Two Times the Pain

I’m a month into this jujitsu training and, while my body is a wreck at times, I’m loving it. So far I’ve had a slight ankle sprain from rolling on it wrong, a catch in my back, a slight groin pull from, I assume, slacking in my stretching, and the typical aches and pains from pushing a 40+-year-old body into a new physical endeavor. In the month or so since I started, Mister Dale has taught me a ton but I’ve barely scratched the surface.

Tonight’s class was going to be a bit different than previous classes. Mister Dale was on vacation and a friend of his joined Mister Steve to lead the class. The new guy—Ben—was a 22 or 23-year-old, 2^nd degree blackbelt, sporting long hair and a calmness that comes from knowing his craft. He was my size, only more fit from being 20 years my junior. After the warm-ups and stretching, Steve announced we were going to have a little open grappling to begin. He paired me with Ben.

Have you ever had that sinking feeling you were about to be in a world of hurt? Yep, I had that feeling.

We shook hands on our knees and began. Like Mister Dale had done a month before, Ben eventually lay onto his back and pulled me into his guard. Using my elbows like I’ve been taught, I pushed down on the insides of his thighs to break his lock on my waist. It worked. Sorta. He repositioned as I tried to pass his left leg and I was back in the guard with his legs tight around my waist. I was intensely focused on trying the most basic techniques I’ve learned, while Ben casually allowed me to attempt them. Ben was awesome. As I tried a particular escape, he’d either let me do it or he’d make me pay. But then he’d show me what I had done wrong. If he rolled me to my back, he’d teach me a way to avoid what had just happened. That’s not to say I could avoid it, only that I learned one way to try.

At one point I was on my knees in his guard (his legs around my waist) and my hands were on his chest. I felt a slight ramping up of his effort as he pushed one of my hands between his legs, threw his legs over my shoulders, and pulled my other hand toward his chin. I know this sounds confusing but think of a pretzel and then think of me as the pretzel. I knew from watching the UFC that he was putting me into a triangle choke, but I was powerless to stop it. Though Ben moved slow and methodically, I couldn’t resist. He locked his legs around my head. There was nowhere I could go. Calmly he squeezed. My first thought was, “Shiiiit!” I knew if I didn’t tap (surrender) then he could put me to sleep.

My second thought was, “Let’s see how bad this can get.”

Now understand, Ben was being very kind and soft on me. It was probably a little dickish on my part to not tap when he was being so kind but I was curious to what would happen. I tried to remember how UFC fighters escaped this triangle choke but nothing came to mind. Ben, realizing I wasn’t getting the point, repositioned a tad and pulled my head toward him. At the same time he pulled my head down he pushed my extended arm from his chest to his side where, now, I was not only being choked but my elbow was being hyperextended. Oh, did I mention that he squeezed his legs a little tighter? Yeah, that sucked too. At this point I had no choice but to tap. So, that’s what I did. And mercifully, Ben released his hold.

Next, I was privy to a guillotine choke which is as unpleasant as it sounds. Yep, I tapped that time also. This entire experience is humbling. Try imagining a game of basketball against Lebron James and then imagine you’ve never touched a basketball beforehand. That’s what it can feel like at times, only with a little more pain. I’ve heard Joe Rogan call MMA “High-level problem solving with dire consequences” and I think that is a brilliant way to describe the sport. I’m currently experiencing the consequences part.

We ended the open grappling session and then Steve led us through a couple different techniques. I was fortunate to stay paired with Ben to practice those new techniques. I was in Heaven if Heaven was having constant pain and choking.

Toward the end of class Ben had a chance to show off a little. He lay on his back and told me to try and pass his legs again from his guard. As you’ve read in this blog and in my last blog I’m not having a lot of luck doing this. There was one difference this time—he didn’t use his hands. As if to further demonstration my ineptitude he locked his fingers behind his head like he was resting in a hammock. I used two legs, two arms, my head, a baseball bat, three knives, and the jaws of life and couldn’t get past his legs. I coulda sworn that guy had more legs than a spider. We played this game until time was up (roughly a minute or two) and I loved it. I have learned so much already, despite what you’ve read so far.

Class ended yet I wanted it to go on for hours. Ben was fantastic. I’m having a blast in this new endeavor. I hope to keep it up indefinitely. Now, it’s time to find an icepack and a chiropractor. Before you go, can someone please help me get out of this chair?

A New Beginning

I have a bit of news. Not life-or-death news, just disappointing news.

Sometimes a door can close when you’re least expecting it. And when it does, you have to roll with the punches because that’s just how life is. Once a door closes, you have a couple of choices. You can give up and move on, or you can push onward. Sometimes, the door that just closed needed to close in order for the next door to open. I’m hoping this is one of those times. In fact, I consider myself an optimist and, therefore, choose to believe that this is one of those times.

