Aloha! I have been working on my book from before Covid. It is mostly finished except for final editing. And I have just been dragging my butt on it. Thought maybe if I post a few excerpts of chapters, it might help get my butt in gear. This is my book about life lessons form a lifetime of martial arts. I also have children's book that are pending the artist's completion. If that is not cool, just delete my post.
Some of my students got a sneak peak and helped me with edits and one was gracious enough to write a forward for me. Here is the forward. Forward Enter into martial arts and tai chi world with Hanzo, where connections are made that can be applied to learning how to have a full life. This book does not explain how to execute a spinning back kick technique or describe tai chi forms. It has to do with the principles important in martial arts and tai chi and how they can be applied to life. Hanzo writes like he’s telling a story or explaining a concept in his tai chi class so it feels as though he’s casually ‘talking story’. The writing is done in such an amiable way and with such humor that the chapters can be read very quickly. Resist the temptation to speed through the book. Pause and let his words sink in, then re-read the chapters as many times as you need to. You’ll hopefully be rewarded with “Aha” moments. He says it better than I can: “That is why concepts are so important. Sometimes, they can be grasped in an instant and sometimes you do not get them in a lifetime. “ (p. 90) We are all works in progress. So, what is the bottom line message when it comes to martial arts, tai chi and life? “Go home safe.” ~ Anonymous Student, A.A.
Introduction In 2018, my wife has been on a big writing kick. Since we are so different, I thought writing was one thing we can do together. One of her published articles planted the seed for this book you are holding and hopefully, about to enjoy. Having done a variety of martial arts since I was a kid, I have a pretty eclectic experience and background, as one of my students would tell me. While I am not very good at any of them, they all play a part in influencing how I see each separate art. They all help me to be more well-rounded and shape my understanding of things. I have always liked stories and how they make a point. The “parable approach” is more memorable than facts or my instructions. Stories can help me relate better to something or someone, so when I teach martial arts, I use stories a lot to make a point or to illustrate a technique, and just to amuse myself. Practicing martial arts over five decades was both fun and inspirational to me. I hope you enjoy and can get something out of the life lessons I picked up on my journey so far. Everything really happened so I am protecting everyone with nicknames. Yes, the people are real. The lessons are real too. The first one is so obvious that it doesn’t even need a chapter. Many people think, “Wow! 50 years of experience, you must be good.” Let’s get this out of the way in the beginning. NO. That just makes me old. So let me get on with this before I forget. My students tell me not to say that I am old. Age is just a number. Honestly, I still feel like a kid inside. My body though… It is a little beat up, so I think I am approaching middle age. Also, I enjoy quotes and sayings, so there are a bunch in the book too. Those hold good messages to me.
For those who have known me for a while, this quote... “I have a foolproof plan: first we’ll eat something, then after that… I’m open to suggestions!” ~ Taichi Tagami
Your posts remind me of the TV program Kung Fu the Legend Continues. I enjoyed it because it wasn't just about fighting. There was always some lesson that applied to life itself. Later, I read David Carradine's book, The Spirit of Shaolin in which he conveys how playing the character Kwai Chang Caine had a significant impact on his life. I hope you finish your book! It took several years to finish my novel Zap. Writing it changed my approach to survival and life.
Yeah, I have some tips that might help you decide which way to go. I published my short stories and how-to guides on Amazon's Kindle Direct Platform (KDP) for several years, but the response was never that good. One reason is that Amazon's KDP is one really big haystack and my e-books were just tiny little needles. Another reason is that I'm not a famous author! Recently I moved my books to Smashwords. Still a pretty large haystack but they distribute your books to hundreds of sale points in dozens of formats, not just the Kindle format. If you think that might be better than Amazon, I can certainly help you with those guys. I have an e-book title Tips for Authors at Smashwords that might help you decide where and how you'd like to publish your book. It's $2.95 up there but I can make it available to you in DOC, DOCX, PDF, EPUB or MOBI (Kindle) format for free. Let me know what format you prefer, and I'll put it up on my website and send you the download link. I'm sure not an expert on self-publishing, but I'll try to answer any questions you come up with. One of my solutions to publishing is to make my books, fiction or non-fiction, available to forums like this one. Helping people discover stuff is more important to me than money. An example is the two resources I recently posted at Survival Monkey. Cheers, and good luck with your book. I look forward to reading it! Bill
Took a quick look at my e-book on Tips for Authors and thought you might like the Introduction... INTRODUCTION Your writing isn’t public until you publish.Writers write and authors publish. Yes, they are usually the same person because most writers want a wider audience for their writing than just their family and friends. But the competition is stiff. So the tips in this guide are aimed at helping you get your fiction, non-fiction and poetry polished and published. If you are primarily focused on self-publishing, you’ll find the section on E-Books extremely helpful. It’s a detailed, illustrated, step-by-step guide to publishing your e-book on Amazon’s KDP platform. Keep in mind, however, that… Preparation is about quality—doing things to give your readers your best writing in the best format. People won't buy your book if it's poorly written. Promotion is about quantity—doing things to compete with e-books like yours. People can't buy your book if they can't find it. So work your way through my tips on fiction, non-fiction or poetry before you jump to my E-Book Guide. You might also think about why you write, because knowing that will produce your best writing. Here’s a short list to get you started. To Understand Yourself and the World To Connect Yesterday and Tomorrow To Entertain, Inform and Inspire To Save Yourself for Posterity To Express Your Creativity To Do Things with Words To Enjoy the Process To Earn a Living ***
My Tips for Authors (download is PDF) is oriented toward how to write and how to self-publish fiction, non-fiction and poetry. It doesn't cover publishing a book with a print publisher (which requires you to dance with agents), or magazines (print) and e-zines (on-line) which are unlikely to publish a full-length book. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I lost enthusiasm for self-publishing books on Amazon's Kindle platform, so I'm giving Smashwords a try. And dancing with agents to find a publisher, well, that's a really tough way to go. There are zillions of writers submitting zillions of queries, so most agents are as busy as a nine-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs! Let me know if I can help. And if you decide to submit your book in the EPUB format, I have a few tips to make sure you've got a valid file before you send it to a publisher. Bill qwertyportne(at)outlook(dot)com ebooks-by-bill(dot)com
