And so it begins…

Well, I decided against the martial arts school that offered Jeet Kune Do, and opted for a more traditional school that teaches Tae Kwon Do. There are two main reasons I made this decision. One was that The Blast was on the other side of town. Way too far out of the way for me to get to on any kind of regular basis. The TKD school is about a five-minute drive from my house. The other reason was that The Blast seemed to cater to the younger, “MMA” crowd. Now, while that is cool, and shows that they are progressive and keeping with the times, it wasn’t a good fit for me. I’m not an MMA guy. I’m not even a competitive guy. So, training for actual combat, whether on the street or in a ring, just isn’t practical for me. The TKD school offers a very traditional curriculum, combined with elements of a unique mix of styles. The school has a very strong lineage. I had my first class last night and it was great. I got thrown right in, and enjoyed most of it. In fact, the only thing I didn’t enjoy was how winded I got. The teacher told me I had good cardio for a guy my size, but I sure didn’t feel like it. He also complimented me on my techniques, saying I obviously remember a lot of my old training, and would just need some polishing on the techniques I know. All in all, I felt good about it.

In other news, I got an invite to the DCUO Beta Test. So I downloaded the game client and have been playing it a lot this week. Without going into too much detail (don’t want to violate the NDA), I can say it’s fun, and has potential. It has some problems with controls, and some of the game mechanics aren’t very smooth. But it’s a Beta, so who knows what the final product will be like? I can say this, it is one of the prettiest games I have ever seen. The graphics are very nice, and very comic-bookish. The game has gotten me back into comic books. Mainly doodling and writing characters. I don’t want to collect comics again, because I always feel like they’re not worth my money anymore. But I think that just has more to do with my age, and my attitude towards where I spend my cash. Michele still has to force me to spend money on pleasures for myself, sometimes.

Looking forward to the Vegas trip next weekend. Kind of bummed that I won’t be in as good of shape as I wanted to be. I’m kind of self-conscious about certain parts of my body (mainly my gut), and my missing front tooth. We’re getting dental insurance soon, but not soon enough. So, I’m stuck with the beer-gut and the partial for a while longer. Slap a wife-beater on me, throw a Bud in my hand and call me Bubba!

Writing is just a constant thing. I’ve started a few other small projects. I’m back to working on short stories, rather than trying to plot out a whole novel. I think that’s where my talent lays right now. So, I’ll probably just stick with that for a while. Not looking to make money at writing right now, so I’m ok with that. School is more of a priority right now. I have about two years of school before I can be a licensed family and marriage therapist. Maybe when I am doing that for a living, I can sit back and spend some time on crafting tales of adventure.

Sputtering and dying...

Despite my best intentions, yet another NaNoWriMo project is grinding to a slow halt this month. It's halfway over, and I have barely 5,000 words done. And I know the culprits. Or, as Steven Pressfield says, the Resistance that is winning this fight. Mainly it's time management. I just don't have the time during the day to crank out words. Working a full-time job that is actually starting to get busy, then going home to a family that needs my attention, and homework (which is only going to get worse, as I will be taking 2 classes at a time soon), it's all adding up to a full day, from the moment I wake up to the moment my head hits the pillow. And when I do have time to write, the energy is lacking. And mainly for the reasons stated above.

Also, there's the lack of motivation and creativity. Most advice on writing states that you should just start writing and that the creativity will begin to flow from the ffort. That's all well and good if you have the time and energy to devote to the effort. But when I try to do that, either nothing comes to me, and I am writing useless crap, or by the time the ideas do start to come I have to stop writing because some other obligation demands my attention, or my eyes are shutting of thier own accord.

So, what is a would-be writer with too much on his plate to do?

I guess first of all, ditch the idea of writing within a time-limit for now.

Rough weekend

So, because my work forbids the use of flash drives, I am forced to use email to transfer my writing files back and forth. And of course, Friday I forgot to email myself my NaNo project. So, because I am a slave to external motivation, I did not get any writing done this weekend.

Yesterday was bad. I was cranky from lack of sleep (I woke up at 2 am after a silly yet disturbing dream), and was on overload from two small children who both demanded a lot of attention. Well, I wasn't the nicest daddy. So much so that Michele noticed and called me on it. Anyways, that was just one part. It wasn't too good of a day, emotionally, and it carried over a bit this morning. But things are better now. We managed to work out the problems this morning, so I think we're good. I just need to actually get more sleep. I may have to try mild sleep aids occasionally (Tylenol PM).

On the bright side, I got a new pair of gloves to use on my homemade punching bag yesterday. I'll probably go pound on that tonight, though we are going to the gym after I get off of work. I need to get hopping on fitness. I've been slacking the last few weeks and I can feel it. I know I won't be in the shape I wanted to be when we hit vegas next month. But I'd like to be closer than I am now.

Ok, back to the grindstone. Keep punching, people!

NaNoWriMo

So, I have decided to give this another go. This will be my third attempt. I will consider it a success if I can get past 25,000 words this time. If anyone is interested in following my progress, I have added a widget to the side of this blog. Please feel free to "Buddy" me if you are participating too.

On that note, here is the short synopsis of my project:

Joe Parks was just an average tech guy on his honeymoon. He was a staunch gun-control supporter and an avowed "peacenick" who had never brought harm to another human being in his life.

But when tragedy strikes unexpectedly, it sends Joe on a journey into the heart of darkness, where he soon discovers that there is a fine line between justice and revenge. And though violence is never THE answer, it is sometimes AN answer. But always with a cost.