“The Authentic Swing” by Steven Pressfield. What is your Authentic Swing? and a book giveaway

Last year I started to call myself a writer and I started to read blogs about writing. Several people said, “You should read The War of Art.” Well, I hate being told what to do, so I didn’t read it for months. But after I read it, I realized they were right.

And now I am telling you to read  Steven Pressfield’s new book: The Authentic Swing.  Notes from The Writing Of A First Novel. The Story Behind “The Legend of Bagger Vance.”

You should read The Authentic Swing because you need a stool with three legs.

My life was like a stool with only two legs until I read The Authentic Swing. 

Mr. Pressfield made the third leg on a stool when he wrote The Authentic Swing

The first leg on the stool is  his book, The War of Art. The War of Art is about the battle to fight resistance and create. The book is a guide to “Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles.”

There’s a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don’t, and the secret is this: It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What is hard is sitting down to write. What keeps us from sitting down is Resistance.
–Steven Pressfield

The second leg on the stool is the book Turning Pro. You decide to be a professional and stop the habits of an amateur.

You don’t need to take a course or buy a product. All you have to do is change your mind.
–Steven Pressfield

And the third leg on the stool is The Authentic Swing. A book about how Mr. Pressfield wrote Bagger Vance and about how he found his own Authentic Swing.

The best and wisest thing we both can do is to find our own Authentic Swings and swing them.
–Steven Pressfield,  The Authentic Swing

Every morning I  fight the Dragon Resistance to sit down and create.  I fight off my bad  habits of staying up late reading stories about cats with two heads. I  made up my mind to be a professional. And now I am  fighting to become my true self, to find my own unique talent. My Authentic Swing.

What are you creating?
Are you creating something original?
Are you fighting  resistance  just to copy someone else?

Mr. Pressfield wrote novels for thirty years before The Legend of Bagger Vance was published and made into a movie.

What was different about Bagger Vance? Why was this novel published?

Mr. Pressfield will tell you in his new book. He shares his secrets. He shows how he approached writing Bagger Vance. He will tell you how he approaches writing all of his books.

The Authentic Swing is the story behind The Legend of Bagger Vance. Bagger Vance was a bestseller, selling over 250,000 copies. It was adapted into a feature film in 2000, directed by Robert Redford,  starring Will Smith, Matt Damon and Charlize Theron.

Pressfield divides the book The Ultimate Swing into five parts.

Part One: Finding the Idea
Part Two: How A Writer Thinks
Part Three: Writing It
Part Four: The Authentic Swing
Part Five: The Movie

When I read the book I expected to find just a book about a book. I wanted to read practical answers to writing questions.

Straight forward and to the point.

But.

There is more to the book than just the story behind Bagger Vance. 

What, I’m asking myself is Bagger Vance about? I’ve got a couple of characters. I’ve got the setting. But what’s the theme?
Steven Pressfield, page 48 The Ultimate Swing

Steven Pressfield was trying to find out the theme for the book he was writing about Bagger Vance. And I was trying to find out the theme to The Ultimate Swing.

What is the purpose of this book? What is the theme?

The theme of the Pressfield’s new book is about  finding your  own Authentic Swing.

The concept of the Authentic Swing is that each of us is endowed from birth with our own gift, our own style, our own unique talent and point of view. Our job is to find it and bring it forth.
— Steven Pressfield

Steven Pressfield  doesn’t want us to copy him or anyone else.

Swing your Authentic Swing.

— Steven Pressfield

Buy the book. You need the third leg to your stool.

The Authentic Swing is available at Black Irish Books.

The Authentic Swing is about finding yourself. What is your  Authentic Swing?