APRIL HENRY, WRITER
  • Home
  • Past News
  • Bio
    • Goodbye, 2021
    • How my Apple watch saved my life
    • Masks for Covid-19
    • In the name of research
    • Why I write scary things
    • Roald Dahl Made Me a Writer
    • Fun Facts about April
    • Questions teachers often assign
    • 10 Reasons I Love Martial Arts
    • Learning to Fight Back
    • Dear Teen Me
    • My Parents >
      • My Dad, Hank Henry >
        • Witnessing Nat King Cole's Greatest Hit
      • My Mom, Nora Henry >
        • My Mom and the Round Rock
    • My great-grandfather, the killer
    • I come from a long line of criminals
  • Books
    • For Teens (and Adults) >
      • Future books
      • Girl Forgotten
      • Two Truths and a Lie
      • Eyes of the Forest
      • Playing with Fire
      • The Girl in the White Van
      • Run, Hide, Fight Back
      • The Lonely Dead
      • Count All Her Bones
      • The Girl I Used to Be
      • Blood Will Tell (2nd in the Point Last Seen series)
      • The Body in the Woods (1st in the Point Last Seen series)
      • The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die
      • The Night She Disappeared
      • Girl, Stolen
      • Torched
      • Shock Point
    • For Adults (and Teens) >
      • Lethal Beauty (3rd in the Mia Quinn series)
      • A Deadly Business (2nd in the Mia Quinn mystery series)
      • Matter of Trust (1st in Mia Quinn series)
      • Face of Betrayal (1st in the Triple Threat series)
      • Hand of Fate (2nd in the Triple Threat series)
      • Heart of Ice (3rd in the Triple Threat series)
      • Eyes of Justice (4th in the Triple Threat series)
      • Learning to Fly
      • Circles of Confusion (1st in Claire Montrose series)
      • Square in the Face (2nd in the Claire Montrose series)
      • Heart-Shaped Box (3rd in the Claire Montrose series)
      • Buried Diamonds (4th in the Claire Montrose series)
    • Foreign Covers
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • About My School Visits
    • A Sneak Peek at a School Visit
  • Fun
    • FAQ
    • Does Your Character Need a Job?
    • Girl, Stolen Alternative Covers
    • I Get Letters
    • Blob on the Side of the Filing Cabinet
    • Books I Like
    • JB's Cinnamon Rolls
    • Vanity Plates
    • Diary of My First Book Tour (From 2000)
    • 1999 Interview with James Lee Burke
    • 1997 Interview with Carol Shields
    • Oregon, the Writer's Toronto
    • Stealing From Myself to Create A Character
    • Panties in a Twist
    • Heteronyms
  • Write
    • How to get an agent
    • Videos with writing tips
    • Writers writing during Covid-19
    • Tips for writers
    • Story starters
    • Write what you know?
    • What if you get stuck?
    • More tips about writing
    • Need to create a fake social media profile?
    • How to start a new book
    • My daughter is 14 - how can she be published?
    • I'm a teen writer-can you give me feedback?
    • Student Writing
    • How to get it right
    • Questions about writing from two teens
    • Should I pay to be published?
  • Blog
  • Contact

Got my blue belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu! 

Picture
 I got my blue belt in BJJ!

Getting this blue belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu (which is like wrestling + choking + joint locks) represents the hardest I have ever worked for anything. It was harder than finding an agent. Harder than getting published. Even harder than having a baby. It took me nearly five years. At this rate, I’ll be a black belt at 75.
​
Until I found martial arts (first kajukenbo, then kung fu, then BJJ), I have never liked any sport. in fact, the only reason I didn’t have a 4.0 GPA in high school was because of Cs in PE. BJJ turned out to be my true love, even though in many classes I’m the only lady on the mat, and I’m almost always the oldest. I do not have youth, athleticism, energy, flexibility or strength on my side. About all I’ve got is stubbornness and the occasional flash of “Hell no.”

Me and my BJJ friends

Purple belt test in Kung Fu

I've been wanting to take my purple best test in kung fu forever, but a series of unfortunate events (death in family, medical error that resulted in hospitalization, and knee injury from running) conspired me to be out of town or out of commission whenever there was a belt test. 

