Found Voices Season 2 # 5: Carolyn Talks With Jeff Joslin

Carolyn Ziel talks with inspiring writer Jeff Joslin.

Jeff Joslin is driven to make a difference in his life and in others' lives. He does this by how he shows up in the world and through his words.

Inspiration doesn’t just float into our lives on a breeze, at least not every day, but if you’re looking to start 2026 feeling inspired to create something, to write, and to follow your heart, then I think you’ll really enjoy this episode of Found Voices.

Jeff Joslin is a martial artist in the truest sense of the term. Born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, he grew up engulfed in the martial arts. His father, Rick, a three-time Canadian karate champion, opened up the family martial arts academy back in 1967. Since age five, Jeff has dedicated his life to martial arts. Now he's turning that discipline and drive to his life as a writer.

Transcript

Welcome to Found Voices,

Season 2,

Episode 5.

I'm talking today to Jeff Joslin.

Jeff Joslin is a martial artist in the truest sense of the term.

Born and raised in Hamilton,

Ontario,

Canada,

He grew up engulfed in the martial arts.

His father,

Rick,

A three-time Canadian karate champion,

Opened up the Family Martial Arts Academy back in 1967.

Since age five,

Jeff has dedicated his life to martial arts.

A black belt in both karate,

Sixth degree,

And Brazilian jiu-jitsu,

Fifth degree,

He's competed at elite levels and has accomplished many things.

He's won over 200 first place titles in striking,

Brazilian jiu-jitsu,

And submission wrestling competition spanning two decades.

Canadian Black Belt Hall of Fame member inducted in 2022,

He's the first Canadian in history to win a major international Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament,

Pan American BJJ Championship in 2002.

IBJJF Masters World Championship,

Black belt bronze medalist in 2016.

He fought in the UFC,

TKO,

Hardcore fighting championships,

And many other shows.

Outside of teaching and training in martial arts,

He loves spending time with his wife and two children.

New to writing,

He studies the art with the same passion and student mindset he has as a fighter and looks forward to sharing many stories with readers in the future.

I really had such a great talk with Jeff.

He's an amazing individual and I think you'll really love it,

Our conversation.

I hope you do as much as I love speaking with Jeff.

So thanks so much for listening.

So thanks for joining me.

I'm really excited.

I love your background and your story and which I think is unique.

So I normally ask people who come on the podcast,

Have you always written?

I don't know if that's true for you or not.

We'll figure that out once we get,

We get,

Save it for live.

This is live,

We're live.

That was it.

Oh,

This is it?

Okay,

You got me.

No heads up.

Okay,

I see.

So have I always written?

So I guess,

I don't know.

I've always done art,

Martial art.

I've always,

But I paint with reds and it's blood sometimes and it's my fist.

No,

But seriously,

I,

I do remember I was in a poetry book in elementary school.

They picked two of us from my school to,

To be in a book and I don't have it.

I wish I could find it,

But I did get chosen to be in the Citywide Book for Poetry.

That's amazing.

Maybe it's in your library.

I don't know where it is.

It's,

It's,

It's,

It's a really old,

I don't,

I know I have an image somewhere of it,

But it's something I'm sure my mom helped me with at the,

At the time.

She's pretty good at,

She always likes writing poems and stuff.

So maybe it's in the blood somewhere,

But I got onto a different track with martial arts and sports and came back to it much later.

I always say you,

You,

You won awards for it,

But that's,

That's movie talk.

You were a championship,

Right?

Yeah,

I've been able to do some cool things along the way for sure.

Tell me,

Tell us.

So my martial arts journey started,

I was,

I grew up,

My father was a three-time Canadian karate champion.

He was a kickboxer,

Very intense guy.

They said he was the toughest guy in my city.

So everybody,

You know,

Wanted to know him and some pretended to know him and he was,

He was pretty famous in our area.

So growing up with him,

I just thought that was a normal thing that all kids got to do a hundred push-ups and a hundred sit-ups when they got in trouble.

Until I got to elementary school and asked my friends and they didn't do the same thing.

So I knew I had a unique life at that point.

