’s a favorite from last year. ] Probably the most classic kernel of writing advice is “Write What You Know.” On the surface, that seems to make a lot of sense, and I’m sure it has worked for thousands and thousands of writers. It didn’t work for me. When I was a beginning writer I had two literary heroes: Jack Kerouac and Ernest Hemingway. A lot of aspiring writers in my era had those guys as heroes. Kerouac and Hemingway weren’t so much my heroes for what they wrote (though that was…
Read MoreI was first introduced to Glenn Reynolds through his blog Instapundit. If you’ve ever seen the Instapundit stream, then you know Glenn’s posts are like the tide coming in—full and constant waves, arriving all-day long. S.P.: O Blogfather! You were among the very first to really make blogging work. What was your original impetus for jumping into this field? Are you ever surprised at how far it has carried you? G.R.: Well, I teach Internet Law, and because it’s a fast-changing field I try to do hands-on stuff so that I’m teaching from firsthand knowledge, not just out of a…
Read More“Interview with a Tribal Chief” is one series that ran on the “It’s the Tribes, Stupid” blog. It featured interviews with Chief Ajmal Khan Zazai. Freerange International has a report up about Chief Zazai being ambushed by Pakistani Taliban this past week.
Read MoreThis is an important post. I say that because this piece addresses (after procrastination, which is the #1 champ), the single greatest excuse/reason/cop-out that prevents aspiring writers, artists and entrepreneurs from taking action to pursue their dreams. That excuse is, “First I have to _____________.” “___________” can be anything from “finish my research” to “pay the rent” to “get rid of my slacker boyfriend.” I’m not saying such excuses can’t be real or serious.
Read MoreA few years ago, I got it into my head that I wanted to run a marathon. The experience turned out to be a life-changer, not so much for the race itself (though that was pretty great too) as for the training that built up to it. I live in Los Angeles. There was a hospital downtown, Orthopaedic Hospital, that was offering a free six-month training program leading up to the L.A. Marathon. Classes met once a week, Sunday morning. Each session was on a different subject—hydration, footwear, “hitting the wall,” etc. Probably 400 runners became regulars. The program helped…
Read MoreJonathan Fields is a “doer.” He doesn’t just “talk the walk.” He lives it. Jonathan is a lifestyle-entrepreneur, a blogger at JonathanFields.com and TribalAuthor.com, a marketing consultant, a speaker and the author of Career Renegade: How to Make a Great Living Doing What You Love. SP: This series is about the creative process: how an artist works and what techniques he or she uses to tap into that mysterious flow. For a writer of fiction, say, that process is (probably) internal and takes place in isolation. What about an entrepreneurial thinker and doer like yourself? Do you find your ideas…
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