I have not been writing. Instead, I have been "researching" wuxia fiction and TV shows for the past several weeks -- that's my official excuse.

I've always wanted to write a Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon style story -- possibly a whole epic fantasy trilogy -- and, for some reason, I decided to start researching it now.

That said, I still have not finished the Dark Sequel. Instead, I've been watching a Wuxia TV series. Bad me! I know! But now that series is done, and I have my life back -- I believe it is time to start back on the Dark Sequel and knock the rough draft out of the way so I can start writing other stuff.

Trifectas are a little bit different these days -- I have MORE hobbies, not fewer, and a lot of different things draining on my time. And through it all, I still absolutely MUST find time for the family.

So... With all that said, let me introduce you to a new trifecta:

1) Standup Comedy

Standup Comedy class for 4 hours, did a little networking, but I could've done better. I missed a great opportunity to hobnob with the veteran comedian that -- in all likelihood -- is about to go pro. But I really needed to get back to 2)

Did a lot of tweaks to my comedy material -- which, basically, is comedy writing -- and I think I did really well on stage. Not a kill, but a definite wild ride for the audience, which -- me being strange and surreal by nature -- is all I can hope for.

2) Family Time

I think I did really well on this one today. Spent quite a while "watching" Sami, and also did a lot of playing and cleaning up her toys with her. Also hung out with Janell and talked.

3) Kung Fu

Practiced quite a few forms, most of which I just relearned yesterday:
- *Yang 18 Jian (Jian is a Straight Sword -- in the west we call them Long Swords)
- Yang 32 Jian (I relearned only to about half way, but I was surprised I got that far)
- Compulsory Shaolin Staff Form #1 (relearned from scratch in 30 mins! Woohoo!)
- *Compulsory Yang Taiji Fan Form #1

* I had already relearned these two, but my brain had already mixed them up and forgotten bits of them again, so I had to straighten them out on Sunday.

Combine these with the forms I've already relearned:
- Yang 10 Fist
- Yang 16 Fist
- Yang 24 Fist

And I'm starting to build up a head of steam. If I can relearn the Yang 88 Fist Long Form, I will be doing REALLY well.

I've had the experience, several years ago, of relearning Xingyi; when my knee feels better, I believe I can do that rapidly. It is the Taiji -- with the 5 minute or 15 minute forms -- that takes the longest time to relearn, because it is SO LONG and SO COMPLEX.

First sale in a while; thought I should share!

I keep missing Live Journal. I wish I could get here during the day to catch up with people and post, but I never seem to fit it in.

Is anyone still out here? I guess I kind of assume that since I faded away everyone else has too.

Well, I’ve done it. To improve the silly, Monty Python-esque book I am currently writing (in truth, I’m currently writing two books simultaneously, and only one of them is silly) -- I’ve determined that I need to come to a greater understanding of stand-up, skit, and other forms of comedy. Essentially, I need to rapidly, efficiently develop a high level of expertise in something I’ve never done. Yay! MORE impossible goals!

So, how do you graduate from being just a snarky writer and entertaining guy/gal in a crowd to a full humorist? No idea! But here’s my current strategy:
( The nitty gritty details along with links -- and yes, you may be right, I may be crazy. )

(Originally posted here at my website; you can respond here or there.)

If you know me at all, you know I like Monty Python. It would not be far from the truth to say I was raised on a steady diet of Python (and, of course, Doctor Who. But that is off topic -- GET BACK IN THE BLOODY BLUE BOX, TIMELORD!! It's not your post!)

The result is that I have a zany, surreal sense of humor, and I tend to like my humor British. Despite the fact that I have lived most of my life in Texas. You can imagine the complications (the skits write themselves, don't they?)

So... When I decided that I should write something funny for a change (instead of all this dark stuff I've been struggling to sell, as full of irony as it may be (i.e., "Teddy Bears and Tea Parties: A Horror Story")), funny to me meant Monty Python.

This left me with quite a problem on my hands (and when I say problem, I mean a twenty-foot tall electric penguin with green tentacles shooting out.) So I did what any self-respecting only-child of two college professors WOULD do -- I started studying.

I downed the whole Python series again in one go (doing my best to keep an eye on how things worked), and then all of the movies. This of course was not enough. I needed something I could analyze at a much more leisurely rate. Rather than driving my wife mad by rewinding skits and sketching out scripts for them, I dived into the written materials out there... (Pardon me while I elide time for convenience and pacing -- if I had the skills, I would insert a Terry Gilliam-style animation, probably about monkeys using books as wings, but at some point turning into monkey-headed cherubic angels all shooting plungers off their harpstrings at each other, while a large, decapitated head of Graham Chapman (he's dead already, he won't mind) eats large parts of Parliament in the background. However, I do not have any animation skills whatsoever, so there is no animation, and you'll just have to deal with it.

Ahem... I seem to be rambling. Let's hope I keep it up, it's a downsight more interesting that me actually saying anything.

( More silliness, but with a point, I swear... )

Went to FenCon this weekend and met soooooo many people. Pardon me, I am part geek, I'm not good at keeping lists of them -- but everyone (really everyone) was so nice. It was a blast to be there. Among the many great folks:
- The usual suspects (you guys should know who you are!)
- Chris of Books-a-million (who gave awesome insight into the state of libraries and book stores and what people are expecting to happen next, technologically)
- Felicia of Geeky Blogger Fame, and crew.
- Lou Anders (nice enough to talk to me for about 20 minutes on the state of Epic and Low Fantasy, thanks Lou!)
- Toni Weisskopf (publisher of Baen Books, who graciously allowed me to ramble on and on about completely unimportant things)
- And a whole host of new people who I am still sorting through business cards for, and will be catching up with shortly.

1) Already did Kung Fu today -- 2 hours, different forms. I think I have finally learned the second Yang Fan form all th way through; it is a gorgeous form, and I'm happy to have finally learned it. Now I just need my knee to cooperate enough to hit the low stances cleanly.

2) About to take a shower and leave for writing; I have work to do reformatting my novel slightly. It is not new words, but it is something I can do to increase my chances of getting a novel sale; this will be writing for the day.

3) Since to hit a trifecta, I only need to play some guitar, right after this post (and before the shower) I will go play a few songs.

That will be a rocking day.

Accountability details.
1) Writing: +1000 more words on that shortstory I am rewriting from scratch. It's going pretty well, really. It's a funny little story, all I can hope is it makes people laugh. I like it.
2) Kung Fu: Did Yang Taiji 24 today, and Xingyi Wu Xing Lian Huan (Xingyi 5 Element Linking Form). Not much, but some!
3) Guitar: Played the stuff I normally play. I really only have two songs.

Trifecta complete.

I've been writing again, +1000 words Thursday, +1250 words today (Friday). Rewriting an trunked short story that was more summary than action. originally it was only 2,000 words long, now it looks like it may hit 4k or 6k.

No trifectas recently. To be honest, I'm not sure that since the baby there is time to do trifectas anymore. Two things per day I could fit in -- but three? Man, it will be hard. We will see.

Still, I intend to keep the posts up for personal accountability more than anything, but right now it looks like there won't be any more writing until Sunday (or even Monday) at the earliest.