And so I started training when I was like five to about 10 years old and I didn't really want to do it.

I kind of did it because my dad forced me to.

And then I got in a fight in high school and I thought I better start doing something here.

So I never missed a class after that.

That was at age 16,

I got serious and then climbed through the ranks.

I did a lot of international karate tournaments and then I got into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu,

Won some big things in that.

And then I got into mixed martial arts,

Which is cage fighting,

Ultimate fighting and achieved my goal of making it to the fight with the best guys in the world and the UFC,

The ultimate fighting championship.

And then everything was great in terms of my career.

Family life was,

You know,

Struggling,

Obviously.

That's what the memoir is about that I'm writing.

And I got an injury and everything,

I lost everything in one moment.

And I had to face reality and face my,

The fact that I could never fight again.

And then I realized I was lacking in many other departments in life.

So I,

You know,

Worked hard to fix that.

And that's what the memoir is about.

You are definitely one of those individuals who,

When faced with a challenge,

A setback,

You just keep moving forward and overcome it.

And I'm very excited for this memoir.

Where are you in the memoir?

You're,

You've finished it.

Yes.

So since I think because I was,

I was learning skills while I was writing it.

So I ended up probably doing 14 drafts of the thing because I,

As I got to the end of the book,

I was a better writer,

I hope.

And I went back and tweaked it again and again and again.

So now it's at 60,

I trimmed it down to 66,

000 words.

And I think it's pretty close to being its end form.

I guess it never ends if you keep going with it,

But I'm happy with it.

I think you're not the only one who does that many drafts.

And sometimes when we get to the end of the book,

We're sort of more in our groove so that we have to go back to the beginning and step it up a bit.

That's my experience anyway,

At least.

So I get it.

The way you write and practice is sort of the way you train.

And I'm curious how you came to writing because you did have this huge pivot in your life.

So when did the writing come in?

So a few years ago,

Probably five years ago,

I was asked to do a TEDx talk.

And one of my students actually sent me an email and said,

You should try out for this thing.

Try to get your stories pretty interesting.

And I was like,

Nah,

This scares me.

You know,

I could fight in a cage,

But getting in front of a crowd and talking was pretty scary.

You're safe in a cage from the audience anyway.

And they kept sending me emails over and over again.

I said,

OK,

I'll send it in.

So I sent in my application video and I got chosen to be one of the 10 speakers at the TEDx event in my city.

So I did that talk and they actually put me together with a speaking coach who was a fantastic guy named Emmanuel.

He taught me how to get rid of my ums and ahs and all that type of stuff.

And I realized,

Wow,

This is pretty technical stuff.

It's a lot like martial arts.

So then at the end of my when I shared my story with him and when I did my speech,

He said,

You should write a book about this.

And I was like,

I don't think I could write a book.

I failed English twice in high school.

I had no interest.

I never read any book they ever gave me and I struggled.

So but it stuck with me that little,

You know,

That little line,

That little suggestion stuck with me for for a while.

And during COVID,

I just sat down and I just typed my whole story and I typed the whole thing out from beginning to end.

It was 77000 words.

I'm a bit of an addictive person and a personality.

So I did it all in 30 days.

Oh,

Wow.

Yeah.

Then when I read it and I started learning,

Like I started watching YouTube videos and seeing that,

Wow,

There's actually there's a skill to this.

Like you have to do this and you can't do that.

And you can't.

And then I started reading my thing.

I mean,

It's boring.

And then I started falling down the rabbit hole,

Studying YouTube videos and master classes.

And then I came across Jack's video,

Which was talking about him not having an outline,

Which I was I found that really that style really interesting.

The pants are style of just running by the seat of pants.

Is that what they call it?

I think.

And then I followed I found his whole video and I watched his whole video,

The three and a half hour one twice in a row.

And then I'm like,

I have to find this guy.

And I'm sure it's story many of us in his classes have.

And so I found him and he was doing a class probably two weeks later and I got it.

It's amazing.

It's funny because so I I was lucky enough to have you in my class,

You know,

For a few sessions.

