| I am often asked why I started writing my first series | | | | just a little bit annoyed at the context of this article. I |
| of books, and although the answer is actually fairly | | | | even remember lecturing my students about the |
| simple, it spans a period of about 12 years. | | | | absurdity of such a thing and admonished them to |
| Ever since I started my martial arts training back in the | | | | never even attempt such a foolish stunt. As a matter |
| early 80's, I bought any and every book that I could get | | | | of fact, I would compare the act of kicking while |
| my hands on concerning every martial art that I could | | | | intentionally not looking about as intelligent as letting |
| find. Even if it had nothing to do with the ones I had | | | | Stevie Wonder behind the wheel of a fully functional |
| actually started studying. I had books of all kinds from | | | | and moving automobile. |
| Aikido to Zen and everything in between. Some of | | | | My instructor listed patiently to my tirade and when I |
| those books I still have to this day. | | | | had finished, he gave me this advise, "If you don't do |
| Several of the books that I bought were ones devoted | | | | something about it, you've got no right to complain." |
| to the art of kicking. Now it didn't matter to me how | | | | Wow! Talk about words of wisdom. And this time I |
| good these books were, because at the time I had no | | | | listened. |
| idea if they were good or not. I just bought them | | | | I began writing the rough draft of my first manuscript |
| because they were on the martial arts and because | | | | on an old non-electric typewriter and erasable typing |
| someone had written them. So they had to be good, | | | | paper. Talk about a chore compared to today's |
| didn't they? Which brings up a topic for another article, | | | | modern computers and writing and photography |
| can you learn from a book? Well, if it is accurate and | | | | programs such as Adobe PageMaker® and |
| written well, then yes you can. If it is inaccurate and | | | | Adobe Photoshop®. I had been doing this for a |
| written poorly then your ability to learn from it is sorely | | | | couple of years when an associate of mine at the |
| limited. | | | | time convinced me to buy a computer and do my |
| A quote that I have at the beginning of all of my books | | | | book writing on that instead of the typewriter. At first I |
| on kicking is from the late Bruce Lee, and it goes | | | | was skeptical until I actually typed one page and then |
| something like this. | | | | hit spell-check. After that I was hooked and as they |
| "When I first started training in the martial arts, a kick | | | | say, the rest is history. |
| was just a kick and a punch was just a punch. As I | | | | After I had finished the first draft of my first |
| started to learn the martial arts, I realized that a kick | | | | manuscript, which was to be, and is, entitled, "Achieving |
| was no longer just a kick, and a punch was no longer | | | | Kicking Excellence; Vol. #1: Back Kick, I contacted four |
| just a punch. After I had learned the martial arts, I | | | | different publishers who primarily published books |
| realized that a kick was just a kick and a punch was | | | | pertaining to the martial arts. Now I will not mention |
| just a punch." | | | | who those publishers were, but I will tell you their |
| As I progressed in my own training, I began to realize | | | | responses. One publishing company agreed to publish |
| that all of the books, and I mean ALL of the books | | | | my books, but wanted me to combine them into two |
| that I owned on kicking, were lacking in two major | | | | large hard back volumes, rather than the current ten |
| areas. First was the lack of detail in explaining all of the | | | | volumes. Another publisher liked my book ideas, but |
| finer points of each kick, and the second was the | | | | didn't want to publish them because I didn't have |
| attempt at putting too many different kicks in one book | | | | enough students to justify publishing them. Because in |
| and spending too little time on each one. This seemed | | | | her words, "Who is going to buy your books except |
| to be a common occurrence in a lot of books devoted | | | | for your students." My response to this was that my |
| to the martial arts, and not just the ones devoted to | | | | books were universal in nature and were of great |
| kicking. | | | | value to anyone who wanted to learn how to kick |
| Eventually, after going through my collection of about | | | | properly. The other two publishers never even |
| 2,000 martial arts books, I whittled it down to about | | | | bothered to return my correspondence. |
| 200 that I felt were truly worth owning. Although I had | | | | So to summarize, here are the reasons why I decided |
| gotten rid of a lot of these books, there were still a lot | | | | to write this series of books. |
| of books that were very good, but were on martial | | | | 1. To provide the reader with quality information on the |
| arts that I had little or no knowledge of. | | | | subject of kicking. |
| Several years later, I actually sat down and decided to | | | | 2. To reach a larger audience with the aforementioned |
| start writing a series of books on kicking after | | | | information. |
| engaging in a discussion with my instructor concerning | | | | 3. To create a higher standard of writing in the martial |
| an article that I had read in one of the many martial | | | | arts field. |
| arts magazines back in the early 90's entitled, "The No | | | | As you read this article, my first two books have |
| Look Back Kick." The basic premise of the article was | | | | already been published and are in print, and have |
| the authors attempt to teach you that you could | | | | received outstanding reviews from various |
| execute a back kick effectively without looking at | | | | professionals throughout the martial arts community. |
| where you were kicking. I remember wondering at the | | | | The remaining eight books in the first series are written |
| time if the author had ever heard the expression, | | | | and will be returned from the printer in early 2007. One |
| "Look before you leap." | | | | final thought I would like to leave with you, "When life |
| I remember telling my instructor that I was more than | | | | gives you lemons, make lemonade." I did! |