Life Katas -- by Diane Mowery

      

My daughter, Sarah, takes karate and will soon be awarded her brown belt. In the process she has learned over twenty katas. A kata is a pattern of defensive and offensive moves memorized and practiced in sequence. Watching katas is like watching military moves choreographed into dance. I see how katas are useful for learning karate, but I wondered how useful they are in real combat, especially when an opponent cares nothing about karate.

Sarah’s instructor is also a police officer, so I asked him:  “How useful are the katas to you when you are on the street in hand to hand combat with a criminal? You could hardly follow a whole sequence through, so how does it help you?”

“Oh, it’s everything when in combat. Because my mind and body are trained in katas I don’t have to think about what to do next. My body goes into each move that is needed and adjusts to my opponent’s moves without making a conscious decision. My response to an opponent is quicker and more effective than if I had to think about each move I make.”

I began to think of ways I respond without making a conscious decision. What patterns of mind and body have I established in everyday living and is each life kata helpful or harmful? When the opponent of temptation comes, have I trained my mind to make good choices?

Before I became a Christian I had patterns established that were based on selfish desires. The patterns of the old self carried into my new life in Christ. One of these was drawing attention to myself by flirting. I kept falling into this old pattern. One day I asked God why this was such a problem for me. I got my answer when I walked past a television playing one of my favorite shows. There was the pattern, a televised kata of seduction. I realized that most of my favorite shows emphasized that same kata. My mind was trained to automatically copy it when I was around men. I had to retrain my mind by finding better patterns to imitate, and for a time I also had to avoid watching katas of seduction on television.

As Sarah focuses on katas to train her mind for combat, I focus on scripture, prayer and people who live out godly examples to train my mind to imitate God. (Ephesians 5:1) I have to practice things like kindness, forgiveness, humility and purity in my mind before I can live it out in my body. (Romans 8:5) Watching Sarah, I have to ask myself: where do I still need to train my mind to put on the newness that is in Christ so I will move according to His example when challenged by life? How effective are my life katas?

© 2013, Diane Mowery

I am grateful to Diane Mowery for sharing her wonderfully inspiring story. -- bws

        

About Diane Mowery

                Diane graduated from the University of Wyoming where she majored in secondary education. She taught junior and senior high school science, and then taught all subjects to her own homeschooled children. In addition to taking care of a large family, Diane facilitates a writers’ group. Her home in the Texas Panhandle is shared with family and a menagerie of animals, including wild birds that have learned to outsmart her cats.  

Leadership of the Small Writing Group , Part I

                 

Support for one another is the common thread that holds small writing groups together. And that’s good. But even small critique groups, writing circles, clubs, or guilds, need leadership. Without it, friendships that develop can cause a writing circle to degenerate into a writers’ social. Serious writers drop out, and the group folds.

In its advice on how to organize a writing group, the book CRAFT: Create, Rewrite, and Fine Tune*, tells how to prevent a break-up by putting guidelines in place when the group is first formed. Basic guidelines in writing give prospective members a clear idea of what to expect when joining the group. A leader’s simple statement, “Remember, we do it this way,” is usually all it takes to head off conflict, a members’ press for change, or overly disruptive chatter.

That does not mean dynamics will not change. With fundamental elements in place, however, it’s easy enough to tweak ground rules as necessary. CRAFT suggests an annual review of its structure and the direction it is taking, regardless of an association’s size. The following are among dozens of questions leadership may want to consider:

·          Are members satisfied with the meeting day and time, and meeting length?

·          What about the meeting place? How well is the present arrangement working?

·          Variations in meeting structure are endless. Of importance is how well your present structure is working for your group. Members who suggest changes should be ready with ideas on how to implement the changes, and, if adopted, to then be responsible for putting new procedures in place.

·          Do policies require redefining? For example, what is: “too steamy” in romance novels; unacceptable language; overly violent scenes, and so forth?

·          Is the work load fair and effective? While large groups tend to elect annual officers, the leadership in small groups often falls to its original organizer(s). The book CRAFT lists a number of positions with duties, if there are sufficient volunteers to take on extra responsibility. Those are the subject of another article. The primary leadership role belongs to the facilitator.

A writing Group’s Facilitator

This is the group’s main leader. Duties will vary from group to group, but will typically include the following:

·          Makes leadership decisions between meetings, often in consultation with key members who make a point of keeping up with group concerns and activities, attend meetings as regularly as they can, and act as advisors to the facilitator.

·          Opens, and later closes the meeting, conducts the business session, if applicable, and makes necessary announcements, including welcoming of guests and introduction of guest speakers.

·          Keeps activities on track in order to complete the meeting’s agenda.

·          Facilitates discussion, aiming for a balance between encouraging participation of all in attendance while discouraging discussion from turning into desultory chat.

·          Direct the critique session if it is on the agenda. Typical priorities for the critique leader is to keep the session moving, and remind members, when necessary, to not interrupt the critique, to critique the writing and not content, phrase comments in a positive manner, and so forth. In short, the person who facilitates a critique session should be aware of the group’s standards for the giving and receipt of critique, and with diplomacy, encourage those standards to be followed.

In large groups, members' contribution to their organization may be limited to their annual dues. The smaller the group, the more each member should accept responsibilities. Learn how to add spark to the small writing group through teamwork in Leadership of the Small Writing Group, Part II.    

*CRAFT: Create, Rewrite, and Fine Tune is still in an editing stage, with a unit or two not finished.

I am indebted to my friend, Diane Mowery, for help with this article. 

© Bernice W. Simpson 

Fleshing Characters

Character lists. They’re handy when we write or edit fiction or biographies. Your sketch of every character, before you start to write, is as important as planned plot twists. It helps you remain consistent with character details, and prevents errors your readers are apt to catch after the book is printed. For example, with the reference sketch file open, you won’t say Jill, at 5’ 9” looked up at Jack (5’ 7”) when they spoke, unless he’d gained an extra step up the hill.

It’s not enough to visualize and outline Jill’s appearance: 5’ 9”, weight: 130, beautiful with sloe eyes and wavy brown hair. It’s not sufficient to list her personality traits: ambitious and cunning, but usually pleasant, and so forth. Listing facts traps you into writing narrative description instead of revealing Jill’s character which turns her into a real person, whose choices today are rooted in her past whether remembered or not.

Starting out, you may not plan to bring Jill’s family members into your story, but you should know who they are. Flesh them out until you are as familiar with them as you are your best friend’s family. Often you can use once-mentioned characters to introduce concepts or transitions.

For example: The author wants her protagonist, Jack, to gently move against the current. In a scene, Jack quietly disagreed with his friends, but said nothing. Jill’s grandfather shot a comment toward the group’s gripe session as he took a beer from the cooler, “Men condemn because they do not understand. –Cicero.”

Can you see how the grandfather’s statement provides an easy transition? But if the grandfather is mentioned again, whatever he says or does must be consistent with his previous statement.

A link to a group on Diane Mowery’s Facebook page turns character sketching to a game. The basic idea is to write a fully fleshed-out character sketch, then submit it for random exchange. That done, each member writes a short story based on someone else’s character. For details on how a particular group works, go to http://the.characterremix.com.

(c) 2012, Bernice W. Simpson