And I think that you look at writing the same way that you look at wrestling and athletics.

And a lot of times,

Jack uses those,

You know,

Sports terminologies.

And you said the thing,

People think,

Well,

I've been writing my whole life,

Whether you flunked English or not,

We still write our whole lives.

And then we come to find out,

Huh,

There's something more to this.

I love how you come at things.

And you just dive in.

It's kind of like your superpower.

You must seem to like grab on to something that you dig,

You like you're you're passionate about.

And then you just dive in.

So it's been like five years.

And you've been in method writing now or less?

No,

I've been in method writing for about one year.

So I started last last October with with Jack,

But I,

I put that I put that 77,

000 words away for a while.

And then I started studying on my own,

And learning stuff.

And then when I found Jack,

And the fact that he mentioned boxing in the video and the audio thing in the video,

And he talks about boxing,

He talks about boxing,

And it's so related.

And I was like,

And honestly,

I've been around martial arts world for a long time.

And I know,

A coach and I know when they exude something special,

And I know the talent.

And when watching Jack's videos,

And then getting in his classes,

I knew instantly that that was in the right place.

So it was I just knew it's a gut feeling.

And honestly,

I believe in the universe people put things get put in your way at the right time.

It's happened to me so many times in my life.

And I think that Jack coming into my life is it was an important part and it was meant to happen.

And that's why I go full force to take advantage of it best I can.

Yeah,

Because you don't only do that you take his classes.

I mean,

A lot of people take his classes and they're so busy and the night before they do the assignment.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

That's,

You know,

We're all in different places.

It seems you've shared though,

You'll literally read an author and then copy what they've written into a journal hand.

Do you do that handwritten?

Right?

I do typing before I start typing my stuff.

So how does that help you?

I don't know.

I think it's I hope it's helping.

I think it's subconscious.

I don't know.

I just trust in the process.

I trust in the practice.

I realized this is what makes it so exciting for me is nobody can become good at writing unless you put in the same work if you put in the work and that's how martial arts is.

You can't fake it.

You can't say I'm good.

I'm tough.

You got to do all through the grind that every other person at a high level went through.

And I like sucking at something at first and then not sucking at it so much and then getting better and better and better.

And then,

You know,

And I think this is such a cool thing because obviously my physical limits as I get older are going to change in jujitsu and martial arts and boxing and kickboxing.

But I don't think in writing I think I can,

You know,

Continue to go and keep developing and hopefully one day I can help share my knowledge with other people as well.

That would be really exciting and down the road.

I could see that.

Well,

I mean,

That's why I was shocked for a year that you've been in it,

You know,

Writing full out because I've heard your writing.

It's phenomenal.

Whenever I feel kind of stuck or I'm reading an author that I can't get into the juice of that author,

I do that.

But I do it handwriting.

Maybe copy the first page.

Maybe if I typed,

I'd do it more.

I feel like it gets into my body somehow and then I can get it on the page.

Is it like that for you?

I think so.

I think it just,

I,

So the same thing,

I always go back to fighting.

You do something,

You do something and it just slips in your subconscious.

And I think that I would imagine the same thing happens with writing.

You're doing something,

You're copying.

So every day I do a page from a book.

I do one page only,

Type it out of an author and I'll stick with an author for,

I do 8,

000 words with each author.

So I don't know,

I just made that number up,

30 pages pretty much.

And I do,

Then I go to another author.

So I don't do their whole books.

I just do 8,

000 words and I get another author and then another one.

And I get suggestions from Jack and yourself and different people.

You told me about Cormac McCarthy,

I believe.

And I did that,

Him for 8,

000 words and it was awesome.

So different styles.

And I feel like subconsciously I'm absorbing those and maybe I'm using some of the tricks and I feel like it's,

It's a good warmup too.

So once I go write my story,

Then I'm kind of warmed up.

Yeah.

And do you find when you do that,

It affects your work?

Like,

You know,

The style of your work or a certain voice you're trying to,

I don't want to say perfect,

But hone in on?

Well,

I think so,

But I tend to constantly get pulled back to my voice.

