And I need your help.

I’m looking to do actual signings, blog stops, podcasts, TV, radio, street corners, whatever. Seriously. It’s my intention to make sure THE KENSEI is absolutely everywhere and that’s why I’m starting the plans right now. Want to help? I’m glad you asked. Here’s what I need:

1. Bookstores – do you have a local chain or indie bookstore in your area that you would love to see swing by? Get their contact information (contact name, telephone, address, email) and fire it off to me via email: jonfmerz AT verizon DOT net & feel free to include multiple stops in your area. The more the merrier.

2. Blogs – Do you frequent writerly/bookish-type blogs? Do they do interviews with authors? Then I’m all over it. Same as above: drop me an email with all the contact deets to jonfmerz AT verizon DOT net

3. Podcasts & radio – Same as above. I’ve been on radio many, MANY times before and love talking to folks.

4. TV – Are you pals with Oprah? Let’s get her hooked on Lawson together! I’ve done several local TV spots, so I’m comfortable in front of a camera. And god knows I can talk for hours about any number of bizarre topics.

This tour is all about two things: getting THE KENSEI into readers’ hands and meeting all of you. Old readers, fans, new readers, doesn’t matter – I want to meet you guys and say thanks for your support. So, please drop me a line and let me know where you’d like me to go (um…”to Hell” is not an option, okay? thanks! lol)

Look forward to hearing from you all! Thanks!

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(Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments section.)

1. EBooks

I’m not crazy about reading books on a small screen. But a huge and ever-growing segment of the population really digs this. I’ve seen plenty of authors resist the ebook advance with as much obstinacy as traditional publishers. That’s stupid. Get out on Amazon through their DTP program and sell your backlist or any other projects that you haven’t found a traditional home for. Price your novels at $2.99, get a great cover, and bump your descriptions and tags up. 60 days from now, you’ll have your first royalty check direct deposited into your bank account. It’s faster and easier than traditional publishing, there’s very little overhead, you can do the formatting yourself (or hire someone for fairly cheap scratch) and get your work out in front of millions. And earning roughly $2.09 per book (the 70% royalty rate for an ebook priced between $2.99-$9.99) is pretty sweet.

Along those lines, get your work out on Smashwords. And Barnes & Noble is doing their own thing soon with Pub It!. You can already sell your ebooks through the Apple iBooks store, but you need an account and have to follow some extra guidelines to do it. Of course, you can always get your books made into iPhone apps as I did with several of mine. Each week, I sell a few copies out there that gets me a monthly PayPal payment from the guy I teamed up with to develop them.

Ebooks are an incredible boon to authors right now. If you’re not taking advantage of this, then fix it before you do anything else. Seriously. Literally every minute you delay, you’re losing out on sales.

2. Sell Direct

Middlemen can be helpful; middlemen can be a pain-in-the-ass. If you’ve got an established fan base, there’s no reason why you can’t sell directly to them – ebooks, print books, merchandise, etc. Set up a Paypal account or Google Checkout and start selling on your website. You can sell ebooks directly and pocket even more of the money. It’s a fairly easy matter to convert ebooks into various popular file formats like .epub, .mobi, and even Amazon’s .azw.

3. Print Your Own

Createspace and various other outfits can print your backlist on demand. I haven’t yet explored this option myself, although I intend to. You won’t make as much as you will selling ebooks, but it’s another way to help make sure your product finds its way into customer hands. Some people will always prefer print books to ebooks, so make sure you cater to them.

4. Serialize

Serialized fiction works for me. I’ve twice experimented with it, this year selling the exclusive early Lawson Vampire adventure THE MADAGASCAR MATTER direct to subscribers. Each week (barring a few delays that couldn’t be helped) they get a new chapter in their email in one of 3 formats: as a text within the body of the email, a .pdf file, or an .azw file they can read on their Kindle. The price was $7.95. I’ve had hundreds of people sign up for it and we’re still going strong, just past the midpoint of the novel. Just don’t make the mistake I made last year and announce the project around Christmas. I heard crickets for a while there, lol…

5. Embrace Social Media

Yeah, I know a lot of you don’t much care for promotion. Tough. Get used to doing it, because the rest of the world is out on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Linked In, Plaxo, and about a million other sites. Get a personal profile on Facebook and then set up a Page for yourself as an author. Here: use this handy ebook guide to help you set it up. I’ve heard the author is wicked cool. (If you need the book in another format other than Kindle, drop me a line) Social media sites are an integral part of interacting with your readers, developing your brand identity, expanding your audience, and attracting new readers and sales. You NEED to be on it, no matter how desperately you wish otherwise.

6. Hollywood

Writers normally look at an option or film rights deal as some type of ultimate pie-in-the-sky event. But the business model in Hollywood is changing as well. Not radically, but enough that you have a better chance now to make an impression out there provided you know how to do so. Start studying the business. Understand how studios make money and where they make it. Stop listening to halfwit idiots espousing box office takes and read THE BIG PICTURE: Money & Power in Hollywood by Edward Jay Epstein. Then read it again. Read it until you know how things have evolved from the start and why TV and feature films make money and yet they don’t make any money.

Then learn how to write a screenplay. Learn what a beat-sheet is. Learn what a scriptment is. Learn how to create a compelling B story within your screenplay.

And if you’re not satisfied with things in Hollywood, buy your own camera, like say the Canon EOS 5d MKII, which shoots glorious full 1080p HD for a measly $2500 for the body. My production company for THE FIXER (website’s being redesigned, come back in October for the trailer’s debut) has three of these cameras along with a bunch of lenses and rigs. They’re awesome. And the camera is revolutionizing Hollywood. SO go buy it for short change and start making your own content. No reason you can’t. You can take the LONG and hard path like my business partner and I did and find investors for your project (it’s only taken us about three years of constant frustration and heartache, but we’ve found some truly awesome folks) or you can raise funds through Kickstarter or from your reading public. Hire yourself top talent and crew and wow the world.

Who says you can’t?

7. Work-For-Hires

I write Rogue Angel novels for the Gold Eagle imprint of Harlequin. I started a few years back and have thus far penned eleven of those suckers. It’s a terrifically fun series and the books tend to write themselves. I earn no royalties from that work, but the pay I get (half on the signing of the contract and half when I turn it in) is pretty sweet change. I write about three each year. That’s a good chunk of money. It’s not easy to break-in, but if you can work your way into the business, it’s worth staying there until you can afford to get out of it for good.

8. Traditional Deals

A lot of ebook exponents are declaring the era of traditional publishing dead. It’s not dead yet. Until that final death knell comes, it’s still a good idea to have a traditional publisher backing you up. Here’s the thing: if you’re selling lots of ebooks, have a good social media presence, and more, you’re making yourself more attractive to a traditional publisher. The fact that I have over 13,000 followers on Twitter helped secure my deal St. Martin’s Press. Don’t discount anything these days.

9. Small Press

Until very recently, I haven’t had much luck with the small press. But I know others who have enjoyed great success there. My suggestion is to find one that likes your work and set yourself up as something of an exclusivity with them. If you’ve got a brand, then the publisher benefits and you benefit as well. Chapbooks, novellas, collections, novels, compilations, whatever. It’s yet another avenue to be explored and mined.

10. Develop a Brand

Yeah, I know what you’re saying: “But I’m a writer.” So are about a zillion other writers. What do you do that separates you from the crowd? Why should anyone care about what you write? Why should they pay $4.99 for your book when there’s someone else writing about ghouls on Amazon and is only charging $2.99 for their book. “But I’m the Ghoul Guy!” Okay, now why are YOU the ghoul guy? What makes your ghouls better than that guy’s?

My “brand” is this: writer, producer, ninja. I write books (and various other things); I produce my own TV show, THE FIXER; and I’m a 5th degree black belt in the last authentic lineage of Ninjutsu and have studied the art for over 20 years. Not too many (er, any as far as I can see) other authors can say the same thing.