If you follow Rhemalda Publishing or any of the other Rhemalda authors then you probably already know my disappointing news. If not, read on. It is with regret that I relay the announcement from Rhemalda Publishing that they are closing their doors effective October 1st. I am officially a free agent. There are several factors that contributed to this decision by those in power at Rhemalda, but let’s just leave it at this: The publishing industry can be a tough business and the headwinds against small press publishers have grown too strong. In addition, the Internet has made it possible for authors to print their own books with a quality that had previously been reserved only for publishers. Even the big publishers are struggling to compete in today’s environment.

As a company, Rhemalda started their business with the goal of being author friendly at all costs. As far as I’m concerned, they have consistently made good on that goal. Also, Rhemalda set out to release a high-quality product, and if you've read any of their books over the years, I think you'd agree that they have succeeded. In the end, I consider myself fortunate ...

Updates and an Opportunity for Writers

I have a few things to share today as it relates to writing. Let me start with a pretty cool opportunity that my publisher is giving writers who are seeking a home for their work. If you're like me, you despise the querying process. You spend weeks and weeks tweaking your query letter while never knowing exactly what an agent or publisher is looking for. Then you research who to send your query letter to. And then you wait weeks, months or longer for a response, sometimes never getting one at all. Well, Rhemalda Publishing is giving you a unique opportunity to skip the querying nightmare for the next two weeks. You see, Rhemalda is asking for a two-sentence hook about your book and from that hook, they will request manuscripts from the ones they find intriguing. Pretty freakin' cool, huh? I wonder if they have any idea of the amount of work they're about to fall into. So, are you looking to be published? Sick of the querying process? Here's your chance to wow a publisher with a simple hook and bypass the querying nightmare altogether. Just make sure your manuscript is finished and in the best possible condition before it gets requested, so you have the best chance at a contract. Go through Rhemalda's FB page or Twitter @Rhemalda. Here is the announcement.

 

Beginning April 2, 2013 Rhemalda Publishing's Emmaline Hoffmeister (Owner) and Diane Dalton (Acquisitions Editor) will be hosting a two-week, two-sentence, query blast. Authors will be invited to post up to two sentences about their completed, polished manuscript. Hook Emmaline and Diane with your awesome, fresh idea and they will then request a full manuscript from you! This is your chance to skip the initial full query letter and seemingly endless wait for a full request. The specific genres Emmaline and Diane will be searching for are as follows:

Contemporary Fiction
Contemporary Young Adult/New Adult Fiction
Romance
Contemporary Romance
Historical Romance
Historical Fiction
Jane Austen Adaptations
Sports Memoirs
Crime/Detective/Procedural
Young Adult Paranormal and Dystopian

Get ready for April 2nd!

Please share with every author you know. See More

Next on my agenda are the results from my bookbub.com promotion. As of yesterday I have numbers. As you may have read in my last blog, Bookbub is a site that sends emails to readers about sales on books that they may be interested in buying. On Thursday of last week, my werewolf novel, Tamed, went on sale and was sent out in their email. (The sale is still on for another day at Amazon, BN, and iTunes, BTW, in case you've missed out.) Anyway, during the first four days of the sale, 504 ebook copies of Tamed were sold with steady sales continuing as of this writing. If you are an author or publisher, you may want to try bookbub because it has been wildly successful for me. (I have no affiliations with the site, I am only recommending them from my own marketing experience.)

Third, a quick update about my writing progress. Rhemalda has the final book of my Epertase trilogy, The Rise of Cridon, and I am waiting for their editor to hack away at it. I think as a story it has turned out great. In the meantime, I am closing in on finishing a first draft of my newest dystopian fantasy which is turning out to be pretty cool. I'm excited to finish the first draft because that is always my least favorite part of writing. I like the tweaking stage the most. We'll see how things turn out over the next 15,000 or so words. At this point, I'm very hopeful.

Well, that's it for my update today. If you're a writer, get your two sentence hook ready because the two weeks start at midnight (April 2, 2013). And if you even slightly like werewolves, check out Tamed. I doubt you've ever read a werewolf book quite like it.

How to Break Out of a Writing Slump

Since this is the end of the year, I want to tie my year-in-review to some actual writing advice. I titled this blog "How to break out of a writing slump" and I have a clear answer. Before you get too excited, I will warn you that it is the same advice you've heard again and again from other authors in the past and it is hard work, but I think it needs repeated. I'll get to that advice in a moment, but first you have to read through the rest of my drivel. (Or skip to the end, I suppose.)

