The best books for writers battling through the artist’s journey

Michael Stephen Fuchs Author Of ARISEN: Raiders, Volume 1 - The Collapse
By Michael Stephen Fuchs

Who am I?

I’ve been writing for 25 years, making a living at it for 10, and have ground out 29 books and counting – battling pretty much every step of the way. I not long ago completed work on a 6-year, 16-book, 1.6-million-word project – by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done… or ever will do. (I know because it nearly killed me, and I both can’t and won’t do anything like it again.) Reasonable people can disagree about life, but I’m pretty sure the Artist’s Journey is a battle, and not an idyll. YMMV.

I wrote...

ARISEN: Raiders, Volume 1 - The Collapse

By Michael Stephen Fuchs

Book cover of ARISEN: Raiders, Volume 1 - The Collapse

What is my book about?

Two teams of pipe-hitting special-operations Marines, left to die in the fall of North America. One nuclear supercarrier strike group, humanity's last best hope for survival. And seven billion ravening dead guys, rampaging across an overrun planet.

Climb aboard the USS John F. Kennedy, the most complex and deadly warship ever built by man, along with its Marine Raider guardians, to experience two years of horrors and glories of the Zulu Alpha across the world's fallen ports and coasts. Now, after the epic 14-book ARISEN main series, the story before the story can finally be told…

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

The Books I Picked & Why

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles

By Steven Pressfield

Book cover of The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles

Why this book?

This is a holy text, what is – or certainly ought to be – the bible for anyone trying to do anything hard and creative in the world. (Though it wears its bias toward fiction writers on its sleeve.) It breaks down the life-or-death stakes of your battle with Resistance, which is trying to kill the unique gift that you and only you have to offer the world (and the expression of which will fulfill your unique existence on this spinning wet rock). I keep a copy on my bedtable and review my highlighting from it every time I have to throw myself back into the fight. The War is real.

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad

By Austin Kleon

Book cover of Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad

Why this book?

This book was seemingly written personally for me, at the exact moment I needed it – and is just about the wisest and most practical thing I've read about How To Keep Doing It, which for a working artist turns out to be by far the hardest thing. How do you find a way to keep doing the work (and, ideally, doing it well) that is also compatible with life, health, happiness, and sanity? As we know, so many writers and artists have tragically failed at this – going down to despair, madness, obsession, isolation and alienation, alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide, or just quietly giving up on the whole project. Outstanding solutions to the problem here. (Sneak preview: accept it never gets easier, you never really arrive, have a daily practice, stay playful, and forgive yourself!)

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

By Elizabeth Gilbert

Book cover of Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

Why this book?

This book arguably saved my life. N.B. I would no sooner read Eat, Pray, Love than eat my own face. But this is a deeply and profoundly wise exploration on the Artist’s Journey for a writer – about honoring your talent and craft, supporting it instead of making it support you, and even finding joy and whimsy in what many (including, admittedly, Pressfield) approach as a vicious and violent struggle to the death. (“It's such a gangster move,” Gilbert notes, “because hardly anybody ever dares to speak of creative enjoyment aloud, for fear of not being taken seriously as an artist.”)

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials Into Triumph

By Ryan Holiday

Book cover of The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials Into Triumph

Why this book?

This book is really for anyone trying to do anything hard in life – because life is freaking hard. I actually find this to be the single most useful (and nearly best) nonfiction title in my library (of about 2,500 volumes), and it’s useful for everything – but, given that Holiday mainly makes his living writing bestselling books, once again writers enjoy a particular embarrassment of riches here. Also N.B. – contains the secret of life.

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

The Artist's Way

By Julia Cameron

Book cover of The Artist's Way

Why this book?

Okay, this one was kind of a gimme – how could any such list not include this title? I’ll say that I’m not a habitue of either Morning Pages or Artist Dates (mainstays of her program, and which are absolutely sworn by by very many successful creatives), but, still, this book kind of saved me, too – after my big crash. (When I quit writing. Forever. For six weeks.) Cameron is a mensch, a luminary, and her book is one of the single wisest meditations on what it really means to be a working artist.

When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.

Closely Related Book Lists

The best books to make you rethink life and learning

William Meyer Author Of Healing Breath: A Guided Meditation Through Nature for Kids William Meyer

The best books on leading during times of change

Russell Linden Author Of Loss and Discovery: What the Torah Can Teach Us about Leading Change Russell Linden

The best books for studying undergraduate mathematics

Lara Alcock Author Of How to Study as a Mathematics Major Lara Alcock

The best books about mass incarceration

James Kilgore Author Of Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People's Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time James Kilgore

Distantly Related Book Lists

The best books on parenting from a dog behaviourist

Nigel Reed Author Of The Dog Guardian: Your Guide to a Happy, Well-Behaved Dog Nigel Reed

The best books on mental health, addiction, and how those affect families

Karen Harmon Author Of Where Is My Happy Ending?: A Journey of No Regrets Karen Harmon

The best books for the rest of us to absorb Buddhist essence

Dan Schilling Author Of The Power of Awareness: And Other Secrets from the World's Foremost Spies, Detectives, and Special Operators on How to Stay Safe and Save Your Life Dan Schilling

The best books to help you find your true self

Duff McDonald Author Of Tickled: A Commonsense Guide to the Present Moment Duff McDonald