War of Art Book Notes

Introduction

The Book in 3 Sentences

1. Resistance to making art takes many forms including but not limited to: fear, critcism, isolation, rationalization, and the unlived life.

2. Resistance can be beaten by becoming a professional (adopting a professional mindset). A professional distances themselves from their work while simultaneously giving it her soul. It is a fine balance to maintain.

3. Fear is inevitable. Our goal is not to get rid of it, but to act in the face of it. Reject hierarchy and outside stimulus and embrace creating for yourself.

Impressions

How I Discovered It

Who Should Read It?

How the Book Changed Me

How my life / behavior / thoughts / ideas have changed as a result of reading the book.

• Committing to sitting down everyday or every week to create is the key to beating resistance and getting your ideas down on paper. Reading this book has really inspired me to start my comic creating habit. To take the most direct path to my “unlived life” that I’ve so desperately dreamed of.

• Fear is not something that can be overcome. It will be with me forever. It is a part of the human condition. In the face of fear, best we can do for ourselves instead is to learn to act regardless. No day will come where I am finally “strong” enough or “good enough”. Act now. There is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist.

• On validation. The artist cannot look to others to validate her efforts or her calling. The artist must operate territorially. She must do his work for its own sake.

My Top 3 Quotes

• “Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”

• “We do not over identify with our jobs. We may take pride in our work, we may stay late and come in on weekends, but we recognize that we are not our job descriptions. The amateur, on the other hand, over identifies with his avocation, his artistic aspiration. He defines himself by it. He is a musician, a painter, a playwright. Resistance loves this. Resistance knows that the amateur composer will never write his symphony because he is overly invested in its success and over-terrified of its failure. The amateur takes it so seriously it paralyzes him.“

• “The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist.“

Notes

Section 1: What is Resistance

How many pages have I produced? I don’t care. Are they any good? I don’t even think about it. All that matters is I’ve put in my time and hit it with all I’ve got. All that counts is that, for this day, for this session, I have overcome Resistance.

Section 2: Combating Resistance - Turning Pro

• Resistance outwits the amateur with the oldest trick in the book: It uses his own enthusiasm against him. Resistance gets us to plunge into a project with an overambitious and unrealistic timetable for its completion. It knows we can’t sustain that level of intensity. We will hit the wall. We will crash.

• The professional arms himself with patience, not only to give the stars time to align in his career, but to keep himself from flaming out in each individual work. He knows that any job, whether it’s a novel or a kitchen remodel, takes twice as long as he thinks and costs twice as much. He accepts that. He recognizes it as reality

• He conserves his energy. He prepares his mind for the long haul. He sustains himself with the knowledge that if he can just keep those huskies mushing, sooner or later the sled will pull in to Nome

1. She shows up every day.

2. She shows up no matter what.

3. She stays on the job all day.

4. She is committed for the long haul.

5. Her stakes are high and real.

6. She accepts remuneration for her labor. We’re not here for fun. We work for money.

7. She does not over identify with her job.

8. She masters the technique of her jobs.

9. She has a sense of humor about her job.

10. She receives praise or blame in the real world

Section 3: Fear

1. Compete against all others in the order, seeking to elevate his station by advancing against those above him, while defending his place against those beneath.

2. Evaluate his happiness/success/achievement by his rank or validation, feeling most satisfied when he’s high and most miserable when he’s low.

3. Act toward others based upon their rank in the hierarchy, to the exclusion of all other factors.

4. Evaluate his every move solely by the effect it produces on others. He will act for others, dress for others, speak for others, think for others.

“The hack is a writer who second-guesses his audience. When the hack sits down to work, he doesn’t ask himself what’s in his own heart. He asks what the market is looking for.“

Conclusion