Figure out who you are and you’ll be in a much better position to find new readers and fans, and thereby sell your work to them.

One final note: be honest. Don’t lie to your reading public. They’re smarter than that. I’ve read countless blogs where someone claims this movie deal or that they’re being actively pursued by multiple publishers, etc. etc. Please. It’s not THAT tough finding out if it’s true or not. We’re not in a giant, nameless industry. And a lot of us have extensive contacts that we can easily call and ask about things. I find it amusing that so many authors need to lie to make themselves seem more important than they are. Readers don’t care about that crap. They want a great burst of entertainment from you. And if you’re honest with them, they’ll reward you with their loyalty. Respect them accordingly.

All right, that’s enough from me. I’d love to hear from readers on other ways writers can flourish in these volatile times.

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I wrote a comment on Sawyer’s blog:

Actually, I’ve found some degree of success with the serialization model. In ‘06, I was the first author to partner with Myspace to do a month-long official serialized fiction piece that sent out a chapter each day. I did great netting new fans and subscribers – no money, but the experiment proved it could work given the right approach.

Different, yes. But still in the business of creating great content and being paid for it.

I’ve often compared the writing life to the martial arts world and the intersection of the two of them comes down to one point: an overall sense of awareness that enables a flexible response to the changing environment. Whether it’s combat or writing, the rules are the same in this case. If you remain fixed on one point and rely solely on that, then you’re doomed. I’ve known people who train only for one scenario in a fight. They obviously get really REALLY good at dealing with that scenario, but as is so often the case, when the situation actually manifests, it’s not what they trained to do and they get ripped apart.

The same goes for writing. I’ve known authors who (for example) viewed a contract with Leisure as the be-all-end-all of publishing. (And given the crappiness of a Leisure contract, all it really did was point out how little said writer knew about the business behind writing) Horror authors in particular have always had this special love for Leisure and now comes news of its paperback demise. They’re scrambling. “What do I do now? Who else publishes horror?”

The time to figure out a strategy is NOT when things are going bad. The time to lay out a strategy is when things are going WELL. As a warrior, you must be alert to changes in alliances, see the potential for friends to become enemies and vice versa, understand the effects of economy on threat conditions, be able to use shifting environments to their advantage, establish new sources of intelligence, mine already established contacts, and so on. As a writer, you must be alert for new technologies that can create new opportunities, understand the business behind entertainment, establish new contacts and friends already in those new markets, and look to establish a presence there, and so on.

A lot of writers will no doubt fade away. But the smart ones will figure out how to survive and indeed, prosper. In the same way, a smart warrior uses every tool at his disposal to survive – not just the business ends of his weapons. Those who failed to grasp that point, inevitably stayed on the battlefield long after the living already left.

Your mileage may vary…

Later this week I’ll offer up some suggestions for those “multiple income streams.” So please be sure to come on back!

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• I’ll be sending out the next chapter of THE MADAGASCAR MATTER later today. This has been on-hold lately because of the other projects I’ve been involved in as well as some personal stuff that cropped up. In any event, we’ll be back on a regular schedule now, after leaving Lawson in a lurch (as I normally do, lol). So if you’ve subscribed to the ongoing serial, look for the next chapter coming your way soon!
• Rewrites continue on the YA adventure series and I’ll be getting that back to my agent later this week. I’m excited about this one because it’s going to be big. Very big. More news when I can share it.
• I need to rework a beat-sheet for the feature movie I’m working on.
• Along those lines, I’m reading over a book my manager in LA wrote, so that should be fun as well.
• I’m looking over website redesign plans for the new website for THE FIXER that will hopefully be unveiled this autumn. It will be the destination for all things Lawson. Stay tuned!
• Got a few investor meetings lined up as well.
• …and, of course, more training.

Seeya!

First of all, I received the first pass typeset pages for THE KENSEI in the mail today. These are basically how the pages will look in the actual book. I need to go through them and spot any typos and report them back. This is usually where the gremlins like to jump in and hide often resulting in angry readers spotting them once the book is released, heh heh. So I’ll give it another once-over and then get them back to St. Martin’s as soon as possible.

And speaking of THE KENSEI…it is now officially up for pre-order over at Amazon.com The street date for the book is January 2011 and Amazon reports they’ll start shipping it on or about January 18th. Pre-orders always help, so if you’re so inclined, please head on over and secure your copy now. Here’s a handy link you can use to pre-order it. And yes, that is the cover as it stands right now.

I’m currently working on a beat-sheet for a screenplay for my Los Angeles-based Manager, who is anxious to get something from me that he can sell. So I’m reworking a project to see if that might fit the bill. We’ll see…

Also, had the second today of two meetings around my YA adventure series. I’ve got my marching orders from my ever-excellent agent, Joe Monti of the Barry Goldblatt Literary Agency and revisions will start almost immediately (once I get the beat-sheet off to my manager). But big things are definitely ahead for that series and both my agent and I are extremely excited about how the book is coming along…this has been five years in the making since I started thinking about it, so to have it at this stage even is a big thing.

Got some other news to share with you all soon. So far, it’s been a pretty damned good week.

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But there’s also nothing quite like the feeling you get when, after waiting for weeks, sometimes months, you finally get a response from the editor or agent to whom you submitted your latest work and…it’s another rejection. Even worse, there isn’t any helpful feedback – no sense of where you went wrong or what you can do to make it better. How are you supposed to improve if no one is telling you what you’re doing wrong? How are you supposed to make yourself stand out from the thousands of other submissions they are receiving?

I know, you say to yourself, I’ll sign up for one of those live workshops. One taught by a team of successful authors. Surely they can help me, you think. But every workshop you look at costs hundreds of dollars per session, never mind what it will cost to travel and stay in the hotel for the week. By the time you’re done you’ve spent well over a thousand dollars. Who can afford that?

There has to be a better way. You know what? There is.

It’s called the Summer Writing Intensive and it’s taught by two successful authors, Jon F Merz and Joe Nassise, who have sold more than thirty books between them in the last eight years to publishers such as Simon & Schuster, Harlequin/Gold Eagle, Kensington, St. Martin’s Press, HarperCollins and Tor.

You want to be confident the next time you submit your work. You want that submission to generate interest; for that editor or agent to sit up and take notice. Ideally, that interest will turn into an offer of publication and eventually, later on down the road, you’ll be the one walking into that bookstore looking for that first sight of your new book on the shelves, waiting for a legion of crazed readers to buy it.

The Summer Writing Intensive can help get you there. Best of all, you can do it from your own home at a fraction of the cost of other writing retreats.

The workshop consists of eight live webinars; each focusing on a key element of the writing craft that you need to know in order for your manuscript stand out from the rest and to make your career what you want it to be.

Each webinar session will be an hour long and will include handouts and real-world examples to illustrate the point of each lesson. As a participant you’ll be able to ask questions and interact during all of the sessions, allowing you the opportunity to learn from your fellow participants as well as from the instructors. Transcripts of each session will be available after the workshop for you to refer back to at a later date, so you’ll always have the material on hand when you need it.

Here’s a quick look at the sessions and what you’ll be focusing on in each one:

Story Structure: Crafting a Plot that Begs the Reader to Keep Reading

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• How proper structure is necessary for a story to work
• Why conflict is the key to any story, regardless of genre
• The three pillars of plot that support your story
• The best ways to build complications that make sense and increase the conflict

Living, Breathing Characters: Make Your Heroes and Villains Come Alive

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• Techniques to design and execute character arcs in your stories
• How to give your heroes larger-than-life qualities
• The proper use of backstory and how to provide context to your characters’ actions
• How to create villains that your readers love to hate

Pacing: Getting to the Climax is Just as Important as Having a Good One

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• How to craft an effective hook to open your story
• The importance of adding tension to every page
• Why so many books sag in the middle – and what you can do to prevent it from happening to yours
• Five ways to craft a knock-out ending

Action Scenes: It’s a Gun Fight not a Ballet

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• The basics of a fight: emotion, adrenaline, and tactics
• Armed and unarmed fighting for writers
• Structuring your fight scene so it leaves the reader breathless
• Does it make sense? Understanding anatomy and how the body responds to being punched, pulled and crushed

Revision: Sharpen that Knife, Baby!