I think I,

As hard as I try,

I get pulled back into what I'm doing in terms of how I want to come across on the page.

I do think,

So when I'm not writing or doing jazz classes,

I'm listening to audio books throughout the entire day.

So every single writing book I hear is good.

I listen to it once or twice.

I don't just listen to a book once.

I feel the first time you,

You hear some things.

And then the second time you hear different things and then third time and the fourth time.

So I'll listen to these books three,

Four,

Five times while I'm driving to work and throughout the whole day.

And I'll read books when I can and just keep studying the,

The art of writing.

Cause I feel like Jack teaches one side where it's,

You know,

It's,

It's all those skills and the techniques.

And then there's sometimes there's a book on editing or a different aspects or storytelling that go well together.

So I'm hoping that's helping me become a better writer.

And I feel like it is.

I'm sure it is.

I like to say,

You know,

Because I obviously teach method writing and people say,

Well,

What do you teach?

And I talk about boxing,

Not that I'm a boxer,

But I did used to train with a boxer at this gym and it was really fun.

Just kind of empowering,

You know,

Hitting the whatever.

For sure.

I know,

I know,

I know potential.

You've got it.

You've got it.

So,

But I do know that,

You know,

It comes from your feet,

The punch,

It doesn't come from your hands.

It's the whole body.

And so I like to say,

I teach the footwork of writing.

And I think that's what Jack does.

He teaches basics so that no matter what you write will be good because that's the point.

And then of course,

I think that's what makes a good writer is someone who is open to learning just to continue to learn.

And I love that you're reading so much because it's really important to be readers when you're a writer.

So it's so good that you're reading a lot.

What book are you reading now?

To be honest,

I have a hard time.

I don't know why I have a hard time with fiction,

But I can read instructional improvements.

Those books hook me.

Fiction,

I don't know.

I don't know if it's my mind,

But I can get in there and write a story and picture it and figure it out in terms of what I'm writing and creating.

I think I like the creation process that way.

So I'm reading mostly a lot of learning books in terms of learning,

Writing and skills like that.

But in terms of fiction,

I do,

I honestly have a little bit of a struggle and I know it will help me tremendously.

And I'm going to try to read more,

But I just,

I don't know if it's the way my brain works.

It's a little tough and always,

I've always been that way.

Like I can listen to martial arts,

Watch martial arts videos that's going to improve my skills,

But I have a hard time watching fights.

I don't even watch a lot of the fights.

It's just,

I don't know,

Just the way my brain works.

Maybe it's just the shift in,

Maybe it's just a shift in how you look at it.

It is fiction,

But it will also,

And it will also,

So you're not reading it maybe for the story.

You're just reading it to see what that author does.

And then you get to go,

Huh,

Look at the tools this author uses.

Yes.

I feel like that's how your brain would eat it up.

Yeah,

No,

That's for sure.

I have to approach it a little differently.

I will,

I will get on that.

Life gets so busy too.

I hear so many different ways.

Doesn't it?

Especially this,

This time of year.

I know.

Choices,

Choices.

In Jack's classes,

He,

He,

He talks about how he's teaching the basics of writing.

He's teaching tonal dynamics,

But inevitably though,

What happens is we tend to fall into,

Or we can't help but find our voice,

Right?

Like each of us has a distinct voice on the page.

And so the podcast being called Found Voices,

I have this theory that when you find your voice on the page,

Something shifts in the person and thus in their lives.

And you're a teacher,

Right?

You teach martial arts.

And I'm curious,

How has in this last year or so coming into your own,

Finishing a book,

Your story and finding your voice,

Has it,

I mean,

And maybe you'll be the first person to say,

Yeah,

No,

I'm the same.

I don't know.

But has it affected your life?

Your,

Your,

How you approach work,

How you approach your life?

A hundred percent.

I think you're spot on.

I think first of all,

Just writing is maybe a more honest person.

You know,

It makes me aware of everything I put out in the world and how I treat people and going through my memoir and writing my memoir has taught me a lot about my mistakes and my weaknesses and my father's weaknesses and our family and our dynamic and that nobody's perfect.

