Good reads in various magazines

[Oso]

agreed, that had been the main reason I've been looking for it, but it hasn't hit shelves here yet. looking forward to seeing what the 'brutal *******' looks like.

[GeneChing]

mmmphf...mmphw...mmgry

That's waaaaay more information then we needed to know.

But in response to your comment, firstly, writing does not always go hand-in-hand with training. In fact, many of the top masters can't write to save their lives. And as for me personally, I'd be remiss if I didn't admit that my personal training regimen sucks. So that's not necessarily a reason to dis a submission. But secondly, and more importantly, simultaneous submissions are frowned upon, especially when there are so few magazines really. It's not like we won't notice. Authors may gloat for a the month or so that they are on the newsstand, but the publishers will always remember that event, and no matter what they do, it will cloud any future submissions.

It's interesting that BB and IKF have been stumbling over each other lately. Last month, they both did covers of David Carridine in almost identical poses. This month, they both did the Last Samurai (although very different covers.) As for us, we delegated all that press to the net and gave it up to y'all for free. We covered Kill Bill from a much different angle. And you'll see an article on Last Samurai by Dr. Reid (same author who did the cover story for BB) which we'll post today or tomorrow. Dr. Ried even covered Matrix for us. I would be very interested to hear your comparisons of our ezine coverage to their cover stories.

FWIW, I did a pseudo-simlutaneous submission back when I was a freelancer for Shaolin monk Shi Yanming. The stories were entirely different. Entirely. But I had the cover for both IKF and Kung Fu magazine in late '99. Because the arrticle were completely different, it didn't reflect too poorly on me at the time, since I got hired here very soon after.

[Oso]

Gene,
I agree about training and writing not necessarily going hand in hand. Probably one of the reason's there is conflict between lineages so much of the time.

I'll just shut my trap about Prout. He'll get his in the end.

I still can't wait to read what they've said about themselves.

should be pretty funny.

[CrippledAvenger]

Gene, a quick question...

How does one go about getting a freelancing gig in the martial community? I'm looking to start moving into other areas of writing and genuinely curious as well.

[SevenStar]

Originally posted by Stranger
Let's not forget the kuntao-silat article by Monkey Slap in IKF. I thought that was an excellent article.

That's the article I was originally looking for. It's not on the newsstand anymore

[SevenStar]

Originally posted by CrippledAvenger
Gene, a quick question...

How does one go about getting a freelancing gig in the martial community? I'm looking to start moving into other areas of writing and genuinely curious as well.

I'm curious also. I've got some ideas I'd like to work on and submit...

[Oso]

does anyone know which month MST's article was in?

Nov? Oct?

[GeneChing]

The defination of freelance is: a person, especially a writer or an artist, who sellls his or her services to employers without a long term commitment to any one of them. It descends from a term used for medieval mercenaries. So to get a freelance gig, you just got to find an employer who will buy your stuff. Actually, there's a lot more to it than that if you intend to have any longevity at this craft. I refer any freelance aspirants to the Writer's Market, an annual publication that gives you all the information you really need about the biz, contacts, how to write queries, distribution, compensation, turn around time, you name it.

In the martial arts, the bulk of what is published is freelance. For us, here is our writer's guides. If you're interested, after reading the guides, drop me an email and query your idea.

BTW, you'll learn quickly that this is not the way to make a living. It really doesn't pay well. Even if you could get published in every issue of every martial arts magazine, which is pretty much impossible, you wouldn't make enough money to make rent, at least not here in America. Writing for the martial arts is a thankless task. In fact, more often, you'll take your licks just like Prout is here. That being said, good luck to you!

[Oso]

so, how do you go about authenticating the information contained in a submission?

[Goldenmane]

But in response to your comment, firstly, writing does not always go hand-in-hand with training. In fact, many of the top masters can't write to save their lives. And as for me personally, I'd be remiss if I didn't admit that my personal training regimen sucks.

I'll put my hand up for that, too, and I don't have anywhere near the output that you do.

It's interesting to me, and I've been pondering it recently, that I train less now than I did before I got a job writing about MAs... and I write less than I want to because I spend so much of my time trying to research as much as possible.

I've effectively become a martial arts journalist, which has lead to me becoming a less developed martial artist in many ways. I think that there is a danger in this, because you drift away from really getting in there and physically knowing what you're talking about... so recently I've been working on trying to re-organise my schedule and get stuck back into training properly. Being a theorist is all well and good, but it does tend to play havoc with your credibility.

Still, I can't complain. I get to study and write about the martial arts for (almost) a living, and how many people get to do something as cool as that?

As to freelancing: it has its upside, in that you get to write whatever the heck you want... but the downside, as mentioned, is that the pay tends not to be so good.

[SevenStar]

Originally posted by Goldenmane



I've effectively become a martial arts journalist, which has lead to me becoming a less developed martial artist in many ways. I think that there is a danger in this, because you drift away from really getting in there and physically knowing what you're talking about... so recently I've been working on trying to re-organise my schedule and get stuck back into training properly. Being a theorist is all well and good, but it does tend to play havoc with your credibility.

Not necessarily, I wouldn't think. I'm not gonna question the boxing cred of foreman because he doesn't box anymore. He's been there. He's been further than most will ever go. There's no doubt that he did his time. He may eventually get out of sync with newer training methods and such, but you can't really question his credibility...

As long as you have actually been more than a theorist at some point in time, cred questioning probably won't be a big thing.

[Oso]

credibility is my issue with Prout. I know every ounce of his martial history. He's simply riding on whatever credibility Kash has which has been called into question on numerous occasions.

[Goldenmane]

I'm not gonna question the boxing cred of foreman because he doesn't box anymore. He's been there. He's been further than most will ever go. There's no doubt that he did his time. He may eventually get out of sync with newer training methods and such, but you can't really question his credibility...

True, true.

I've never reached that level, or anything like it, though. Still, I'll keep plugging away at it.

[GeneChing]

That's a very good question. Having over nearly three and a half decades of personal experience in U.S. martial arts, as well as having martial arts as my sole source of income for over a decade and a half helps. Having a lot of good friends, including all of you on the forum helps too. I won't say it's an infallible system. In fact, this is why I find our discussion of our last article so interesting here. Now, of course I'm familiar with ELF, but this has been my first interaction with Kash and Prout, and a simultaneous submission is a poor start.

FWIW, we, like any magazine, publish articles for many reasons. For example, we recently published an ezine article about some negative Shaolin experiences to elicit a dialog on the subject (by the way, I was taken to task about this by a Shaolin monk a few days ago, not a pleasant position to be in, I can tell you). Now this is different than publishing articles to incite feuds, as our competitors on the newsstands have oft been accused. In this case, I wanted to acknowledge the other side - being a Shaolin disciple myself, I didn't want to sound too propagandistic, so I allow the other side it's platform now and again. In that case, one might ask how far I went to authenticate that article and to be honest, I didn't go very far. My instinct told me his experience was valid. And it has eliected a good dialog, as you can see.

[Yum Cha]

Hi Gene,
Concerning good reads, I think the Shaolin story was an incredible read.

Not only because it was a good insight into the reality often lost amongst the platitudes and (alleged) mysticism in all things Shaolin, but also because it reinforced the essential element in any martial artists journey through the arts: that it is your journey of "hard training" alone - there are no shortcuts, even at thesource.

Additionally, I think your courage in publishing it puts you a little further up the ladder than some of your compeition.

Thanks.