This morning I woke up at 4:50 a.m, ten minutes before I usually get up to write. The covers had fallen down to my shoulders in the middle of the night. I pulled them up to my chin, turned onto my side and stared at the clock. I watched it change minute by minute, then I fell asleep again.
Resistance never goes away and it never diminishes. The dragon must be slain anew every morning.
Steven Pressfield, author of the WAR of ART
Resistance attacked me this morning, “You interviewed the great Steven Pressfield yesterday. A lot of people read your story. You will never write anything as interesting as him. Might as well stay in bed.”
The dragon is sneaky. He didn’t come into my room yelling and throwing things at me. He whispered to me inside my head. The dragon knew my doubts. He played them back to me on a continuous loop in the tape recorder in my brain.
The dragon called Resistance is there every morning, waiting for us, as soon as we open our eyes.
At 6:30 a.m. I finally got out of bed. Three of my cats were waiting for me when I opened my bedroom door to go downstairs. They were guarding the door from dragons. One dragon was able to sneak past them, and come in under the door as a whisper. ( And yes, I know my socks don’t match.)
The dragon followed me downstairs. The dragon called Resistance was relentless, “Your kitchen is a mess. Clean that pot, fold the laundry. You have nothing to say, that hasn’t already been said.”
The dragon became silent as I sat in my chair in front of the computer.
We kill the dragon every time we sit down to write.
I will keep writing.
I will keep fighting.
And you? Will you write today? Will you kill your dragon?
Please let me know in the comments. Let’s chat.
