If you want to be a writer, if you already are a writer, if being a writer is a secret, long-held dream, this book needs to be on your shelf. Not convinced?

   Someone once asked Somerset Maugham if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration. “I write only when inspiration strikes,” he replied. “Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.” 

   That’s a pro.

   In terms of Resistance, Maugham was saying, “I despise Resistance; I will not let it faze me; I will sit down and do my work.” Maugham reckoned another, deeper truth: that by performing the mundane physical act of sitting down and starting to work, he set in motion a mysterious but infallible sequence of events that would produce inspiration, as surely as if the goddess had synchronized her watch with his.

   He knew if he built it, she would come.

The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield

I love Somerset Maugham’s quote and I love this book. I flip through it every year or so and it never fails to inspire. Even if writing isn’t your thing, if you have another creative passion, apply Somerset Maugham’s work ethic and watch as that “mysterious but infallible sequence of events” unfolds.