Newsletter 1041

The Tale of the Karate Book

Good morning!

Yes, I’m still here,

and my thanks to those fellows who have written me

and told me to get off my butt.

Kumar, Jerome, Michael,

you know who you are.

Thumbs up!

Now,

let me tell you what is happening and why.

And, before I start,

I’m going to be talking about 

‘The Book!’

And if you’re not interested,

or wanted me to go heavy duty

on the art,

self defense,

concepts,

whatever,

that’s next time.

This time I’ll tell you what my problem is

I’ve studied martial arts for over 50 years,

I’ve written probably a hundred books and training manuals,

thousands of articles,

been a professional writer,

so I know my way around a keyboard.

But this book…

this book has been a bugger.

And the problem is simple,

I’m trying to put too much in it.

One,

I want to cover karate like it has never been covered.

That’s my base art,

and I want to leave it in better shape than I found it.

Two,

I want to show some advanced matrixing.

I want to show where karate can go,

and in the simplest fashion.

Three,

I want to fix karate,

and that means pointing out some serious problems with the art,

and show how to fix them.

I’m not focusing on matrixing,

except by the way.

Right now,

the book is about 300 pages and counting.

And,

it has been a true mess to figure out.

Normally,

I get an idea,

I write it.

I write about as fast as I can talk,

books are usually done within three or four days,

and I’m off on another project.

The books I write are quick and easy and very logical.

Karate is not logical,

so it is like I am untangling this MASSIVE knot,

and retying it.

And,

I have had a terrible time with formatting.

I am trying to write the book so it can be understood on the paper page,

but I want to format the thing differently.

For instance,

I write the forms on the left page

and the techniques on the right.

I don’t do the form,

then show the techniques,

I show the techniques along side the form,

and this makes perfect sense

 if you are scrolling on a computer.

But creating in this fashion

and for the paper page, too,

has been REALLY messy.

300 pages 

and I’ve reformatted it 4 times,

and rewritten it probably six.

I NEVER rewrite.

And now I am stuck in it.

So,

not to bore you,

but that’s what I’ve been doing.

The good news is I actually called on a reader

Ted V,

and he has proven to be a good editor.

Think about it,

the guy was able to tell the arrogant Al Case

that his work is a mess

and I better get back to the drawing board.

I thank him,

and serve warning that it’s coming.

Anyway,

I won’t bore you anymore

with the trials and tribulations of writing

except to say one thing.

I decided,

and this was a conscious decision I made over 50 years ago

to practice two arts this lifetime.

One is karate,

for the external.

One is writing,

for the internal.

A very yin and yang balance.

And they compliment each other wonderful.

I always tell people they should have two arts in their lives.

So if you have a physical job you love,

pick up painting or sculpting or poetry or something.

And if you have a mental job

pick up karate, yoga, dance, whatever.

Seek balance.

Now,

my apologies for yakking on about 

‘The Book.’

It will get done,

I seem to have the formatting fixed,

and my writing is taking on the normal flow again,

and I am hoping this project

becomes the most intense

and thorough examination of karate ever written.

Thanks for being patient,

and have a great work out!

Al

And don’t forget to check out the interview

BTW

I’ve got nothing but five star reviews on 

The Science of Government.

It’s really nothing more than applying matrixing to politics.

Matrixing + Politics = Sanity

I told you matrixing works with anything.

Here’s the link…