One of the things a writer realizes when she first becomes aware of her own Resistance—her internal, diabolical pull toward self-sabotage—is that it’s a dangerous world … not just “out there,” but “in here.”

Picking up from last week, the dream described in that post has helped a little. But I’m still being hammered by self-doubt about this new book. 

“What I have tried to do is follow the dictates of Necessity. This is the solitary god I revere and, in my opinion, the only god that exists. Man’s predicament is that he dwells at the intersection of Necessity and free will. What distinguishes statesmen, as Themistocles and Pericles, is their gift to perceive Necessity’s dictates in advance of others—as Themistocles saw that Athens must become a sea power and Pericles that naval supremacy prefigures empire. That course of individual or nation aligned with Necessity must prove irresistible.”

This is a powerful mantra for any of us launching upon a long-form creative or entrepreneurial enterprise, e.g. writing a book, starting a business venture, trying to get our daughter into Harvard.

We were talking a few weeks ago about Seth Godin’s new book, The Practice.

I want to recommend a podcast to you. This is actually the only podcast I save every time and the only one I never miss. 

I’m going to recommend another book today. You may think, eyeballing the title, that it could have no place within our “writer’s bookshelf.” But it should sit, believe me, front and center.