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Warrior Wednesday - The Etiquette of Commas

[caption id="attachment_11040" align="alignright" width="300"]sword Image created using Bitmoji[/caption]

I meant to post yesterday, but I crashed out of exhaustion. Then I went and swung my sword around for a bit.

I had this thought today about writing screenplays and martial arts and came to, what I think is, a decent conclusion.

We often hear about how important having the scene headers correct and using proper grammar is. There are teachers that refuse to read further if you have errors like comma splices. Sometimes, it can feel like they're just mean-spirited. The thing is that there are many people like that in the industry. I don't want my work passed over because it was painful to read.

As I think about this more, I see the link to martial arts. Budo is life and life is budo after all.

What's the link?

Commas and whatnot are like etiquette. Sometimes it feels silly to place so much importance on something that seems so small. But small things add up to big things. In iaido, we spend a lot of time trying to perfect the handling of our sageo (sword cord). It's partly about showing respect for our equipment, but it's also about mastery. If we keep our cord, a rather floppy object, in check at all times, it means we can ensure we'll transfer that level of care into bigger areas and be able to stay alive or land that writing gig a lot easier. It shows respect for our teachers and our craft.

Last night, we practiced the Oku standing set. I'm not sure how much sunk into my brain as there has been a lot of homework lately and my mind feels drunk with knowledge that I don't quite know how to use yet. It was a good workout though and I enjoyed seeing my dojo mates.

Tomorrow I have to add 6 to 10 pages to my feature film as I may be hungover on Saturday after Friday's comedy show fund-raiser. I'm hoping it doesn't take 2.5 hours to get home like it did today. That was... Annoying.

And that's how the river of life flows today.
R~
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