Karate Kicking & Karate Writing

These long, hot summer days ignite my goal-setting nature and simultaneously enhance my nostalgia.

With less than two months until Rabbit in Red, my first novel, joins the world (and hopefully your book shelf), I’m looking back today at past writing adventures and exploring new ideas. Whether it’s journalism, novels, poetry, or even blogging, there’s something rewarding about seeing your name in print. It’s a deliberate effort to contribute to the world around you—perhaps to inform, or to inspire, or simply to entertain.

My fav karate pic: My flying side kick!

My first paid writing job—nothing fancy, but I collected a check for a few hundred bucks every month for over a year (that sounds really good today as the internet kills the journalist)—was for Black Belt Magazine. I started training in various martial arts when I was about 12 years old. When I landed a job at Metamora High School—teaching English—I launched an after-school martial arts program. For ten years, I—and eventually an incredibly talented group of young adults—trained teenagers, children, and parents. We even earned a national award, the Best Children’s Program in ALL of the United States in 2008! How cool is that?

That program was Metamora Martial Arts, and although it’s no longer an after-school program, it still exists on the web as a great resource for news, events, and entertainment. The site is maintained by Adam Bockler, who not only took over the program for me when I left Metamora but also earned Karate Black Belt of The Year in 2014. Bockler runs a personal blog-- give his Facebook page a like.

Today, I run a similar program at the college where I now teach: The Cougar Karate Club. It’s a free martial arts program for the Illinois Central College community.

It’s funny how many of past events in our lives coalesce to shape who we are today. If I hadn’t taken martial arts lessons, I certainly never would have opened a program. Had I never opened a program, I never would have started writing these articles. And these articles led to an even deeper love of writing.

If you may be interested in any of my martial arts stories, I’ll be sharing some on this blog over the next few months. I have some great stories: the first time I got knocked out, the time I broke my hand, the time I accidently knocked out a student, training with the Blue Power Ranger and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, training multiple students who became world champions, competing in the world championships myself, winning grand championships at black belt level divisions, and just generally having an amazing time.

Although I don’t devote the hours to my martial arts training and teaching like I used to, it’s still a regular part of my life. I think if you’re good at something—and this isn’t me trying to be arrogant, but I think I have some talent for teaching—then you should give back your talents.

I hope people will feel the same way about my writing when Rabbit in Red comes out!

Please follow me on Facebook or Twitter for these stories and more, and it would be pretty cool if you subscribed to my blog, too (from a mobile device, you have to “view web version” or just come back to this article when you’re on your computer).

World Championships & Life Lessons

When we take to social media or the blogosphere, it’s easy to want to brag about one’s successes. I’m guilty of that, but I hope such stories are also covered in humility.

Virtually all of our success, I would argue, is a combination of the positive influence of others and our own determination. But with that said, I thought I’d share a story of when I reached for the stars…. and fell on my face. I want to share examples like that though in the framework of something positive.

When I pursue a new goal, I think of two sayings.

Always happy; never satisfied & It’s ok to be disappointed; it’s not ok to be discouraged.

I just sent out two more queries this afternoon on the novel I wrote this summer. As I pursue that larger writing goal, I think of those two quotes.

In a previous blog, I wrote about how to reach success after setbacks. I’m trying to look at my ambitions from a variety of perspectives, trying to find some extra motivation to reach new goals. And I find it helpful to look at those setbacks more closely.

One of my biggest goals from the last decade was to compete and place in the US Open World Martial Arts Championships. After some success in local tournaments, my eyes got bigger. I was happy, you see, but not satisfied. That seems to be a pattern for me, much more so when I was younger. But I think having constant new challenges is healthy for the mind, body, and spirit. I do want to be happy—and I am—but I also don’t want to be too content or too satisfied that I never stop learning and challenging myself.

So back in the mid 2000s, I made a goal to place in the US Open World Martial Arts Championships. I competed in the adult black belt forms division in the summer of 2005. Talk about stage fright! ESPN was there recording on the main stage where black belts competed (no, I never saw myself on TV), and as I announced my form introduction, I thought I would surely throw up on the judges. Here are a couple of pictures of my actual forms competition at the world championships.

That was a great summer for training. I worked out every day, completing the formal 90 day P90X program for the first time that would later inspire me to want to become a P90X certified instructor. I also practiced my kata (form)  a dozen times a day at least.

