Steven Pressfield | Writing Lessons from the Master

The James Altucher Show

James Altucher

Education, Business

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 17 January 2023

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Steven Pressfield's newest book, Govt Cheese a memoir, must jump to the top of your reading list. Both gut-wrenching and laugh-out-loud funny, his brutally honest story is a compelling page-turner. Steven's writing career spans many genres and formats, but it almost never materialized. From US Marine to advertising copywriter, schoolteacher, tractor-trailer driver, bartender, oilfield roustabout, mental hospital attendant, migrant fruit-picker, and hack screenwriter, his debut novel - The Legend of Bagger Vance - was 30 years in the making before it was published (later to become a major motion picture). Never content with one format, his non-fiction book The War of Art has now sold over a million copies globally & his historical fiction novel Gates of Fire is on the required reading list at West Point.James and Steven touch upon all manner of concepts & credos during today's conversation, among them:What role does advertising play in an author's toolkit? (00:06:10)After writing 3 unpublished novels and 9 failed screenplays, what kept Steven motivated? (00:15:17)Did Steven ever consider suicide? (00:16:43)What breakthrough made Steven's books "publishable"? (00:19:13)The 5 stages of creative development: Desire, Craft, Soft Skills, Finishing, and Killing the Ego (00:29:43)The importance of mentorship (00:31:43)What did Steven learn from re-writing a porn script? (00:47:04)James' two classes of humans: "Writers" & "Birdwatchers" (00:56:02)Belief in the other all-knowing dimension (01:02:08)------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book Skip the Line is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast.------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsStitcheriHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on Social Media:YouTubeTwitterFacebook ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Such a great pleasure always.
0:07.0	This is like a mentor to mine.
0:08.4	We're about to talk to.
0:09.4	He's been on the pockets before.
0:10.9	Stephen Pressfield.
0:12.2	He's written great novels.
0:14.2	You might have read the novel, The Legend of Bag of Vance or seen the movie.
0:18.1	Many other great novels.
0:19.6	He's also written so many great books about the process of being a great writer, a great
0:25.9	artist.
0:27.0	Most notably is The War of Art, but also a book called Turning Pro, The Authentic Swing,
0:32.9	Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit.
0:34.7	I recommend people read all of his books.
0:36.6	And finally, the book I've long been waiting for, which is a book about his own personal
0:41.6	story and struggle to becoming a great writer and artist.
0:45.7	The book's called Government Cheese.
0:48.1	And we just have a conversation about everything it takes to break out of the box and do something
0:55.4	and master something you love.
0:57.5	And he's a very wise person, so happy to talk to Stephen Pressfield.
1:02.3	Here he is.
1:05.7	This isn't your average business podcast, and he's not your average host.
1:10.6	This is The James Altiger Show.
	...

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