On Writing and Martial Arts...

The two rehearsed readings of The Selkie are done and dusted and I am now in rewrite mode for two weeks. Then I will put the script away for a few months as I embark on a new project and come back to it in the new year.

Writing as a discipline is like any other discipline and I think the links between writing and martial arts training are very strong.

The most important thing at both is that you have to put the hours in and actually do it. 

Work pressures pre-redundancy prevented me from writing for large parts of the year. When redundancy happened, though, my writing discipline kicked in and I got through the first draft of the play very quickly. I did lots then and I will continue to write lots going forward. I may not get this time again and I have to ensure it is not frittered away.

Ironically, when redundancy happened, I had extra time to train, too. This was exciting. Then a bad fall at hapkido and torn intercostal muscles further down the road meant I couldn't train much hapkido or boxing and BJJ was a non-starter. Thankfully, my body seems to be back up and running, so I'll be returning to the BJJ and hapkido mats proper next week. I am delighted about this as I need to get back to training. I need do it properly again.

But 'properly' has different meanings for different people. For me, it means training three to four times a week at most. To be honest, my body can't take much more than that. But martial arts has always been a recreational thing for me and, even though I have competed a bit, it's always been about the training, overcoming problems and celebrating the slight improvements. 

It's a similar thing with writing. The slight improvements and overcoming problems are the things that make you better and the reason you put the work in. I've been a professional journalist for 29 years and a sometimes decent playwright for some of that time. I can do character and dialogue. But understanding things like structure, balance, momentum and plot are areas where I think I have got better and have made continual improvements. Structure, balance and momentum are also cornerstone tenets of many martial arts. 

The Selkie represents an advance for my writing because I've taken lots of previous lessons onboard and, while it is by no means an unflawed piece of work, I can see the bits where it flies. But I can also see the holes and it's sorting those out that is the next step. 

And that remains the same with my hapkido and, when I get back to it, my BJJ. I know where I'm OK at both of these things. But I know where the massive holes are and my martial arts journey and my writing journey will be about trying to fill some of them in. 

I don't think that makes me sound like too much of a twat. But it may do.