This year has been a great year for me in my writing career while a tough year for my actual writing production. I saw 2012 bring me not one but two book releases from my publisher, Rhemalda Publishing.

In January, Rhemalda released my werewolf tale with a twist, Tamed. I celebrated the release of Tamed with a television interview on NBC4 in Columbus, Ohio. You can watch the interview on the left side of this blog. That was by far my most visual exposure yet.

Next, I had a successful book launch at Barnes and Noble in Pickerington, Ohio, with Tamed. Its release also led to a request from a California production company to shop Tamed around for movie rights interest, and I granted that request, of course. That process is still active, though I am not sure how it will pan out.

In May, Rhemalda and I decided to offer Tamed as a free giveaway as part of Amazon's KDP program and proceeded to give away 22,000 copies of the eBook in only five days. Coming off that giveaway, Tamed continued to sell fairly well for the next couple of months. My biggest surprise with Tamed was that I initially thought the book was a good fit for young adults and older, but I have been pleased to learn that Tamed has gained a pretty steady following from the youngest teens who are looking for something a little different from the Twilight saga.

In August, Rhemalda released the second installment of my Epertase trilogy, which I feel is my best writing yet.

With three published books under my wing, I attended the Mid Ohio Comic Con. The president and vice president of Rhemalda traveled to Ohio to support me at the show. With their help and the help of the fantastic artist of my Epertase covers, Steve Murphy, we sold and signed over 100 books. Unfortunately, I sold out of Tamed at the show and had to turn potential readers away. Here's my booth.

Despite all of my successes this year, I have struggled with the actual art of writing. I don't know if you could call it writer's block, but it definitely resulted in a lack of production. I've heard of writer's block before and have even experienced it briefly on occasion, but usually I have been able to push through it without too much pain.

However, this year has been a different story.

My first major slump came during my initial draft of Epertase 3; I struck a wall at the halfway point. I spent several months (yes, I said months) struggling with how to make a crucial transition that was imperative to the story. Every idea I came up with didn't seem to work. If this wasn't the last book in my trilogy, with everything in the first two stories tied to this finale, I could have scratched the idea altogether and changed how the story went, but I was in a bit of a box. It was killing me and putting me way behind schedule. I have deadlines, after all.

BTW, I am in love with how Epertase 3 finally turns out and I think fans of the series will be as well, but I think the fight with Epertase 3 took something out of me.

My second slump is in full gear now. Over the last two years I have been working sporadically on a new dystopian fantasy that I am really excited about finishing. But even with my breakthrough and subsequent finishing of Epertase 3, I realized I still wasn't writing with as much inspiration as usual. Heck, just look at the number of blogs I've churned out lately (none)-- my lack of production should be evident.

Here's the problem: I know what I need to do in order to break this slump, just like I had to do to break the Epertase 3 slump, but I'm having trouble doing it with any consistency.

How do you break your writing slump? It sounds easy. You have to write.

You have to write today. You have to write tomorrow. Don't feel like writing on Friday? Too bad, you have to write on Friday, too. It's just like going to the gym. If you miss a few days, it becomes easier to simply miss a few more. But, when writing becomes habit, it's harder not to do. Just like working out. I am by far not the first author to say this. In fact, I have read this very advice several times by major authors. It's easier said than done.

"Wait a minute," you might say. "That doesn't help me through my block." Well, yeah, it actually does. By making yourself sit down and write, you will write through that block. It might not turn out just how you want that section to be, but that's what revisions are for. After you plow through that part of the story, you will fall into the flow again.

When you force yourself to write every day, even if it is only for a couple hours, you are lifting the weights . . . I mean, you are writing . . . and that's the important part. Does that make sense? Every slump I have ever gotten into (big or small) has been broken by simply sitting down and writing. And as I look back, I see that the slumps that lasted the longest were because they frustrated me to the point of not writing at all.

Now, I know sometimes it seems impossible to push through that block (like it was for me in Epertase 3), so here's another way to get through it. My initial advice still stands that you have to write, but you can cheat a little. Skip that part and work on another section of your story. It will trigger your creativity again and get you moving. You will be surprised at how well this will help you to actually fix the section you were stuck on without even working on it. Yeah, it's like magic.

These two suggestions are my best advice on breaking your slump. Sure, many other more famous authors than me have recommended the same actions, but I believe the advice is worth repeating. Now, why are you sitting here reading my blog? Go write!

Happy Holidays, everyone.

How's your voice?

As an author, understanding voice is critically important to the writing process. What's that mean, exactly? Let's start with an example. We'll use Stephen King since everyone knows who he is. If someone gave you a chapter or two from a Stephen King book, but didn't tell you who the author was, do you think you could tell? If you have read Stephen King in the past, I think you would be able to tell right away.