There were over 100 competitors on that main stage, and only the top ten received formal awards. When all was said and done, I was not one of the top ten. I do not know where I ranked to this day, although I sure like to think it was somewhere in the teens! Not knowing my rank and not placing in the top ten disappoints me still. For all of you who work so hard to accomplish something: Have you ever felt that disappointment? I must have trained and worked out 3 hours a day that summer. And when I first looked back at all that hard work, it felt like it was for nothing. But that’s stupid, and if we think all the work we’ve put into something—even if we didn’t earn a reward—is worthless, we are missing the big point.

It’s ok to be disappointed. It’s not ok to be discouraged. All the hard work we put into our life’s ambitions makes us stronger, and even if we fail (I hate that word) at one goal, we can apply that determinism and the life lessons we learned to new goals.  Competing in the world championships was a great life experience for me, and the lessons I learned would be passed on to my martial arts students, several of whom competed in the US Open World Martial Arts Championships a couple years later. Several of those students placed and have “world champion” on their resume. That is pretty sweet!

You see, as I work to publish a novel (or any number of goals), I remember my training to compete in the US Open. I practiced every day. Well, the daily writing I do on this blog is some my writing practice (plus revisions and other stories I don’t want to share publicly yet). And if like my US Open experience, what if my biggest writing goals never come to life? That’s ok. Because I am having fun on this journey, and learning new things about myself, about others who share their writing and blogs with me, and about others who leave comments and send me messages. That makes all of this practice worth it. And if nothing else, my writing skills will sharpen as I age, right? My ability to compete athletically may not increase as I age. So thankfully this goal only requires some time to sit and imagine!

Thank you for all of you who encourage me to write and are rooting for me to succeed. Tell me about  your goals and ambitions, and I am every bit as happy to cheer for you too. Remember: It’s the influence of others plus our own determination that are the two main ingredients for success.

On writing, and a re-introduction to the blogosphere

I’ve had several journeys with blogging. My first attempt was a blog devoted to politics, and I’m still surprised at the number of views the blog received and the number of real friends I made (and lost) due to those discussions. While I’m still politically active and always open to a good face to face discussion, I deleted the political blogs. I was tired of fighting, tired of ignorance. There are only so many bigoted people in the world that I can deal with at one time. So I focused my energy on my other life passions.

And I do have several. Teaching is #1. I’ve been a teacher for 14 years now, 10 of those at the high school level where I taught all sorts of English classes, from American literature to creative writing and everything you can imagine in between. Now I teach communication classes at the college level, an intro to comm class, public speaking, intercultural communication, comm theory, and more. It’s fantastic.

My #2 passion is tied between fitness and martial arts. I started training in the martial arts over 20 years ago, and I’ve created and taught a variety of programs. I currently host a karate club at the college where I teach. Fitness to me is like breathing—I have to have it every day. After taking dozens of classes and doing home DVD programs, I became certified in a few programs and teach 4-5 group fitness classes each week. Those are also fantastic.

It’s not fair to say my #3 passion is writing. I can’t give it a number. You see, I enjoy reflecting and writing on my passions, so writing is like the skin that holds all those passions together. Without my ability to write, I’m not sure those passions would fully exist. So let’s just say that writing is also a huge passion.

This summer, I finished writing a novel and am in the process of sending out queries and looking for an agent. I’ve written a lot before: other novels, short stories, poems, news articles, theses, and more. I’ve published many articles in magazines (and got paid for it, yeah!), but I’ve never tried to publish fiction. Even though I’ve completed works of fiction before, I never thought they were good enough for mass publication.

Until now.

 I’m fired up, and since finishing a book this summer, actually letting friends read it, and revising, revising, revising, I’m ready to add “author” to my resume. I’ve outlined 3 more books, and hope to write a couple a year. I’m an optimistic person, a go-getter, no doubt. I don’t mean to be arrogant, but I’ve always believed passion and persistence pay off. Of course, one needs patience too. The longer I wait to hear back from my queries (and I’ve only sent a few so far, and only just last week), the more I think about the kind of author I want to be. I’ll keep re-reading and revising my current book as long as I need to do so, and I’ll keep writing other stories until I find an audience.

So that’s why I’m returning to the blogosphere. I’m going to share my writing journey and hope to connect with others who have similar goals and experiences. I’m going to share some writing, much of it old and terrible (can’t share the new stuff yet!). I don’t want to self-publish. Call me greedy, but I want to see that printed book with my name on the side at my local bookstore. That’d be cool!

If you browse through older posts, you’ll likely see a lot about fitness and some about teaching. Hey, like I said, those are my big passions and I have to write about them, even if most of what I have written is personal and has not been shared yet.