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• How proper structure can keep your revision work to a minimum
• Specific techniques to organize your revision work so that you don’t waste unnecessary time
• How to know what to revise and what to leave alone
• Ways to polish the good stuff to make it great

Proposals: In Order to Sell, it has to Sing

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• The three key elements of a great proposal
• How to write a synopsis that grabs them by the throat and won’t let go
• How to write a query letter an agent or editor will actually read – then act upon!
• Ways to craft a proposal package that will have your editor or agent wanting more

Social Media Marketing: Using Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to Build Your Career and Promote Your Work

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• What’s behind the Facebook craze and why it’s important to you
• The difference between a solid Twitter presence and a poor one
• How using LinkedIn can enhance your career and provide opportunities you might have otherwise missed
• How to measure and monitor your social media impact

Digital Editions: Stop Leaving Money on the Table

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• What you need to know before putting digital editions of your work up for sale
• Tips and tricks to properly format your book for sale on the Kindle
• How to get format and upload your book for sale on the iPad
• Ways to promote and publicize your digital editions to make the most of your offerings

The techniques Joe and Jon will be teaching in the workshop have helped them write and sell successful novels in a variety of genres – here’s just a sample of what they’ve published recently:

Better yet, the workshop has been designed with the would-be author’s pocketbook in mind. You get:

• Eight sessions focused on improving your craft
• Handouts and real-world examples to help you put the techniques into action
• A written transcript of each session
• Feedback and advice from two bestselling writers

All for just $125.00

The workshop begins July 21^st and runs through Sept 8^th, meeting each Wednesday night. Sessions start at 9:00 pm EST and run for an hour. (If you have to miss a session, the workshop transcript and materials can be sent to you following the session.)

If you’re thinking about submitting your work in the next few months, you don’t want to miss the Summer Writing Intensive. We’re limited to 100 slots, so get your registration in early!

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4 for FRIDAY

Four tales – 20,000 words of pure adrenalized mayhem – available only for an extremely short time: FRIDAY for the incredibly amazing price of just $2.50

Available in any ebook format (pdf, epub, mobi, ltf) 4 for FRIDAY ships right away, as soon as you order it!

Contents:

Barlow’s Game – On the streets of monster town, one veteran agent tracks an elusive killer and finds much more than he bargained for…
Roadside Memorials – What we do for the living, isn’t always right for the dead…
A Peaceable Mind – What happens when a simple assassination turns out to be anything but?
Siren Call – Sometimes it is best not to disturb that which lies dreaming in the dark…

PLUS, exclusive introductions to the stories direct from the authors themselves.

Don’t wait! Get 4 for FRIDAY right now by choosing your file format and then clicking the Buy Now button below. There are no plans to offer this ebook for sale anywhere else except direct from the authors.

File Format

PDF MOBI (Kindle) EPUB LRF (Sony)

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I was feeling that way yesterday. Not that anything dramatically traumatic happened (thankfully) but one of my goals is taking far longer to achieve than I ever thought it would. The constant driving forward, the endless amount of patience I’ve got to supply when things aren’t getting accomplished, the encouragement I need to keep broadcasting to keep morale high, and the repeated disappointments that keep adding up, finally bore down on me to the point where I was frankly pissed off with the state of things.

I’ve never been one to indulge in the whole self-pity thing. When disappointments mount, I’ll generally allow myself a few hours (max) of acknowledging how bummed I am, and then it’s right back into the fight. I happen to think that’s a healthy way to handle it. Too much moping about can thoroughly derail the train you’re attempting to careen down the tracks toward that goal.

Yesterday, however, was one of those times when I needed a bit more than a few simple hours of bumming about.

What I needed was a more immediate reminder of what the spirit is capable of doing when pressed into service. After all, it’s easy to lose sight of the potential of personal power when it’s being directed at a goal that is taking quite a long time to achieve. So, I decided to remind myself of the infinite power we all have, if only we’re willing to tap into it.

Late last night, I strapped on my rucksack, filled it with some weight plates, packed a few water bottles and then drove over to the high school track. Fortunately, the place was deserted (which is the best way to do this type of thing – having people around only distracts you from the goal of reminding yourself that the real competition in life comes from within, from the constant inner temptation that would otherwise distract your focus) and I slid the ruck on and decided that the goal was to pound out five miles without stopping. It was late; it was hot, humid and buggy. Rain was moving in. But I was there to remind myself that I could keep going for the long ball – that persistently elusive goal that has thus far defied my efforts to reach it.

The length of the track is roughly a quarter mile, which meant I needed to go around twenty times. The first four laps were fairly easy but the pain soon set in and I was amazed to see all the usual suspects bubbling up as my inner self tried to get me to stop running. It’s too hot, your knee aches, there’s a TV show on, you could be writing that next chapter, why don’t you just slow down and walk?, the bugs are coming now, is that rain?

The process made me smile because I’ve been there so many times before. And each time in the past, I’ve done exactly the same thing: head down and press on. Which is what I did last night. Twenty laps. About ninety minutes worth of exertion. It wasn’t fast; that wasn’t the point. While it was a good workout with the weighted rucksack on, last night’s exercise was for my spirit. It was to remind myself that I do have the necessary power to make that elusive goal a reality; that I do have the power to bring something into being where it has not existed before. It was to remind myself that the excuses that others might make to let themselves out of the fight are not ones I will ever yield to. Despite the pain, the exhaustion, the desires to quit and rest and take it easy, to follow that simpler way of life, to settle for good enough instead of aspiring toward excellence – despite all the distractions, it was simply a matter of finishing what I started and not settling for “almost.”

The point of this post isn’t to appear self-congratulatory. It’s to show that despite the years I’ve invested in studying martial arts, in trying to better myself, and despite whatever levels I’ve already achieved, there is always more work to be done. There are always new challenges to face.

And yeah, I get bummed out, too.

It’s what you do when your spirit ebbs that counts the most. Life is easy when things are going well. But when life sucks, that’s when you learn the most about yourself.

I relearned that lesson last night.

Upon finishing the run, I walked back into the parking lot that was now filled with local teens who had decided to park next to my car, have a few butts, and generally parade themselves around the opposite sex. One particular muscular dude puffed on a cigarette and stood directly in my path as I approached my car. Perhaps he saw the refocused look of intensity in my eyes; perhaps he simply saw a “crazy old man,” but whatever the reason, he quickly stepped aside and let me pass – almost a living metaphor. At the car, I fished out the water and sat there drinking it all in – everything about the experience I’d just gone through and what it had to teach and what more I had yet to learn.

According to my handy pedometer on my iPhone, it had taken my 11,000 steps to relearn an important lesson. My right knee throbbed and I was soaked with sweat. I’d say I paid a bargain price for something pretty damned valuable.

As I sat there drinking some water, I checked my email and found that I had received the first blurb for THE KENSEI and it was a mighty awesome one.

And suddenly, in the afterglow of being tested in the crucible of self-doubt, life didn’t suck so much anymore.

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Ninjutsu, the martial art I study, attracts more than its share of nut jobs. In fairness, all martial arts styles have their percentage of whackos – god knows I’ve met plenty – but there’s something about the whole “ninja” thing that sends people into loopy Obi Wan Kenobi behavior without even having the ability to throw a proper punch. People have this idea that they can achieve some sort of supernatural ability to deal with attackers with a flick of the finger and a wink of the eye.

It.

Don’t.

Work.

That.

Way. (and yes, I’m using bad grammar for effect, dammit)

People often embark on the path of a warrior without fully comprehending what it means. It’s a novelty. Something cool. “Hey man, check me out…I’m a warrior now.” They have this notion with the right look (camo gi, tabi, face mask) or by chucking shuriken on a Youtube video they can simply start referring to themselves as a “ninja warrior.”** They go looking for something that’s not there; some sort of shortcut to martial invulnerability and this attitude of invincibility. When they don’t find it, they tend to short-circuit and immediately search for an excuse or someone else to blame for their inability to stay the course. Because they’ve found what actually IS on the path of a warrior: endless challenges and obstacles. And worse: they lack the ability to persevere in the face of those challenges.

A lot of folks equate being a warrior with being an amazing fighter. In reality, the path of a warrior is something you choose knowing full well that the only thing before you is an infinite amount of hard work, frustration, challenges, and temptations to stray from the path. Along the way, you might learn how to be a good fighter, but that’s not the essence of warriorship. I know plenty of good fighters; I know very few true warriors.

The few I am fortunate enough to know all share one thing in common: an inner drive of such power that any obstacle set before them simply stands no chance. They will either go through it, around it, seduce it, cajole it, or otherwise overcome it on their way to achieving whatever goal they have in mind.

There’s more…

Along with that incredible drive comes an acute and honest realization that challenge isn’t something that happens once or twice and then the gates of some proverbial heaven open before them; challenge happens for as long as they remain on the path of a warrior. There’s no end.

EVER.

I’ve often remarked that there’s a definite sense of masochism that goes along with some of the more intense training in the dojo I’m lucky enough to study at. It’s a sort-of running joke with my training partners, but there’s truth there as well. You’ve got to love the pain; you’ve got to love the struggle; you’ve got to love the nights when nothing makes sense; you’ve got to love the frustration and uncertainty of the training – of walking the path. This is what it means to be alive – truly alive – forever testing yourself against all challenges and insecurities. Without that spirit of contest, without that spike of adrenaline when things don’t go right, without that attitude of “WTF happens now?” there’s no sense of knowing the greatness that comes from persevering in the face of bad times.

Warriors understand this.

They actualize a concept known as “fudoshin,” – “immovable spirit.” While a literal translation might lead one to assume that fudoshin could be likened to simply being stubborn, it’s anything but. Fudoshin, in essence, is what defines a warrior: that drive, that willingness to accept the challenges on the path as the price of living a life filled with the potential of higher personal evolution and an understanding of our own place and role within the scheme of the universe.

There are no shortcuts. There are no excuses.

There’s only one easy way out: stop walking the path.

Of course, the ones who stop walking the path always have excuses ready. And the common denominator in all these excuses is that they’re externally-focused. “Things have changed.” “It’s not the way it used to be.” “I’m too busy.” True warriors are always looking to improve themselves so they spend more and more time taking care of their own failings and faults instead of looking for someone else to blame their shortcomings on. Warriors know that the ability to persevere and stay on the path comes from ridding themselves of the personal junk and clutter that affects us all. They internalize and work to vanquish their own demons through brutally honest self-assessment rather than spend their time only looking outside themselves.

It’s not easy. But then, no one said it would be.

That’s the path warriors choose to walk. Personally, I wouldn’t want it any other way.

** Which, of course, will cause some people to say, “Yeah, but Jon, on your website and elsewhere, you refer to yourself as a Ninja. Aren’t you just being hypocritical?” The answer is no: I use the term “ninja” to help market my personal brand and separate myself from the pack of other authors and producers since very few – if any – of them have spent the last two decades studying ninjutsu with acknowledged senior teachers in the art. I don’t purport to be an expert on ninjutsu; I don’t have a DVD series; I don’t even have a training group or corny Youtube videos filled with bad techno music (although I do have a few videos showing me doing some techniques). And I certainly don’t imagine myself creeping about the dark with a sword across my back. What I do have is fudoshin – and I happen to train and study my ass off, working to apply the principles of ninjutsu outside of the dojo to better my life, my family’s, and the lives of those less fortunate than myself – so I’m perfectly fine with the idea of using the term “ninja” as it relates to the actual definition of the term rather than the stereotypical silliness others would prefer to lazily employ. ‘Nuff said.

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