So why is that? The easy answer would be to say the chapters felt creepy and who is better known for being creepy than Mr. King. But, let's take away the storyline and just look at the writing, because the writing is as much Stephen King's voice as the story. The Gunslinger has a far different theme (fantasy) than Carrie (horror), but is still easily recognizable as a Stephen King book. Beyond the easy answer, it's more about how he describes things, the flow of his words, the turning of a big world into something smaller and more intimate to the reader. It's in the punch he gives at just the right instant. There's probably a thousand more subtle reasons that Mr. King's prose is uniquely his own, but these are what immediately come to mind.

It is the same for every author. There are so many intricacies in what makes each author's voice different that I could never list them all here. Sometimes, it's in their ability at sounding honest in their telling of the story, when you simply believe whatever fantastic tale you are reading. Other times, it's in their ability to bring you into the action, or make you fall in love with their characters. Like Stephen King, maybe they can make the biggest world seem so small and familiar. Or just the opposite. Maybe the author can make a small story seem immense and worldly. A small-town girl with a secret that will end all mankind.

I tell you this because I realize I have my own style, my own voice. Some might see aspects of my voice as weaknesses while others may see them as strengths. When I tell a story, I try to tell you what happens in an interesting way and then move onto the next scene. In doing so, I am relying on the reader loving the story more than the technical aspects of my prose. I hope when you finish you say, "That was an awesome read."

Again, some see that as a weakness, because I didn't describe a room down to an apple sitting precariously on a table. Yet, it is very common for some readers to compliment me on how fast my stories flow while other readers complain that I didn't give them enough little details for them to picture that room with the apple.

Hey, I get it, but my writing comes partly from how I like to read. Sometimes, while I'm enjoying a barn-burner of a book and I come to a paragraph that describes that apple on the table, regardless of how interestingly the author described that apple, I find myself skimming to the next paragraph. That's in no way to denigrate that author's description of the apple, because I actually admire how he or she can make describing a simple apple entertaining. I just personally want to keep moving along.

I've put widely acclaimed books down on the basis that I couldn't get into the author's voice. They were probably brilliant books, but they didn't reach me in how they sounded in my mind. Let me ask you, could you sit down and read an entire Shakespeare play? Maybe yes, maybe no. If not, does that mean Shakespeare was a poor writer? Obviously nobody would argue that. Shakespeare had a wonderful insight into the human state, the human psyche. Or take The Lord of the Rings. It is one of the greatest stories ever told, but it can be difficult to read and that turns some people off.

I bring up all of this voice stuff to show you how an author's voice isn't much different than how your own voice as a reader affects the story. Or, more specifically, how you prefer the voice to sound in your head when you read the book. You know, how a choppy, action-packed style might not mesh with your desire to take it slow and steady. Or if you want to know that a minor character's face is weathered from too much sun and the author doesn't tell you, instead glossing over that particular character's description to keep the story moving.

Well, you may feel shorted. It may make you feel like the author didn't bring you into his or her world enough and you may put down the book. Heck, it may even make you mad enough to give the book a negative review somewhere because the voice you wanted to hear didn't match the voice you actually heard. That doesn't make you wrong for not liking the book and it doesn't make the author wrong for writing the story how he or she wrote it. That author's story might be the best story of the century, but the story-telling didn't speak to you as a reader and, therefore, it failed in your eyes.

What I'm trying to convey is that every author has a unique way of telling a story, and every reader has a unique response to how that story was told. In my werewolf book, Tamed, some readers have criticized the speed in which my two main characters fell in love. Those readers are right in their criticism if that is what took them out of the story. But my characters' love story moved fast for a reason. The entire book, by design, moves at a frantic pace and, though I could have better fleshed out the love story aspect of it, I made a decision to not slow down the feel and pace of the book to do so. Other readers complimented how the story flowed and saw no issues with the love story. While writing, it sometimes feels like I am taking a crap-shoot on decisions that may or may not be liked by readers. That is why it is critically important that I tell the story how I see it and don't try to please every possible reader. My story would become watered down and bland if I did that, because it would kill my voice.

The better an author gets at evolving and refining his or her voice, the likelihood of readers walking away disappointed shrinks a bit and the more fans that author will gain. But as an author evolves, he or she has to be careful not to lose that personal expression--that unique voice--in the process. I would never tell an author to change his or her voice any more than I would tell a reader to simply try harder to like something. I can only hope that when you try my work one day, my voice speaks to your voice in a positive way. But if it doesn't, no story I tell can bridge that gap. But I promise I'll keep trying to evolve while keeping my voice at the same time. I hope you continue to give my work a try.

Let me know what you think. epertase@gmail.com

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