And it's helped me appreciate all the moments I have with my students and all the youngest ones,

The four-year-olds I teach all the way up to the adults and every day coming in and training.

And I'm just,

It's taught me that I don't,

It's just reiterated that I don't need more to be happy.

I just need to enjoy my skill building and my family and my business and my,

I don't have to push to be a rich man or anything like that.

I just want to enjoy my life,

Share some good stories,

Maybe entertain some people.

That's,

That's really the thing I want to do.

I hope to write many fiction books so that people,

When they see me,

They might say,

I read your book and it made me so happy or it changed my life this way in a small way.

And that's just kind of my new goal is to be able to entertain people just like I did in the cage with fighting and punching and kicking and all that rough stuff.

But now we can do it hopefully with words.

Yeah.

Every line is a different,

If it's like one is a jab,

One is a cross,

You know,

One is an uppercut.

Okay.

Now I have,

But it's just as difficult.

You know,

It's just as difficult.

Any fighter watching this is writing is just as difficult as fighting and any writer.

You could be a fighter.

If you're a good writer,

You could be a fighter because you have the discipline.

You can,

You can take the ups and downs.

You can,

You know,

You criticize your own writing and you're trying to improve it all the time.

That's what fighting is all about.

I'm not an aggressive person.

I'm not a mean person.

I,

But I can get in the cage and fight any man on the planet when I was in top shape,

Just because I have the skills,

Just like Jack gives us the skills in writing and we can pick up skills by studying.

So it's,

It's the same thing.

And that's what has hooked me on this art more than anything else.

It,

You know,

It's so true.

Oftentimes I'll go to the beach and I'll take a walk and I'll look at the surfers or I'll see the sailboats out there on a really rough day.

I mean,

Any sport I can turn into a metaphor for writing because especially like surfers are fascinating.

Have you surfed or ever?

I haven't.

Not surfing up where you are,

Right?

No,

Nothing.

No,

Exactly.

I don't even,

I have to be very careful.

My brain works weird.

If I pick something,

I might just boom,

Go off on that for another four years.

So,

You know,

I'm trying,

I'm sticking to writing.

I stick to martial arts.

I have to be very careful with this laser.

Well,

If you,

If you ever watch the surfers,

You know,

They get out there and first they kind of,

They paddle out and then they have to wait and wait and wait like for the set or for the right wave or for the right angle.

And,

And to me,

I equate it with writing.

Once you put your work out there,

It's not really your work anymore.

They're going to say anything about it.

It's just words on the page,

But it's more than that.

And when we're able to kind of separate it like you're doing and say,

Listen,

I'm still learning.

You know,

We get a lot of rejections when we start to send our novels out.

I think it's important that you have a student mindset.

You never,

Once you think you know it all you do.

And that's,

That's,

You know,

That's it.

That's where you're going to be stuck.

If you think you know it all and something,

Any art,

That's where you're going to freeze is because you think you do.

But if you have a student mindset and always trying to improve and develop,

Like who knows how far you can go and how many people you can influence in a good way.

That's what's so special about you.

I think you're one of those students that teachers love to teach because you,

You just want to take it all in.

And what you do is probably even more than you realize,

Because when you said,

Well,

It's still my voice on the page,

It is,

But we as writers,

Our voice,

Sometimes not all writers.

I think though we,

We often,

When we're continuing to learn,

We mature,

We grow.

Maybe each book gets better.

Who knows?

We assimilate,

You know,

With all the practice that you do,

You'd be surprised what you take in.

And when you start to read more authors,

You start to look at what they do and try to write like them.

It becomes a really interesting process.

Yeah,

I think,

I think,

Yeah,

Definitely you're,

You're,

You're right about that.

I think my thing is just,

I just try to get in the process,

Keep listening to the books and keep reading the books and keep studying,

Start typing those pages and then writing my stuff and just trust that this,

It'll come,

You know,

With time.

And then the lessons and the questions,

I'll ask a lot of questions.

If you want to,

I ask a million questions if I'm a student and as a martial arts instructor,

I don't,

I'm teaching all the time now.

