The book was somewhat snakebit. I thought it was ready for release late last year, but we ran into one problem after another. All to the good, eventually. Because of the problems, I had to re-read it over and over. This is problematic for an author, because one's eyes skip over errors. But because of some tiny formatting problems, and swathes of text that were actually from a previous draft, I had to go through it line by line. I caught a few errors, and redrafted a few lines.
Dueling with O-sensei is my first book. I was never really happy with the design and as time passed, was somewhat unhappy with the writing as well. Furthermore, my thinking further progressed in certain areas, and I therefore had almost ½ more of a book that I wanted to write. LIKE THIS:
We wandered around the night sky, because their foster-mommy read them Goodnight Moon, and what pretty dresses they had, and if I had children and ‘oh, boys. They are yucky,” and we talked about dogs and cats and other animals, and all the while, I was thinking, “How do I ask little girls who they want to live with? How do I ask such questions? I know of little children who love the parent they saw murder their playmate. I know far too many little children who love the parent who beat them. I’ve read all the court reports and I’ve interviewed everyone, and everyone has ideas, and the father and the mother they have stories, and each story is a good story.”
So I stood up, all six foot six inches of me, I rose up and then I stood on a chair, it creaked under my weight, and I spread my arms, my arms a span of two yards, held them stiffly outwards, all my fingers spread and hunched my shoulders, and I swayed from side to side, and my head moved from side-to-side, and I said, “Who am I?” And the littler girl said, “You are an eagle,” and their eyes were wide with wonder and I asked, “What do eagles do?” And the other girl said, “They watch over little girls and keep them safe.” And then I flew down from the chair and sat on the blue carpet and asked, “So what kind of an animal is your mother?” And one little girl said, “She’s an otter. She has really soft fur and she plays with us.” And the other little girl said, “She is warm all the time, she loves me and Melia and she cuddles us and reads to us. She tucks us in.”
And what kind of animal is your foster mom? “Oh, she’s a piggy. (Giggles and giggles). She’s happy all the time and she is pink and happy. She makes us really good things to eat. She tucks us in bed too.”
“And what kind of animal is your foster daddy?”
“He’s a walrus.”
“What do walrus’ do?”
‘”Um, they swim sometimes, and their teeth stick out and they have a big mustache and they are really funny.”
“So your foster daddy is funny.”
“Um hmm. He’s really funny. He finds quarters in my ear sometimes. And he says funny jokes and then our foster mommy says, ‘you stop it now,’ but she laughs too.’”
And what kind of animal are YOU?” And the little girl was a duck and the bigger little girl was a swan, they both agreed on that, and they liked to go swimming with otters.
“And what kind of animal is your daddy.”
Silence. Wide eyed silence. Then, softly, “He’s a tiger. He’s an angry tiger and he has big claws. He hurts otters.”
“Do tigers hurt other animals?”
Silence
Silence
A tiny voice. “Sometimes they eat ducks and swans.”