Pressfield is best known as the author of some very well regarded historical novels about
Sparta. This book of writing advice is focused on the psychology of the labor of writing. If you are a true Artist (caps intended), with a Great Work inside you, it will take real, painful effort to get it out. There's a fear inside us, preventing us from achieving our great work, which Pressfield deems Resistance.

True artists face their Resistance every day, and win. You can no more ultimately conquer Resistance than you can death, but every word written is another victory. Pressfield's recipe for beating resistance is turning professional. The world is full of amateur hobbyists, but the professional faces up to resistance every day and does the work that needs to be done. A professional carves out that space, both psychological and physical, that enables them to work. And if you're working, really working, emotional satisfaction will follow. As the Bhagavad Gita teaches, we're entitled only to our labor, not the fruits of our labor.

It's interesting to compare Pressfield to Cameron's The Artist's Way. The two books are more similar than different. Both seek to tap an authentic artist's self to conquer the false demons of the ego. But where Cameron follows the radical presentness of Zen, Pressfield argues for transcendent inspiration, in the framework of the Greek Muses. The cool professional is a different take from the enlightened master, but the content and style of punchy chapters is similar. With my military history orientation, I prefer Pressfield's take.

Of course, those seeking the mechanics of writing should look elsewhere.