{"id":28193,"date":"2022-02-10T08:24:56","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T16:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=28193"},"modified":"2022-02-10T08:54:14","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T16:54:14","slug":"writing-and-leading-kick-in-the-seat-of-the-pants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/writing-and-leading-kick-in-the-seat-of-the-pants\/","title":{"rendered":"A Writing (and Leading) Kick in the Seat of the Pants"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWriting is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.\u201d[1]<\/a> So ends Stephen King\u2019s memoir on the craft of writing. Sounds great. Meanwhile, whether someone wants to write the next great novel or a weekly blog post for a doctoral class, the experience often feels more like a hike in the arid desert of ideas rather than a drink from the creative fountain. All that precedes King\u2019s words at the end demonstrate how some of the best-skilled writers battle through multiple issues, just like everyone else, to produce great works.<\/p>\n

Both Stephen King\u2019s On Writing <\/em>and Steven Pressfield\u2019s The War of Art <\/em>belong to seasoned and successful authors who offer help to those who want to improve their creative writing skills. The format chosen by each author differs in style. King\u2019s biographical approach shares his journey toward his prolific career. His book unfolds in four sections. The first section walks the reader through King\u2019s formative years. By the end of that section, King feels like a long-held friend. The second section shares essential tools for writing like basic grammar, vocabulary, and style. King references William Strunk and E. B. White as masters from whom he learned in this section. The third section contains King\u2019s advice on specific aspects of building writing skills, including constant reading, writing, and paring down various drafts. The last section reads like a personal diary entry of King\u2019s way back to life after an auto accident almost took his life.<\/p>\n

Pressfield\u2019s work, classified under self-help psychology, offers short segments of advice about overcoming barriers and releasing a person\u2019s innate creativity. His work reads more philosophically as a guide to living one\u2019s best life, including pursuing one\u2019s most profound passion. The great barrier to that better life occupies the first section, what he calls \u201cresistance.\u201d He diagnoses that \u201cResistance arises from within. It is self-generated and self-perpetuated. Resistance is the enemy within.\u201d[2]<\/a> In his second section, Pressfield counsels a winning strategy in the fight against resistance. In the final section, he describes life beyond resistance. Both authors write to encourage nervous, aspiring, and struggling writers like mentors cheering on their students toward future success.<\/p>\n

I gleaned three principles from the two authors that apply to leadership. First, be honest about yourself. <\/strong>Stephen King writes about his addiction to alcohol in graphic ways that do not seek to manage the reader\u2019s understanding or shade the reality to skew his responsibility or situation toward the positive. Such straightforward honesty inspired respect as the tendency to manage our image can be subtle, even unconscious to the one doing so. Among younger generations, the ability to \u201csmell\u201d disingenuousness comes hard-wired. A leader integrity\u2019s credibility, and that trait grows through multiple sources. One of the ways to gain credibility arises from an honest portrayal of ones struggles, not just one\u2019s strengths. I believe it was on a Craig Groeschel leadership podcast where he stated, \u201cPeople are not looking for a leader who is perfect, but they are looking for a leader who is real.\u201d The authenticity of both authors starkly shared every aspect of their all-too-human journey.<\/p>\n

Second, leaders cannot always be certain, but they can be clear<\/strong>. In his section called \u201cThe Toolbox,\u201d King offers numerous writing tips, primarily aimed at concise, strong language. He takes issue with passive verbs and adverbs with a strident tone, arguing for the active voice and clarity. When explaining the motivation behind unclear writing, King speaks about the inner battle of the writer when he states, \u201c With the passive voice, the writer usually expresses fear of not being taken seriously. . .\u201d[3]<\/a> His understanding of the motive behind the overuse of adverbs centers on a fear of not being taken seriously.[4]<\/a> Simple, straightforward communication connects best. An expectation upon leaders often includes that assumption that she or he possesses all the answers to all the questions. One aspect of honesty could include the willingness to admit, \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d Leaders need to conquer insecurities and unrealistic expectations to find the freedom of honest communication.<\/p>\n

Another application of this principle includes a leader\u2019s willingness to share their weaknesses and failures, not just their strengths and successes. When a pastor uses an illustration from a TV show and prefaces the quote with, \u201cnot that I watch a lot of TV,\u201d could they be managing their image before their frontstage audience? Simon Walker wrote about the visible and invisible part of a leader\u2019s life in Leading Out of Who You Are.<\/em> Both King and Pressfield take their readers into their backstage world of fears, motives, and imperfections. That endearing quality gets admired when others to so but can prove a challenge to the person faced with that choice to expose what can only be known if revealed.<\/p>\n

Third, check your motives<\/strong>. King states, \u201cWriting isn\u2019t about making money, getting famous, getting dates. . .or making friends. In the end, it\u2019s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well.\u201d[5]<\/a> Pressfield speaks in terms often designated in ministry as a \u201ccalling\u201d when he states, \u201cOur job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.\u201d[6]<\/a> When young folks approach me considering a future in ministry, I ask them to relate their sense of calling. Some days calling alone provide affirmation to endure the challenges of leadership. A leader\u2019s purpose must exist beyond themself.<\/p>\n

Both authors urge readers to step up, step out, and get writing. Neither exists apart from the struggles common to all. Pressfield quotes Goethe, who said, \u201cWhatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it. Begin it now.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Stephen King, On Writing <\/em>(New York: Scribner, 2000), \u00a0270.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Steven Pressfield, The War of Art <\/em>(New York: Black Irish Entertainment LLC., 2002), 8.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> King, On Writing,<\/em> 124.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid., 124.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid., 269.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Pressfield, The War of Art,<\/em> 146.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Ibid., 122.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWriting is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.\u201d[1] So ends Stephen King\u2019s memoir on the craft of writing. Sounds great. Meanwhile, whether someone wants to write the next great novel or a weekly blog post for a doctoral […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":149,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2198,2197],"class_list":["post-28193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-king","tag-pressfield","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/149"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28193"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28197,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28193\/revisions\/28197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}