The War of Art by Steven Pressfield (author of The Legend of Bagger Vance) is a must-read book for any artist or musician. Of course, the title is a play on the title of the classic The Art of War by Sun-Tzu. Like its sortof namesake, the book is a series of advice nuggets designed to help the reader succeed in Art (or War).

Every artist of musician grapples with the blank page syndrome: how do I get started? What is my next book/song/image going to be? How do I overcome this RESISTANCE to getting started?

After reading this book, you will immediately become acutely aware of how resistance tries to thwart your progress at every step. It will be obvious to you that those phone calls you are making to friends for “support” are really Resistance(and resistance is anthropomorphized into a person here) beckoning you away from doing anything useful to further your artistic endeavors.

So if you want to get started on your next artwork – whatever it is – have a read of this book. It can’t hurt and moreover  the likely result will be some incredible new art being created. I immediately got started on my next series of pieces after reading the book – they will be posted on my website as soon as they are finished(as long as I can keep Resistance from entering my domain – and I think I can).