During my years of martial arts obsession, I learned an old Chinese proverb about kung fu. The student’s understanding evolves in three stages.

Before I knew kung fu, a punch was just a punch, and a kick was just a kick.

As I learned kung fu, a punch was no longer just a punch, and a kick was no longer just a kick.

Now that I know kung fu, a punch is just a punch, and a kick is just a kick.

Over the past year, I have spent my spare moments learning the craft of writing long fiction. Put me in kung fu category #2 where fiction writing is concerned. [Read more…]