Joe is wearing a dressing gown! A very snazzy, smoking-jacket-esque dressing gown, but a dressing gown nonetheless. If you only listen to the audio, you’re missing out. Hop over to YouTube and have a gander. Mind you, I am dressed like three of the Spice Girls at once, so… anyway, we’re both perfectly dressed to discuss The War Of Art by Steven Pressfield – an excellent book for everyone who’s ever struggled with procrastination. Listen in and find out what mine and Joe’s top takeaways from the book are.
Key Points
- [1:20] Joe won gold and silver in the National BJJ competition!
- [2:00] Vicky, on the other hand, has scratched her eyeball.
- [6:35] Today’s podcast will be a book review of The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
- [8:35] The book is extremely well organized.
- [10:00] In Steven’s book, he actually doesn’t have a table of contents.
- [12:20] We each have different types of personalities depending on who you are talking to. We have the work persona, the family persona, and the friend/hobby persona.
- [15:55] Planning to do that ‘thing’ is really easy. Sitting down and actually doing it is not!
- [17:35] Don’t start tomorrow. Start now!
- [19:30] It doesn’t matter if the words you are writing are terrible! The point is you got it down on paper.
- [21:50] What kind of person do you want to be today?
- [25:25] Last month, Vicky wrote every single day!
- [26:00] Tune in next week to find out why you should do something difficult!
Mentioned in This Episode:
Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, and Overcast
The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin
The Next Step in the Dance by Tim Gautreaux
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield
Want to know more? I’ve written a book, you know. You can get your mitts on it here.
Want to read the transcript? See below…
Episode Transcript
Business For Superheroes Podcast Transcription: Episode One Hundred And Ninety Five: The War Of Art, or, Bashing Bad Guys
*This is a podcast about one woman’s mission to help entrepreneurs and business owners write better business books. Each week, we tackle your writing excuses because they’re our excuses too, and help you beat the blank page of doom so that you can write the book that will grow your life and your business. Now here’s your host, Vicky Fraser…*
Vicky: Hello, and welcome to the 1000 Authors show. I am Vicky Fraser and this is my husband, Joe.
Joe: Hello.
Vicky: Hello. Joe is wearing a dressing gown.
Joe:I just got out of the shower. Just got back from a class, had a shower and now we’re doing a podcast.
Vicky: Yeah and I am,
Joe: Then I’m going to bed.
Vicky: And I am dressed like three of the spice girls which I’ll explain in a moment.
Joe: That sounds good.
Vicky: Yeah so we are drinking–
Joe: Misery tea.
Vicky: Joe is drinking Vanilla Rooibos, Rooibos.
Joe: Redbush.
Vicky: Redbush. There’s a combination of two words. Red bus, red bus, I gotta stop with that and I am drinking lemon ginger.
Joe: How very grown up of us.
Vicky: I know, cheers. Yeah and so Joe is in his pajamas because he’s just been training BJJ which is very good of him because yesterday, oh did you bring it, did you bring it in?
Joe: No.
Vicky: Oh Joe.
Joe: I know.
Vicky: If you follow me on Instagram @treefrogtoe I put Joe’s bling on Instagram
Joe: Did you?
Vicky: Yeah, because I was really proud of you. Joe won gold and silver yesterday in the Hereford National BJJ competition
Joe: Hereford, Hereford Open BJJ.
Vicky: Yeah.
Joe: There were only two people in my division and I was both of them.
Vicky: You won golden in your category didn’t you. And he won silver against the youngsters.
Joe: Yes, I fought in my category and I fought in the category of younger blokes. And I got silver in that one.
Vicky: Yeah well done. So that’s very cool.
Joe: I was very pleased.
Vicky: And I am dressed like the Spice Girls because I am, you may have noticed if you are watching the video. You probably won’t have noticed if you’re listening to the
Joe: It’s difficult to tell just by audio.
Vicky: Yeah, I am wearing my glasses and the reason I’m wearing my glasses is I have scratched my eyeball which is exactly as irritating as it sounds.
Joe: Nasty
Vicky: And they said actually they were really cool because I popped in on the off chance they might be able to have a quick look at Specsavers. Hi Specsavers.
Joe: Hi Specsavers.
Vicky: And they did have a quick look, I only had to wait a couple of minutes. And they put some dye in my eye and they were like yeah you scratched your eyeball. Don’t wear your contact lenses for a couple of days. Have some eyedrops and they didn’t charge me anything.
Joe: That’s nice of them.
Vicky: Really nice of them. So normally I would be like yay small businesses, but Specsavers have just been really nice to me so yay Specsavers. Big businesses can be good too. Anyway I’m wearing my glasses so I was at Pole earlier and I was wearing the outfit that I’m wearing right now. Which consists of kind of 90’s go faster stripe jogging bottoms. This hoodie which is branded with the studio and my glasses. And I was also wearing my eight inch stripper shoes. And I walked out to fill up my water bottle and my friend Jade was like, “this is the most epic outfit I’ve ever seen. It’s like sexy, sporty, nerd.” I was just like yeah, I’m all three Spice Girls all at once. Really cool! So that’s what we’ve been up to this evening. And Joe, what are you reading at the moment?
Joe: I’m still reading book two of NK Jemisin’s Gate “The Obelisk Gate”.
Vicky: Obelisk Gate
Joe: “The Obelisk Gate” Yes the Fifth Season Series. I’m on Book Two, “The Obelisk Gate.
Vicky: Are you enjoying it? Cake, the obelisk cake, we’re hungry. Are you enjoying it?
Joe: Yes, yes but I’ve slowed down a bit. I rattled through the first book when we were in the Treehouse.
Vicky: Yes
Joe: Which was beautiful and amazing.
Vicky: Oh my god the Treehouse.
Joe: So I’m a bit slower on this one cause I’m only reading like the three lines I can read before I fall asleep. Yeah. But it’s very good, very good.
Vicky: Good, I’m glad. And I am reading, actually I’ve literally just finished reading, but I can’t talk about the next book because I am like 10 pages in. I’ve just finished reading, The “Next Step in The Dance” by Tim Gautreaux.
Joe: Tim Gautreaux.
Vicky: He– it is set in a place called Tiger Island in the deep south of Louisiana. And I think it’s set in the 80s when there was like oil boom bust down there.
Joe: Okay.
Vicky: It’s kind of a, this is one of the books that was recommended to me when I went on the reading spa at Mr. B’s.
Joe: Hi Mr. B.
Vicky: Hi Mr. B’s. The guy who did my reading spa was so great. And I said I don’t really read romances but I wouldn’t mind, I wouldn’t mind reading one that’s a little bit smarter because I’m not interested in Mills and Boon crap, I just can’t do that but, things like I really like the Shopaholics series which is really daft.
Joe:Oh, jeez, really. Really?
Vicky: It’s really daft and it’s fun. I can read like a Bookaholics book in like two days. Because it’s just so good.
Joe: Bookaholics?
Vicky: Shopaholics book, yeah. So I told him that and he came up with The Next Step In The Dance and said, give it a try. And a couple of times, I thought, ugh, I feel like I am wading through it at bit, but I didn’t put it down because I just loved it! It’s beautifully written. It really gives you a feel for what the deep South is like and all of the swamps and the bayous. Really gives you a feel for what it’s like to go from having enough money to really, really finding yourself plunged into poverty. And trying to live a life and fall in and out of love. And it’s just beautifully written and, yeah, I just loved it!
Joe: What was it called?
Vicky: The Next Step In The Dance. It’s not very well known and it was published by, Mr. B’s has a publishing house called Finch Teper… oh, that’s terrible, I can’t remember the publishing house.
Joe: No!
Vicky: But it’s, it’s them, it’s that book shop and they publish them up. I think this is the second book they have published and so I want to go read his other book now, this guy. So, it’s really, really good! And the non-fiction book that I am reading, at the moment, is still Atomic Habits by James Clear.
Joe: Still?
Vicky: Yup! I’ve almost finished it. I love it! The reason its taken me so long is I’m writing a lot of notes.
Joe: Oh, really. Not just, kind of, turning the pages and…
Vicky: No, I am writing a lot of notes about it.
Joe: Notes.
Vicky: Notes which you can’t see. it’s great and we will do a review of that at the moment because that brings me to what today’s topic is.
Joe: What is today’s topic?
Vicky: It is, The War of Art by Steve Pressfield.
Joe:This is a very book review-y Podcast.
Vicky: It is because I thought, you know what, I’m a writer, I teach other people how to become writers and authors and I don’t think we’ve ever done a book review!
Joe: Hmm.
Vicky: And so, I would quite like, every month or so, I think we’re going to review a book. And encourage people to join my Bookaholics Anonymous Book Club which is totally free!
Joe: Really? Cool!
Vicky: So, there will be a link to that. But yeah, one of the books, one of the books that we read a little while ago. I am just trying to remember when we wrote it. March. There we go.
Joe: You read it in March.
Vicky: There we go. We read it in March. Is The War Of Art and if you’re watching the Podcast on YouTube, by Steven Pressfield. Now, Steven Pressfield is a really interesting guy because he is a fictional, well, he was a fictional author primarily. I think like historical fiction?
Joe:Okay. Okay.
Vicky: So, kind of in the vein of Clive Cussler and, you know it will be, vaguely historically accurate or something.
Joe: Sure.
Vicky: But I think Steve Pressfield and this is really bad, I’ve never read any of his other stuff. I’ve only read his one fiction but he writes like about, I think he wrote about one of the big Greek wars. And it was almost fictionalized account of..
Joe:Helen of Troy and all that.
Vicky: Yeah, that kind of thing. And I might be totally wrong and doing him a massive disservice. But the reason that I got interested in him is because he has become very, very well known, like the top of his field, for breaking through creative blocks and winning– Well, the subtitle is, Break through the blocks and win your inner creative battles.
Joe: Okay.
Vicky: Because anyone who has ever tried to write anything of any substance will know that one of the first things that happens is that you sit down and, you’re like, nope!
Joe: ‘Cause it’s difficult!
Vicky: Yeah, it is difficult. And so, he is all about how, how you kick, you know, kick through it and just get the work done. How you do the work, really. And so, his book, it’s a really, it’s a great book actually. It’s really interesting book. Oh, yeah, so he’s done, okay, so his fiction books, he’s done a load called, The Profession, Killing Rommel, which is based on Rommel, The Afghan Campaign, you know, based on all that kind of thing. The Legend of Bagger Vance. Oh, he wrote The Legend of Bagger Vance! Which is a very famous film.
Joe: It is!
Vicky: Yeah! So, the other non-fiction books he’s written is Turning Pro, Do The Work, and The Warrior Ethos. He’s got his own publishing company as well. I am pretty sure that Black Irish Entertainment is his publishing company.
Joe: It’s his.
Vicky: Yeah. So, I liked the book because it’s nicely organized and I wanted to talk a little bit not just about the substance of the kind of content of the book also.
Joe: The way it was done.
Vicky: The way it was done as well and how it is organized. So, it’s got a foreword, which is fine. A foreword is a good idea if you think that you can get somebody who’s well known in the industry. Robert McKee is an author, he’s a fiction author. And so, he got Robert McKee to write the foreword. And Steven Pressfield wrote The War of Art for me. You know, you know, the kind of book that’s just perfect for me. And then it’s structured really nicely so…
Joe: It’s not a big book is it.
Vicky: It’s not a big book. No, it’s only…
Joe: It’s not an intimidating book.
