Topic the First:4th Street was a great experience this year--a great and glorious disproving of my usual silly pre-con anxiety of "This time no one will acknowledge my existence." For me, the most wonderful parts are between and/or triggered by the scheduled events. It's the conversations about why some authors successfully cross genre lines, ( Read more... )

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Before I hit the tactics, I want to share this most ( Read more... )

If you talk about martial arts long enough, someone will eventually say, "What's the point of kata? You can't use it in a real fight. The only thing kata is good for is tournaments ( Read more... )

I always feel a bit out of sync for the week after karate camp. The camp facility has a decent internet connection, and though I tend to read postings and such during the week, everything but the training and the teaching seems so very far away ( Read more... )

Today the 30-day blog challenge is to describe a typical day from my life ( Read more... )

A dear friend recently discussed the impact of knowing and wanting to follow "the rules" when writing first drafts, and how that knowledge and desire gets in the way. Because I'm struggling to learn a new kata right now, I heard in this friend's words the same emotions I've experienced at the dojo, and posted a comment about the "first draft" of a ( Read more... )

This was the first tournament of our season.  We have two more--one in March, one in April--before moving into State and Regionals, ending with Nationals in July.  But the first one is really important.  For new students, it's their first experience with the competition experience.  For returning students, and students who aren't bitten by the ( Read more... )