I had an epiphany this weekend and a change of heart about several things. I won’t get into the details, as personal epiphanies are just that, personal, but big changes are coming. I have written 10 books on martial arts and warrior philosophy, the last being DEFIANCE: Exposing the Dark Side of the Martial Arts. Not only is DEFIANCE my newest martial arts book, but it will be my last book on the martial arts. Although I never say never, I have no plans on writing any other martial arts books.
My writing started out focused on wisdom and philosophy, but has gravitated more towards martial arts and the integration of wisdom and philosophy into what I call warrior philosophy and the warrior lifestyle. In truth, the warrior philosophy and the philosophy of the warrior lifestyle is nothing more than how I try to live my life. It is the ideals of warriorhood.
After 10 books on the subject, and 15 books in the last 10 years, I feel that I have pretty much taught all that I have to teach as far as martial arts go. That is not to say that I am done writing and teaching wisdom and philosophy; I am just getting started. I will be expanding my teachings for a wider audience, instead of directing the majority of them towards the martial arts.
That said, I believe that I have accomplished a tremendous amount in the martial arts world – three #1 bestsellers, five #1 new releases on Amazon, and eight of my martial arts books which reached the top 10 in martial arts category. I don’t write this to brag; it is just the facts.
I have been put into several martial arts halls of fame for my books and teachings, won several national book awards, and have been blessed to have met and worked with the best of the best in the martial arts world, including Fumio Demura, Al Dacascos, Chuck Norris, Doug Marcaida, and many, many others. And I think that is pretty impressive for a good ole boy from Mississippi whom most have never heard of before.
Over the last several months, I have been trying to figure out which direction to take my writing. I have a lot of projects that I have had on the back burner, but I have been a little burned out dealing with the recovery from multiple surgeries and personal issues, and just needed a break.
I have spent the last few days recovering from another unexpected surgery which I had on Wednesday. This allowed me some down time and time to think about life (funny how pain killers tend to do that). Then, this last weekend, I had an epiphany and realized that it is time for me to take my writings and teachings in a different direction and to a wider audience.
The reality is that the vast majority of my writings and teachings, even though I integrated them with martial arts, actually apply to everyone anyway. All true wisdom is universal and applies to everyone regardless of whether they are martial artists, lawyers, doctors, teachers, or whatever.
Over the past few months, I have allowed myself to get out of balance in my life. The issues of the world, the political atmosphere here in the U.S., and the illness of my father all got to me a bit. I allowed my anger, frustrations, and Rebel spirit to take me back to the person I used to be, instead of the man I have become. This can happen to all of us from time to time, I suppose, but that is simply not acceptable for me.
Life is short; that’s just a fact, even if it doesn’t seem like it. It seems like every time I turn around, another friend or family member has left this life for the spirit world. Lately, I have been feeling a nagging sense of urgency to take my writing to a different level to help as many people as I can during the short time I have left here on this earth. And that is exactly what I will be doing.
As my popularity increased, I felt pressure to spend more time marketing, to keep the train rolling if you will. I also felt some pressure to keep writing to the specific niche I created for myself, instead of expanding my thoughts to a wider audience.
I steered away from certain subjects as not to offend people, although I know that will seem strange to many of you, as it seems I offend people every single day in one way or another. I have never been one to walk on glass because of the fragile sensitivities of others, but sometimes things happen so gradually that you don’t notice what is happening until you take a step back and look at the direction your path has taken.
In my upcoming book, I will be taking my philosophy to a much deeper level than ever before. I will be getting into topics and issues that I have pretty much stayed away from since my books have become popular. My goals are no longer to sell lots of books and build a following, but to pursue that one book that will change lives even long after I have left this world.
I started off by hand writing wisdom for my two sons in a couple of journals from Barnes and Noble years ago. And from that humble beginning, things snowballed and I have now written 15 books. Now it is time for me to take the next step and take my philosophy to a whole other level, and I hope that many of you will take that ride with me.
I will continue to share excerpts and teachings from my old books while I work on the new prose. I will not be replacing my teachings, but expanding on them in such a way that they help more people and reach much wider than the martial arts world.
The epiphany that I had this weekend opened my eyes to some things, things I have done right, and some areas in which I need to make some changes. I had to take a step back and reconsider the direction of my life and my goals. With new clarity, I have started my next book, and it is my sincere hope that my new book is going to help more people and change more lives than all of my other books put together, at least that is my goal. The best is yet to come, but it is on the way! Warrior on!
