"It Ain't Brain Surgery. It's Harder."

Blazing Reader,

For Christmas, I bought my son Jonah a copy of The Daily Pressfield — a new book by Steven Pressfield (of The War of Art fame). Here's a sample of the wisdom it contains:

"Of course, the dream of making a living as a writer or an artist or an entrepreneur is a tremendous long shot. The odds are overwhelmingly against success, particularly if we set as our goal the ideal to be true to ourselves and to our unique gifts.

"To say we want to succeed on such terms in the contemporary universe of competition is like saying we want to be a professional basketball player. It's easier to become a brain surgeon. At least you can go to school for that."

As daunting as all that may sound, Pressfield clears up any hesitation by pointing out:

"How hard can it be? The answer is that's not the right question.

"The right question is, 'Do you have any choice?'

"If you're a real writer or artist, you don't."

In other words, you can't contain your creativity, your drive, your passion. Or if you try to contain it, it will haunt you at night, refusing to let you slumber. Hard is an excuse passion has no sympathy for.

—John C.A. Manley

P.S. You can get a copy of Steve Pressfield's new book, The Daily Pressfield, through my Amazon link — for which I'll earn a commission that'll help pay the university loan I'm taking out to become a brain surgeon (as a backup career).

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona, All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of philosophical fiction that are "so completely engaging that you find yourself alternately laughing, gasping, hanging on for dear life." Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber.