Well, yes, but that’s a form of fun, at least in my opinion. The current MIP is kicking my arse with great abandon (new genre, longer, deeper), but it’s still fun in the sense that I’m creating something with meaning (if only to me) and I’m learning more and getting closer to mastering my craft. Sorry I wasn’t more clear on that! (And I call myself a writer, heh.)

And *smacks self* — I remember reading your review of Pressfield. I just really, really liked the book.

Thanks for these thoughts, plus the additional book recs. Dillard does indeed seem to have a love/hate relationship with writing, but personally I can relate to the notion of writing being not always outright fun. The pleasure/reward in it, for me, often stems from challenges overcome or impediments pushed through. Other times, of course, its unadulterated joy. I can’t get enough of Dillard’s deadpan style, like this bit: “Every book has an intrinsic impossibility, which its writer discovers as soon as his first excitement dwindles.” As a novelist, I find that to be consolingly true.

As for your recs, I have written here previously about The War of Art, which is a book of no modest value. (My recent Soul Shelter thread on the subject of Resistance is in part a retort to Pressfield.) I’ll look into your other recs with interest!

Thanks for reading. And good luck as always with the writing!

~Mark

Just for fun, here are a few other books on my keeper shelf — if you’ve read any of them, I’d be interested in your thoughts.

THE WAR OF ART, by Steven Pressfield
ART AND FEAR, by David Bayles and Ted Orland
ESCAPING INTO THE OPEN, by Elizabeth Berg
DEEP WRITING, by Eric Maisel

As always, thanks for an interesting post!