Vicky: …like a 163, 163 pages or so. 165 pages. I’m just wondering if it’s got a Table of Contents. Talk amongst yourselves, Joe.
Joe: Well, it’s, it’s a beautiful sort of just above A5 book. The type face is very clear.
Vicky: It’s nicely spaced as well.
Joe: It’s very spaced, yeah.
Vicky: You know what’s very important, if you’re watching this, you can see that there’s quite a lot of white space between the lines.
Joe: Hmm. It’s easy. It’s non threatening, isn’t it?
Vicky: It’s non threatening, yeah. Okay, so, what Steven, he doesn’t actually, I don’t think, have a table of contents. Which is really interesting.
Joe: Shocking!
Vicky: And, you know, I’m certainly not going to sit here and tell Steven Pressfield how to write a book.
Joe: Hi, Steven!
Vicky: That would be awesome if he was listening. But it’s interesting because I would normally suggest, especially if you’re writing a ‘how to’ book, the kind of book that I wrote which is how to write a book.
Joe: Yeah, the sort of thing you are going to refer to and want to find where you got that bit of information from and come back to.
Vicky: Yeah. Whereas, what Steve Pressfield has done is a little bit more, I think you can dip in and out of it, more easily, and it’s fine. But it’s nice because his introduction is broken into three different kind of sections. Which is what I do and that’s what he talks about what he does everyday. His routine. What I know, that’s literally just one paragraph. And the unlived life and that’s where he talks about the fact that most of us have two lives. Which is the life we live and the unlived life within us. Between the two, stands resistance.
Joe: Okay.
Vicky: And I really like that because, to me, that feels like it sums up every person who wishes they could accomplish something but doesn’t.
Joe:Because of the resistance?
Vicky: Yeah! And it’s not that they can’t do it. Not that they’re not capable of doing it. Because every human being is, most people are born on a pretty level playing field. Even the ones who are disadvantaged still have it in them to go, you know, to go and do big things.
Joe: Or whatever it is that you are currently doing, you could, you can always do something else.
Vicky: Yeah.
Joe: You can always change it a bit or do it differently, or move in a different direction, or make a few decisions and go that way instead.
Vicky: Yeah. And it might be much harder for some people to do it than others but, you know, it’s tiny little steps.
Joe: It’s possible.
Vicky: Yes, it is possible. And so, I really liked this because it just it just kind of summed up and it doesn’t matter whether you’re writing a book or creating a product or learning something. You know, if you, if you, it’s like me. If I want to be able to play the guitar. Which I do. I simply need to sit down and practice. And sometimes sitting down to practice is really, really difficult.
Joe: Yeah, because there’s more, immediate things.
Vicky: Yeah. And it’s not even, it’s not even that there’s more immediate things. Part of the reason I really like this book, which is The War of Art, is that he treats, Steven Pressfield, treats resistance as like this outside malevolent force.
Joe: Right.
Vicky: And I really like that because he’s, he’s kind of not saying put the responsibility somewhere else. What he’s saying is it can be quite useful to treat it like something that trying to, trying to scupper you basically. Trying to sabotage you. Which is what it is! It’s almost, because this, this, kind of been a lot of research done into how our brains work. And how many, how many personalities we have, if you like. And, I don’t know. What do you think? Cause people are different depending on the situation they are in, aren’t they?
Joe: Of course.
Vicky: And you’ve got your inner voice and your outer voice.
Joe: Yeah, yeah. You have your family person and your work person and you might have your mate’s person and your pub person. Maybe your public speaking person. You may have loads of them.
Vicky: And you’ve also got that voice in your head that nobody else ever hears because that’s the one that’s whispering poison in your ear. And that’s, that’s the one that Steven Pressfield kind of describes as the resistance monster. I can’t remember what he calls it but that kind of thing that’s trying to stop you. I call it you’re inner dickhead. It’s, it’s just this book is all about really how to beat down your inner dickhead and how to, how to overcome what’s going on.
Joe: To be able to make those decisions and move on.
Vicky: Yeah. Cause if you can’t overcome resistance you’re never going to get anything done. You know. It doesn’t really matter.
Joe: You’ll just do the things that you are used to doing.
Vicky: Yeah, you’ll never progress.
Joe: Yeah, you just carry on.
Vicky: Yeah, you won’t do the things that you want to do. Because the book I am reading at the moment and we’ll talk about this when we review this Atomic Habits by James Clear. But he said something in the book really early on that blew my tiny, little mind. And it is kind of really obvious when you think about it but you know when you sometimes read something and it’s like, whoa! He says, winners and losers have the same goals. And that just blew my mind because I think we are all, we are told, so often, to focus on the goal and the end result. It’s like, oh, what was your goal? Set big goals. You know, set your goals and this is how we are going to get to it. And we don’t think about what it is that we do everyday to get ourselves there. And the difference between, you know, the difference between winners and losers is not the goals they set. It’s what they do everyday.
Joe: Yup.
Vicky: To get there. And that, even though I kind of knew it on some level, when I saw it written down like that it was just like…choir of angels, you know.It’s like . And, yeah, it was, I think that’s related to this because he’s talking about all the things that you have to do everyday. It’s like all you need to do is sit down and write. Which kind of sounds easy…
Joe: Just do that thing.
Vicky: ..but it’s not quite so easy. So, some of the things that we took from this book when we talked about it Bookaholics. I’m looking at Rob Sketch notes right now.
Joe: Hi, Rob!
Vicky: Hi, Rob! Rob is a fantastic cartoonist. You should totally go to Everyone Loves Cartoons.com and have a look at his cartoons because he also runs courses. I’ve done a couple of his courses and he’s great! And we’ve both learned from Sean D’Souza. at Psychotactics, which is really cool! So, yeah, the thing that I am looking at the moment. The book note that I am looking at the moment. The sketch note and I should share these. I’ll ask Rob if that is okay.
Joe: Yeah.
Vicky: But he’s kind of drawn a piano. But the quote that he’s taken from the book, which I really liked, one of, one of the things that stops us from getting started is that we don’t tell ourselves that we’re not going to write our symphony. We tell ourselves that we’re going to start tomorrow. So, we don’t tell ourselves that we’re not going to write the book. We just say, we are going to start tomorrow. And it’s the same thing.
Joe: After Christmas.
Vicky: Yeah, and they both mean the same thing. They both mean I am not going to do this thing. But one of them is, you know, less.
Joe: Yeah, it’s much more palatable to say, well, I’ll do that next week or tomorrow.
Vicky: Yeah.
Joe: Or after Christmas or whatever.
Vicky: Because at the time, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed this phenomenon, but it happens when people kind of invite you somewhere as well. You know, it’s a few weeks ahead and you think, oh, yeah, that might be fun. Because in your head it’s really easy to go and do that thing. And then it comes up and it’s like tomorrow and it’s like, I really don’t feel like doing that anymore. And it’s the same thing I think when you’re writing a book or you’re practicing something, anything you want to get better at. Planning to do it is super easy. Actually sitting down to do it is not. Do you find that with what you do at work and BJJ and stuff?
Joe: Yes. Yes. I certainly find it easier to do the loud, screaming, immediate thing. Than the strategic, planning, considered thing. Which is a little bit of a different issue, I guess, but, yes, it’s a lot easier to say well, I’ll sort that system out next week.
Vicky: And then…
Joe: Deal with all this shit now.
Vicky: Yeah.
Joe: Sort out the system next week so it doesn’t happen again. Next week I’ll just be dealing with shit.
Vicky: Yeah. But if you were wanting to write a book then that’s what all of that immediate shit is what would push writing the book out of the way.
Joe: Yeah, yeah. Next week.
Vicky: Yeah.
Joe: Indeed. Of course.
Vicky: And so, it’s, it’s got to, that is just an excuse. It’s like this stuff. This immediate stuff, that has to been done now is almost always just an excuse. Because unless the actual building is on fire, there is nothing that is that important that it has to be done now, you know. Usually. It obviously depends on, you know, it obviously depends on if you’re a doctor and you’re actually working in a hospital, you can’t just put aside an hour and be like no, screw those people. You know what I mean.
Joe: Because it’s all over the table.
Vicky: Yeah. I’m talking about people like, oh, I’m, I’m talking about me, right now. Oh, I really need to go and do the laundry. It’s like, no, the laundry will wait. There will be laundry tomorrow. I can do, I can do the laundry tomorrow. So, I think that’s very important is to think about the story that you’re telling yourself. The internal narrative. Because that’s, it’s very important, the stuff that we tell ourselves becomes real.
Joe: Yeah.
Vicky: If you’re telling yourself you’re gonna do it tomorrow, you’re not. You start now. You know, if you’re sitting there thinking, listening to this and thinking, well, you know, I could, but I’m actually just gonna, just gonna watch tellie for a half an hour. It’s like, don’t, don’t watch tellie for a half an hour after you finish listening to this Podcast. Spend that half hour writing a 100 words.
Joe: Yeah, start that habit.
Vicky: Yeah, start that habit. Okay, the next thing that I want to pull out. Okay, yeah, so, this is what I was talking about. He describes resistance as, like, an external thing. Oh, I thought you could do that one.
Joe: Oh, okay, So, he says resistance is like the Alien or The Terminator. It cannot be reasoned with. It has one object, to prevent us from doing the work.
Vicky: Yeah. And that’s your, what I call, your inner dickhead.
Joe: I suspect that’s one objective.
Vicky: Objective, yeah, I think so.
Joe: To prevent us from doing our work.
Vicky: Yeah. And if that’s its sole objective, it’s like when you think, it’s like when you think of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and she has to get lucky every single time. And a vampire only has to get lucky once. And resistance, only has to get lucky once. But you have to fight resistance every single day cause it’s got this like one singular objective.
Joe: Hmm.
Vicky: To stop you from sitting down and doing the work. And you’ve got to fight that every day. And all it has to do is just be like, yeah, just doing my thing. Seems like quite a lot of effort to overcome. So, I think it can be quite useful to treat it like something that is outside of yourself. Makes it a bit more palatable.
Joe: Easier to fight against.
Vicky: Yeah. Yeah, easier to fight against something that’s big and scary and outside of you then it is to fight against half of your own brain. I seem to spend most of my life fighting my own brain.
Joe: You need some goldfish, girl.
Vicky: Did you really just have goldfish swimming around in there?
Joe: Yup.
Vicky: I don’t think that’s true.
Joe: I can just switch it all off. Right! The next thing, the most important thing about art is to work.
Vicky: Nothing else matters except sitting down and trying. And that is a thing that I try and get people to do. Is it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter if the words that you write are shit.
Joe: If you throw them in the bin, that’s fine. What you did was you sat down and you wrote something.
Vicky: Yeah! And it’s like Steven King says, Amateurs, you know, sit and wait for inspiration to strike and the rest of us sit down and go to work. It’s like if you want to write a book, if you want to write for a living, if you want to do anything that is creative, and almost everything is creative, really, then just gotta sit down and do the work. You’ve just got to start because even if, even if you think what you’re going to do is going to be a total bag of shit, that doesn’t matter. Because that’s the, it’s the tiny beetle step that you’re going to take to get better. And you know what? Sometimes, sometimes you just have a shit day and that’s okay. Oh, a professional seeks order. I think what he means by that, if I remember rightly, is that you treat it like a job. So, you don’t, you don’t sit and think, oh, I’m a creative, therefore I can be fluffy about it. And…
Joe: Chaotic and..
Vicky: Yeah. It’s like scheduled time, scheduled time for writing. Block it into your diary and treat it like your best client. And this, again, is something like I tell my coaching clients to do is one of the first things we do is write we are going to go through your schedule for the next three months and we are going to carve out writing time. That’s what we’re going to do. We’re gonna make sure you have time to write. And it’s not just going to be fitting it in here and there when you can because if you try and fit writing in, when and where you can, you never will. It just won’t happen. That’s super important.
Joe: Okay, well, oh. Turning pro is like kicking a drug habit or stopping drinking. It’s a decision. A decision to which we must recommit everyday.
Vicky: Yeah, that’s a really interesting analogy, I think. Because having, having known or knowing a few friends who are in recovery, recovering addicts. I have come to realize that it’s not just, it not like you wake up one day and you’re cured. It something that they have to keep working at every single day.
Joe: Yeah, keep pushing against.
Vicky: Yeah, every day they wake up, it’s like, this is, this is the person that I am going to be. Today. And it’s like you have to do it again and again. And I think it’s the, it probably is similar, it’s cause it’s an identity thing. It’s like what kind of person do you want to be? Because the habits that you have, the way you behave, all form the identity, that you know, the person that you are. So, what kind of person do you want to be? It’s much, much easier to be a person who sits on the sofa and watches Netflix.
Joe: Yes.
Vicky: Much easier. And that’s fine because humans are primed and, you know, it’s an evolutionary advantage for us to be as lazy as possible or it was. Because it would conserve energy as much as possible, conserve energy. Now we’ve got too much food and that’s a very bad strategy. But our brains haven’t caught up.
Joe: Yeah, we haven’t evolved to understand that yet.
Vicky: No, and so, we, we are all lazy. I am lazy. You’re lazy. Given half a chance, what we gonna do? You know, every, every time ’cause your always like, oh, you never sit down and you never, never chill out. That’s because I am really well aware that if I do, I will never get up again. So, I’m not very, I’m not very good at relaxing. I do get a lot done. Not as much as I would like to though because I am lazy.
Joe: Yuck.
Vicky: So, yeah, you have to decide who you want to be every day. Do you want to be a person who’s writing a book? Do you want to be author? ‘Cause if you do, you need to make that decision every day that you wake up. I’m an author. I’m a writer. That is who I am. I’m going to write today. Even if you only write 100 words.
Joe: Yeah.
Vicky: That’s what you’re going to do. Really important.
Joe: Ambition is the most primal and sacred fundament of our being. Not to act upon that ambition is to turn out backs on ourselves and our reason for existence.
Vicky: See, I like that as well because I’m not like a massive believer in, oh, you know, people are put on this earth to do one thing. And that’s it. But I do think that most people, at some point, if they are thinking deeply about what they are doing, and, you know, making choices and not just being drifted along by life. They will wake up one day and realize that this is the thing that they want to do.
Joe: Okay.
Vicky: because I know that I, I did it. I was like, I’m a writer. I can’t even remember what, what was the day that I woke up and kind of thought like that’s what I need to do.
Joe: That’s what I do.
Vicky: But I keep in mind that I’ve got a quote just behind me by Mark Twain and the quote says, ‘The two most important things of your life are the day your born and the day you figure out why.’ And that kind of relates really well to what Steve Pressfield said, I think. And, also, yeah, I think it’s like a betrayal of yourself if you’ve got this ambition and you want to do something. I think it’s, it’s a betrayal if you don’t try.
Joe:Yeah.
Vicky: You might not succeed but try. If you want to write a book don’t, don’t let yourself, don’t let yourself be sabotaged by your inner dickhead.
Joe: Yeah, just but a of laziness and Netflix and distractions.
Vicky: Yeah! I mean even just the process of writing the book is a magnificent thing. That you’ll learn a lot about yourself and, yeah, just don’t allow fear and apathy to stop you. That would be a tragedy. So, that’s all of the notes and I’ve think I’ve said all of the, yeah, all of the other things I wanted.
Joe:This is a good book, right?
Vicky: It’s a really good book. Yeah, it’s really easy to read. And it’s really nicely written.
Joe: Really good book.
Vicky: Yeah, it’s nicely written. You can dip in and out of it. It’s split into kind of, you know, different, book one is resistance. Defining the enemy and that kind of looking, looking at who it, you know, what the enemy is which is that kind of external, alien thing. Book Two is all about combating resistance and turning pro. And then, Book Three is beyond resistance. The higher realm. So, and I think that really is when once you’ve got the habit of working.
Joe: Yeah.
Vicky: It becomes wrong to not do it.
Joe: You physically change from being the person who didn’t do that stuff to the person who does.
Vicky: Yeah. So. Yeah, for me, that would be like writing every day just looking at my little habit checker template and last month I wrote every single day. And the month before, I wrote every single day. I think I am on a streak of 76 of my previous big streak was, I think, 300 and something days.
Joe: Wow!
Vicky: Then I broke it and I was gutted. And so now I’ve got it up on my wall with red crosses and I don’t want to see those red crosses break, at all. But I’ve got all my habits up there.
Joe: Good!
Vicky: That’s the, that’s the person I want to be. Not doing so well with some of them but, but the key is to do more than you don’t. If that makes sense. Cool! So, we’ll be looking at another book in maybe a month or so.
Joe: Okay.
Vicky: And next week, oh, next week, we’re going to be talking about why you should do something difficult.
Joe: Good topic.
Vicky: Yes.
Joe: You definitely should.
Vicky: Joe will not be wearing a dressing gown.
Joe: Joe will not be ready for bed.
Vicky: And I will not be wearing my awful glasses.
Joe: Awe!
Vicky: So, what is, what is going on in my world? Well, my book is out and it’s printed. And I am planning a big book launch for January!
Joe: Nice!
Vicky: There’s gonna to be lots of cool swag, for people, if they get involved with the launch. And help me sell my books and all the rest of it. So, that’s gonna be really cool! And I am running a writing retreat in Fuerteventura in late February for a week. So that’s going to be really good fun. You didn’t know about that, did you? [Laughs]
Joe: Cool!
Vicky: And I’ve already had like four people say that they want to go and I’m only taking six people. So..
Joe: So, if you want in on that, you’d better move fast!
Vicky: If you want in, drop me an email at Vicky @ Vicky Fraser.com and let me know. And, I’ll, ah, let you know what’s going on. And if you’ve listened to every episode of this Podcast…
Joe:Crazy person.
Vicky: Crazy person. Yeah. Email me your postal address and I will send you a little silly, super fun gift and, as always, if you’ve enjoyed this episode and this Podcast, please go and rate us.
Joe:Five stars!
Vicky: On iTunes and review us. We’d love a review.
Joe: Reviews are good.
Vicky: Yeah, and share us and subscribe! And subscribe on YouTube as well! You’re watching us on YouTube, you can subscribe on that! There’s a button.
Joe: Done that.
Vicky: Push down and I think that’s it. My stomach’s growling.
Joe: I’m starving! I’m so hungry!
Vicky: Really, really hungry! We’re going to go, now. We’ll be back same time next week. Thank you so much for listening, as always. Harriet, thank you for being magnificent assistant and Podfly, thank you for always being really patient with our last minute shenanigans.
Joe: Thanks, guys!
Vicky: Bye!
Joe: Bye!
* Thanks for listening! You can find links and show notes on the website at www.moxiebooks.co.uk/podcast, where you can also sign up for the best daily emails in the multiverse and find loads of free resources to help you write your book. We’ll be back the same time next week with more tales from the book writing trenches, and the latest on what our tiny sheeps have been up to. *
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About Vicky…
Vicky Fraser is the founder of Moxie Books and author of How The Hell Do You Write A Book and Business For Superheroes. She helps business owners write life-changing books, connect with readers and new customers, and grow their businesses. When she’s not doing that, she’s hanging from a trapeze by her feet.
