Rumors of My Demise

Faithful readers, I apologize for the blog silence over the last few weeks.  You will be happy to know that the downtime has been for good reason, and this downtime will ultimately benefit you.

Reasons I have been distracted:

• As of yesterday, I am officially done with graduate school.  Defending and revising my thesis on nonprofit publishing absorbed a great deal of my time.
• I am writing two more books.  Both are about jiu-jitsu and are through a new publisher that I am working with.
• I am consulting on two other book projects, not jiu-jitsu related.
• I am doing freelance writing and copy work.

I am excited to tell you about the jiu-jitsu books and about the publisher I am working with, but that will come in time.  For now, know that the first will be out in late October, and the second will arrive early in 2013.  These are in addition to the two Victory Belt books--one with BJ Penn and one with Neil Melanson--that have not yet gone to print.  Before you ask, no, I don't know when they are going to print.  That is out of my hands.  I can tell you, however, that BJ's book is especially awesome.  It's another installment of the Book of Knowledge series.

Next week, I will be posting a Faixa Rua gi review.  I spent three months beating the crap out of it to write this review, so check back to see how it held up.

And we will end with a small chuckle to hold you over until next week.

How I feel watching white belts perfect their flying armbars:

I was in the background of a Tosh.0 video

Tosh.0

Get More: Tosh.0 Videos,Daniel Tosh,Web Redemption

The above video is from the popular Comedy Central show Tosh.0.  It features two young grapplers at the PA State Grappling Championships, held annually at Keystone Oaks high school in Pittsburgh.  The video is standard Daniel Tosh irreverence, but yours truly (me) happened to be refereeing this particular match.  I am nothing more than a background figure in the video--even family members said to me, "I wasn't sure if that was you"--but this video reminds me of two very important facts:

1. Jiu-Jitsu can be a safe sport if trained properly. Education, respect, and maturity are important qualities to foster on the mat.  Kids will be kids, but as adults and coaches we need to make sure that children understand the potential dangers and the competition rules.

My Ears Are Burning (and it's not from cauliflower)

Rich.  Can you tell he loves fighting?

The Cauliflower Chronicles, my first book, hit shelves in December of 2010, and it has sold more copies than I ever could have anticipated.  Thank you for your support, and thank you for the emails and Facebook messages that you have sent me.  Hearing that my writing has had an impact, even if that impact was just a few hours of entertainment, is far more rewarding than any royalty check.  If I have not responded to your email or message, please resend it.  My inbox fills quickly, and I may sometimes miss a message.

Also, thank you for telling other people about the book.  Rich, for example, sent me this Facebook message to tell me about how he got The Cauliflower Chronicles mentioned on The Sports Network: