In the last few years, the number one question I received was when the next volume of Boxing for Self-Defense would come out. I responded to all the private messages and on social media as well every now and then. This last week, three different people asked me so I figured I’ll just make a public statement that I can refer to from now on. I’ll also give you all a sneak peek of the content.
I’ll write more below, but here is one of the first pages of what is tentatively titled Boxing for Self-Defense, Volume 2: Dirty Boxing: Defend Yourself with Illegal Blows and Banned Techniques.
An apology…
I published Boxing for Self-Defense late November 2019 and promised the next volumes soon after. It was my goal to deliver on that promise, but then the pandemic happened, and everything changed.
I am self-employed and was suddenly not allowed to work for months on end due to lockdowns and other governmental measures. My income crashed to a fraction of what it used to be. I still had some royalties from my books, videos and Patreon but, despite what many people think, those things do not make for a living wage.
I burned through my savings and was faced with looming bankruptcy, so instead of “Netflix and chill”, I got to work. I created another Patreon account, MMA Formula, made a membership site Online Tai Chi Chuan, and another instructional video Resistance Band Full-Body Home Workout.
At the same time, I started offering Zoom training sessions and fortunately had a few clients who switched to those.
All of the above was (and still is) very time-consuming. Especially making over a dozen videos every month takes lots of work and eats up time. But it allowed me to barely survive the worst two financial years of my professional life. It also left very little time for writing. Not for my blog, and unfortunately working on books had to take a back seat to putting food on the table.
After the pandemic subsided, I had lost some clients, but most of them returned. The work on these other projects continues as I still make videos for them every month. Because the need to diversify my income became abundantly clear after my government made it impossible for me to work as a personal trainer. It is January 2024 as I write this and life has stabilized more or less. This allows me to free up some writing time again. The result is this book and the ones that will follow.
Many of you who read Boxing for Self-Defense contacted me to know when the next volumes would come out. I gave you the same explanation as above but felt it only fair to give it to all readers as well. I don’t know what the future has in store for me, but for the first time in years, I’m able to write consistently again.
I apologize for the delay in getting this book published and, unless catastrophe strikes again, the following volumes should arrive soon.
Thank you for understanding.
So what does that mean concretely?
I write when I can. My schedule has always been crazy and that hasn’t changed. But I now am able again to free up some time on a more regular basis than in the last few years. Depending on what’s going on, that can be several times a week, for up to two to three hours on end. I need such a block of time to get the writing juices flowing enough to end up with text that is good enough to keep in the book.
I wish I were a different kind of writer, one who has plenty of time to sit in front of the keyboard while also having creativity and wordsmithing skills at the fingertips at any point of the day.
That just isn’t me. I need time to warm up my writing and then get new words out.
But that doesn’t mean it’ll take another four years to finish this puppy.
Another sneak peek.
On the left you can see the chapters as they are right now. I don’t expect many changes there.
On the right, the total word count and the result of one writing session. My goal is to come as close as I can to 1.000 words each time. Sometimes I go over; today I didn’t make it because the segment was done and starting a new one needed too much time (it’s almost 11PM as I write this.)
To give you some more context:
Boxing for Self-Defense 1 has a bit over 34.000 words. I am closing in on 9.000 words for the second volume and still have a long way to go. At this pace, it will be a much bigger book and have substantially more pictures too.
Now I’m not going to pull a 3D Realms and say the book comes out when it’s done, but I still have a fair amount of work to do. After several false starts, I’ve managed to write more consistently since January than in the last four years. So I want to thank all of you who asked for your enthusiasm. Without readers, there is no point in writing such a book and I appreciate all of you.
Please bear with me as I keep grinding away at the manuscript.
If you want to know the exact moment it comes out, you can sign up for my notification list here. Make sure to confirm your address on the first mail you receive.
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