I’m going to try and share a lot more. I’m going to try and read a lot more too. So blogosphere—who’s writing and trying to publish? And how’s that going?

Since this is a blog of re-introduction, I’d like to include a little informal bio below. Check it out if you’re curious about my background. Ignore if not, and that’s ok—I’d still like to hear about your writing journey.

-          I graduated from Illinois Central College in 1999 with an Associates of Arts & Sciences (this is where I now teach!). From ICC, I transferred to Eureka College and graduated in 2001 with a Bachelor’s degree in English and a secondary education certification (summa cum laude).

-          I started my teaching career at Metamora High School where I taught high school students for ten years, from 2001-2010.

 -        While at the high school, I pursued more education and graduated from Bradley University in 2008 with a Master’s degree in Liberal Studies, a very cool program that combined science, psychology, literature, law, communication, and religion—it was like an advanced gen ed program but you had to connect all of the subjects.

-          After that (something was wrong with me, I know), I went for a second master’s degree. In May 2011, I earned a another Master’s degree specifically in Speech Communication from North Dakota State University

-          I have studied abroad in Tokyo, Japan at Sophia University, and I STRONGLY believe no college education is complete without a study abroad experience.

-          I’m now beginning my 14^th year as a full-time educator. I’ve taught dozens of subjects including English, American literature, journalism, creative writing, and so much more! This is my 4^th year as a full-time professor at ICC.

-          You can’t teach public speaking and not do it, right? I love inspirational events, and I have been hired as a motivational speaker, performing at all-school assemblies and special events for multiple central Illinois schools and organizations.

-          I’ve won a few awards for teaching, which of course is cool but I have a lot more I want to accomplish. My first award was the Golden Apple Award in 2001 for the best student-teacher from my college; thirteen years later, I won Advisor of the Year for 2013-14 for my work with student organizations at my college.  

-          I also love fitness! I am a certified Turbo Kick instructor and P90X Instructor, and I teach about 4-5 fitness classes a week just for fun at our very own ICC CougarPlex.

-          I started the Cougar Karate Club last year on campus, a free martial arts club our students. I’m also a martial artist. I’ve earned a 4^th degree black belt in karate, and I enjoy sharing that passion too.

-          I run a college food pantry and am always shocked at the number of people who need help. It’s a great joy to provide that help.

-          This last May, I completed the Master of Online Teaching program and am now an official Master Online Teacher. I prefer face to face classes, but I also take pride in improving the online environment. Teaching and learning online is inevitable in today’s world, so I’ve tried to learn more and make it better!

-          And like most of you I’m sure, I cherish my family and friends (and I’d include pets in that statement too—2 dogs and 3 cats make my small home a big zoo some days!) above pretty much anything else.

-          And of course my next big goal is to be a published and successful fiction writer! (And maybe some more non-fiction and memoir too!)

If you’ve read this far, you must be a good friend. Or my grandmother. Or just a really cool dude. Thanks.

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My regrets

I don’t promote thinking about regrets, but I definitely have several I try to ignore. One of the biggest regrets I have is “Why didn’t I do this sooner? Or more consistently?” 

When I finished my second master’s degree, my regret was that I did not go for it earlier. Life would have been so much better if I had completed this hard work when I was younger, right?

When I earned my black belt, I wished that I had started martial arts at age 6 instead of age 12 because then I would have been so much more advanced.

When I complete a fitness program, I regret that I did not start sooner. What if I had completed these programs years ago instead of doing them now? I think about how much better I would be in shape, if only I had started earlier. I could have found the time if I really wanted to do so. I just did not have the resources or the motivation.

I bang my head when I think of the results I would already have if I had started these programs—and stuck with them consistently—years ago. 

But there is a flip-side to regret. The first idea to apply is that the regrets diminish the moment you start applying yourself. The regrets are bigger the longer you wait, so do not wait any longer to begin the journey for your goals. 

The other thing I tell myself is that I would not be who I am today if I did things differently, and I am happy with who I am. The timing of my second master’s degree led to my dream job. The timing of my martial arts training led to a national award winning martial arts program. The timing of my current fitness goals led to me becoming a fitness instructor, a coach, this blog, and the daily encouragement I try to give to others to get started.

So I want you to picture who you could be and who you could influence if you complete your goals. The potential for inspiration we have is limitless. Do not regret not having pursued your goals yesterday; regret that you are not pursuing your goals today. Make a change, make a commitment, and make a difference. Today.

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