Yesterday was my last tournament as a first-degree (Tae Kwon Do). I always curse myself when the alarm goes off at the crack of dawn, but by the time I’m at the venue with a cup of coffee in hand, caucusing with the other refs, I remember why I’m there and how much I love the sport =)
My showing in poomsae was absolutely shameful. That is, it started out well, but halfway through, my mind drew a blank on the next move. I recovered quickly, but that split-second of hesitation cost me the competition. Having spent the morning judging poomsae, I can tell you that yes, when that happens, *everyone* knows. SIGH. How completely horrifying that I’ve been doing Koryo for almost three years, and I know that stupid form better than my own name!
I pulled a surprising first in sparring, though. I rarely do well in sparring, but I was *pissed* about my showing in poomsae, and, well….
At this particular venue, I *always* manage to lose some piece of equipment. Last time it was a pair of nunchuks. This time it was my chest guard. I can’t imagine anyone steals them–none of it is expensive or shiny, and everyone has their own anyway, but there you go. I ended up borrowing one from a 9-year-old. Which I suppose is fair turnaround, as she had to use mine the last time, because I threw it in the bag instead of hers.
Writing News
Readers are loving The Left Hand of Justice, and I’m really glad. I worked so hard on that story! Here’s what some of them are saying. And if you don’t have a copy, you can get one here, in paperback and all major ebook formats.
Death and the Detective is being finalized, and the cover art has been commissioned. Right on target for the May 11 release. We’ve been discussing doing a companion volume called Death and the Ladies, focusing on female protagonists, as most (though not all) of the D&D protags were male. I’m still hoping to do Undeath and the Detective for Halloween.
Mystery short fiction has been sort of a specialty niche, but we’re finding a lot of excellent writers and a lot of happy readers for ours, so who knows? Maybe it’s time for a renaissance? I hope so. This latest collection is a real point of pride for us. I hope people will like it as much as they liked Cold Night.
Am working on the Shocking!Climax of Turnbull House. There will be explosions and Shocking Revelations. And a couple of story questions that will remain unanswered until the Third and Final Installment, tentatively entitled Fool’s Gold. Oh, Ira Adler, your books write themselves. What ever will I do when your saga is finished? ::SIGH::
Jess Faraday 