I recently read an interview with Steven Pressfield, the author of the "War of Art" on
Karine's blog. I left a comment that his PR person is good, because I hopped right on Amazon and bought myself a copy. Well his PR person contacted me to see if I would be interested in asking him a few questions. (I did mention she was good, right? :))
Here are my questions and his response:
Hi Steven, thanks so much for taking the time to answer a few questions.
I just finished reading "The War of Art" after hearing about it on several blogs. I have been working as an illustrator and designer for the past decade and have been putting aside fully exploring the fine artist within. Your book is a gift at an important time developmentally for me and I am sure the same is true for everyone who reads it. I also want to personally thank you for your very generous last paragraph of the book.
"Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It's a gift to the world and every being in it. Don't cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you've got."
A.S. You spoke about making a risky decision to shift from writing screenplays to novels. Can you speak a little bit more about where you found the courage, confidence, and freedom to switch directions at that time?
S.P. In a way, I didn’t have a choice, Amy. I was making my living as a screenwriter when the idea for “Bagger Vance” came to me, so powerfully that I knew I had to do it. The only problem was it came to me as a book, not a movie script. I had a meeting with my agent about this. I told him, “I’ve got bad news and I’ve got worse news.” The bad news was that I wanted to write a book. The worse news was that it was a novel about golf (!) Bottom line: he dumped me. But I was so seized by the idea that I had no choice but to go ahead. It was scary, but I just had no choice. And it worked. I found a new agent right away and the book sold right away. This after struggling for over a decade to to get a book published, with no success. The time was just right, I guess.
A.S. Now that you have an "audience" for your work, do you approach new projects with them in mind? How do you balance your vision with what people are expecting from you?
S.P. I can’t say I dismiss the idea of an audience (I’ve never really figured out what mine is), but I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it. The criterion I use to answer the question, “Should I write Project X,” is how much do I love it. A novel will take two years or more, so I better really be seized by it. I guess I write it more for myself than anyone else. Am I interested in it? Will the project make me stretch? Am I really grabbed by it? At the same time, I WILL ask the question: Is there any commercial potential here? I’m aiming for the “overlap,” where something that really seizes me for my own obscure reasons also has a chance to appeal to readers out there in the real world.
A.S. It is my experience that people who choose to express themselves creatively often have multiple talents and choices for avenues of expression. Do you have a desire to express yourself in other ways besides the written word?
S.P. I’m lucky that way, in that I really don’t have any other talents – or nothing that’s magnetic enough to pull me away from writing. That’s really all I want to do. Other ventures to me might be fun, but they’re not Real Work. They don’t really evoke Resistance. In fact, doing them IS Resistance. But I know what you mean, Amy. Lots of friends are multi-talented and it’s really a challenge for them to know what to do. It’s kind of like an all-around athlete who has to choose (usually around eighth grade) whether he’s going to play football, basketball or baseball. Unless he’s Bo Jackson or Deion Sanders, he’s probably not going to be world-class at more than one. That said, for the rest of us humans, why not pursue more than one? It can be fun, and one can help feed the others.
Thanks for your time Steven!
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