So if I see a student that asks some questions,

I'm like,

Oh,

This could be,

This could be a very talented student here.

So,

You know,

I try to give them the,

The answers to those questions.

So it's,

It's kind of cool for me now in writing,

I can ask as many questions I want to Jack and my coaches.

And if I do have a question that,

That a book,

You know,

Then I get the book and then they'll answer for me as well too.

So it's,

Being inquisitive is an important thing,

I think.

I think you're right.

And as a writer,

You have to use your curiosity.

Yes,

As a writer,

Both.

And I think any art,

Any art,

Yeah,

Definitely writing for sure,

Everything.

I love how short and sweet we've been.

It's like a little holiday edition.

What do you do for the holidays,

By the way?

Just write,

You know,

Hang out and write some more.

No,

I,

I,

I get some time off.

Do you ever see your wife?

Yeah,

I do.

I do.

I do.

She's a,

She understands my obsessiveness and she,

She,

She gets me,

But it took a while,

Right?

It's your superpower.

She's patient.

Yeah,

I try,

But it's,

Sometimes I got to try to turn it off,

But it's,

It's difficult.

So,

So I get two weeks off.

It's my only time of year I get two weeks off of teaching classes.

So I get to relax and hang around the family and,

And do,

You know,

Do some normal things at nighttime instead of teaching and stuff.

And then by the time those two weeks are gone,

I'm ready to get back in there and get my training going and teaching everybody and miss everybody.

And actually,

Quickly,

So,

Because one of my questions,

Like I said,

Was going to be,

You know,

You've written this memoir now,

Do you have more in you?

And did you ever doubt it?

When I finished my first novel,

I thought,

What if I'm,

You know,

Like an eighties rock band,

A one hit wonders.

Very soon I was writing something that,

You know,

I finished.

So how about you?

Did you think maybe that was it?

Or you knew?

I didn't,

I don't know.

I don't know,

But I believe in the martial arts road was a very rough one up and down for me,

But I always knew somewhere in my head that I would make it to the UFC and make it to the top of the fighting world.

It's just a matter of when and how it would happen.

It's not,

If it was never an,

If it can't be an,

If there cannot be an,

If,

And I don't think there can be an,

If in writing or if I get published or if I,

You just have to do the,

Keep working,

Keep working,

Keep working,

Keep working,

Keep working.

I'll work everybody or,

And it's not a competition,

But I'll work,

You know,

What you do,

The work that you need to do.

And I think it will happen.

Now,

Would that be the case?

I don't know.

I'm,

I'm in the road right now.

I'm in the,

In the fog and I'm trying to,

To,

To write well and get better.

And,

But I'm excited.

I just know if I get my best,

You know,

Good things happen.

So I will keep trying.

It's like that EL doctor quote,

Writing is like driving in the fog.

You can only see so far in front of you,

But you eventually get to your destination.

Yes.

Oh,

And it's lonely too.

Yeah.

Don't use your brights.

That's the key,

The when,

Because you don't know,

Maybe the memoir is not the first one.

Maybe your fiction one is,

Or maybe the memoir is the one,

Or it doesn't,

It doesn't matter how it happens.

It's just,

You just keep moving forward.

So I think that if,

If anybody's going to listen to this and say,

Wow,

And be inspired,

It's going to be that kind of great attitude that you have and how you look at everything.

Well,

You look at life through the eyes of a martial,

A martial artist.

It's definitely a lot less rough though,

Writing it on the black guys and I'm not so sore anymore,

But yeah,

It's,

It's,

It's just as tough.

Use less Epsom salts,

Right?

Exactly.

So you have something to read.

I was going to read from some of the fiction stuff I've been working on,

But I think I'm going to read chapter one of my memoir.

Getting punched in the face doesn't hurt much.

Trust me,

I'm an expert who's taken more hits than a California batting practice baseball.

Big hits,

Home run type hits,

Hits that dim the lights,

Buzz my brain,

And once made remembering my address difficult.

It might sound weird,

But I miss it.

Like an old friend who's moved away,

Doesn't call and never visits.

