Soooo I know the word "war" is in the title, but I didn't expect the tone of this book to be so... well, angry, and almost violent in places.

I'd read so many articles and blog posts referencing this book that I already knew its basic premise (i.e. we are all born to do something creative but we are also born with a resistance internally that makes us procrastinate or ignore our creative desires completely and so the war of art is the ongoing battle overcoming The Resistance) but I still thought it would have lots of value for me because it is so highly recommended by people in the public sphere that I respect and admire.

It did have some value. I like how it identifies modern society and consumer-culture as a root of Resistance and it reaffirmed my belief that I need to write to be the best version of myself... but it also toyed with ideas that I'm not comfortable accepting. Firstly, there was a lot of talk of the Muse, and also God being part of our creative purpose. While I don't have the same lengthy experience of professional writing as Mr Pressfield, my 5 years of writing regularly and publishing my work continues to make me feel that there is no such thing as the Muse. We are all masters of our own destiny and we have to choose to work in order to do the work. The more we put in the easier it can be (but not always!) and Pressfield goes some way to agree with this ("we get what we put in"). But to say any or all of this comes from a Godly or mythical presence doesn't help encourage people to sit down and do the work, which is where I believe Resistance really and truly exists. It's also hard to understand his view that we should do the work regardless of the outcome when he goes to great pains to highlight his commercial successes as some sort of validation... I therefore found it a bit contradictory.

Furthermore, it's not a book to read if you have any experience of mental health struggles as it briefly and quite bluntly suggests that depression and anxiety wouldn't exist if we all did more art. I have always believed creativity helps soothe such illnesses and our souls on a bad day, but it's frankly insulting to suggest we would be free of it if we all indulged a creative habit for a few hours a day... something only very privileged people (like myself) are physically, logisticaly or financially able to do.

I fear I'm getting almost as ranty as the author now so I will stop by saying you should read this book if you are very new to writing or any other art, but take the tone and message with a pinch of salt... or like me, be selective of what serves you, because frankly finding things to encourage us on this ever unpredictable journey is truly necessary to beat the Resistance I cannot deny we encounter every day.