I miss the bloody noses,

Swollen eyes,

And the click on the side of my jaw that comes after eating an unseen uppercut.

I miss the look on people's faces when they see my speed,

My power,

And my work ethic.

Those moments made me happier than anything else in my life did.

Alive times 10.

But would I go back to the washboard abs,

The full head of hair,

And my real teeth,

The endless energy of youth,

And the daily admiration?

Not for a million dollars.

I spent a Saturday night in San Diego inside an airplane hangar fighting on television.

Shirtless,

Shoeless,

With tan skin and a fresh haircut.

I had gloves secured to my hands by red duct tape.

Leather gloves no thicker than a weekday newspaper.

Someone's attempt to make this game less brutal.

My olive green shorts had my nickname printed across the waistband,

The inferno.

Lights flashed.

Fresh air brushed my face.

People screamed.

The faint smell of jet fuel had faded.

A parked helicopter was nearby,

But I couldn't see it anymore.

My eyes were busy with the important stuff.

The chin,

Chest,

Neck,

Elbows,

And knuckles of a man trying to short-circuit my brain.

I landed punches,

Threw flashy moves,

And had fun.

Halfway through the match,

My opponent pinned me down.

Whispering distance,

And intimate like the time I spent with my wife,

So violent I'll never forget the details.

Unbreakable grips,

Everywhere sweat,

The crack of bone crashing into bone between booming slams on an unforgiving floor.

The forearm dinged my skull,

Then another,

And another.

No pain,

More like bumping my head on the door of my beat-up minivan.

Blood trickled down my face,

And it might have been sweat,

But the last 15 years had taught me the difference.

Stop,

The referee shouted.

Stand up.

I climbed to my feet,

Wiped my palms on my shorts,

And glanced at the video screen above.

60 seconds left.

My last chance to make the broken noses,

Tears,

Sacrifices,

And thousands of punches in the head mean something.

My brain buzzed.

My lungs were angry,

And the world was silent.

I tucked my chin,

Raised my fist,

Inhaled,

Then walked into the danger.

That was me at my physical best.

A specimen,

A warrior,

A guided missile locked onto a target.

Six feet tall,

184 pounds,

Shredded abs,

Lightning-fast arms,

And a heart that pounded like a perfectly tightened bass drum.

Thump,

Thump.

Thump,

Thump.

Thump,

Thump.

That day,

Two and a half million people watched me fight.

Finally,

I was somebody.

A man who would no longer live paycheck to paycheck,

Or dream of doing the impossible,

Or worry about working a boring job for the rest of my life.

On the cusp of greatness,

I was almost happy.

That's amazing.

Wow,

You are so good at fight scenes.

And I don't want to say obviously because not any fighter could write a fight scene.

I bet you found them more challenging than you thought to write.

Everything.

Harder to write than the actual experience happening,

Right?

For sure.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Your writing is just dead on.

And if someone,

You know,

Just happened to be listening to this and just like popped in in the middle of,

You know,

They walk into the room,

Someone's listening to this podcast,

And they pop in in the middle of your read,

They're going to want to buy the book.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It's really great.

You've been studying these tools,

And they really,

I mean,

You're evidence that they really make a difference in the world of a writer.

So how does it feel to read that aloud?

It's,

It's,

It's,

It's nerve wracking.

It's,

It feels good to put something that wasn't in the world,

Put it in the world.

And yeah,

It's pretty good.

It's darn good.

And it's been really nice speaking with you.

You're such a sweetheart.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You know,

I've really enjoyed your classes.

And your class has been great.

And it's,

It's,

It's nice.

There's a lot of great people in the writing community.

So it's a lot of humble people.

I like that.

And that's,

That's what I get.

Again,

We go back to martial arts.

It's,

We've all got our butt kicks,

Butt kick many times in our arts.

And we know what it's like to,

To win and lose.

So it's,

It's,

It's fun.

It's great people.

Well,

I can't wait till your memoir is published.

Maybe when it's published,

You can come back on and hopefully more than,

You know,

10 people will listen to this then.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.