Why I love martial arts

I am a martial artist. I almost feel as phony saying that as I did for years when I told people I was a writer. My love for martial arts would surprise anyone I went to high school with. PE was the only reason I graduated with a GPA less than 4.0.  I have always been a klutz.  I was scared of the uneven parallel bar and the balance beam and pretty much any ball ever thrown my way. I am not physically brave and I hate conflict. I made my high school boyfriend leave a WWF fight he took me to.

But it turns out that martial arts have helped me be a better writer (after all, mysteries and thrillers often contain an element of violence), as well as a stronger and more prepared person.

For me, a kickboxing class was the gateway drug to martial arts. As part of the class, we wore boxing gloves and hit bags. I had never hit anything, not even a bag, as hard as I could. It made me feel fierce and it was a great workout. I ended up training in kajukenbo, a little bit of Muay Thai and a teeny-tiny bit of Systema. And now I have a purple belt in kung fu and am a four-stripe white belt in Brazilian jiujitsu. 

Will I ever make it to black belt in either? Probably not. I’m not a natural, I’m not particularly coordinated and I’m older—but I still love it.

I particularly love sparring, which can mean standing up and punching and kicking (kung fu) or rolling around on the ground trying to choke your opponent or lock his joints (BJJ). 

As for BJJ, for a long time I thought: No way am I going to roll around on the floor with some guy on top of me and you can't tell me that wrapping my legs around his waist is a good thing.  It seemed like it would feel way too rape-y.  What I've found is that it is the most physical thing I've ever done—but it's not personal at all.

Knowing a little something about surprise, pain and fighting back helps me write about them. I can write authoritatively about fear, about how things blur, about the way people move and hold their bodies and eyes and mouths. I can tell when someone is about to hit me and where. The eyes focus, the breath catches and the shoulder drops or the hand goes back.

I also know how to hurt people – and that means my characters might be able to do it too. And I know how to get free if someone grabs your wrist, tries to strangle you or wraps you in a bear hug. I’ve told my doctor not to worry about the bruises on my arms from getting out of wrist grabs. 

I used my martial arts training in The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die and Count All Her Bones. 

10 reasons I love Martial arts

When I'm not on the road, I take kung fu and Brazilian jiujitsu classes eight or nine times a week. (And when I'm traveling, I try to go to BJJ classes if I can find them.) Why do I like martial arts so much?

  1. They make me feel strong.
  2. I like being the oldest person at my school.
  3. I also like being the only woman who regularly spars.
  4. I now know how to fight back if I ever get attacked.  Yes, even if I end up on the ground.
  5.  I'm still not coordinated but practice, practice, practice has helped tremendously.
  6.  For one or two hours at a time, I don't think about anything else.  I just focus on kung fu or BJJ.
  7. They make me feel bad ass.
  8. The training has been very useful for writing thrillers.
  9. I like hanging out in a room full of guys. It's like eavesdropping, only I don't have to hide.
  10. It's fun!
Picture
This isn't me, but a woman named Jaydra (the inspiration for Jaydra in Count All Her Bones.)  She's doing a drill called a monkey line, which teaches you to fight one attacker at a time.  I have even done monkey lines with all the attackers carrying knives (training knives) which is amazingly fun. 
  • Home
  • Past News
  • Bio
    • Goodbye, 2021
    • How my Apple watch saved my life
    • Masks for Covid-19
    • In the name of research
    • Why I write scary things
    • Roald Dahl Made Me a Writer
    • Fun Facts about April
    • Questions teachers often assign
    • 10 Reasons I Love Martial Arts
    • Learning to Fight Back
    • Dear Teen Me
    • My Parents >
      • My Dad, Hank Henry >
        • Witnessing Nat King Cole's Greatest Hit
      • My Mom, Nora Henry >
        • My Mom and the Round Rock
    • My great-grandfather, the killer
    • I come from a long line of criminals
  • Books
    • For Teens (and Adults) >
      • Future books
      • Girl Forgotten
      • Two Truths and a Lie
      • Eyes of the Forest
      • Playing with Fire
      • The Girl in the White Van
      • Run, Hide, Fight Back
      • The Lonely Dead
      • Count All Her Bones
      • The Girl I Used to Be
      • Blood Will Tell (2nd in the Point Last Seen series)
      • The Body in the Woods (1st in the Point Last Seen series)
      • The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die
      • The Night She Disappeared
      • Girl, Stolen
      • Torched
      • Shock Point
    • For Adults (and Teens) >
      • Lethal Beauty (3rd in the Mia Quinn series)
      • A Deadly Business (2nd in the Mia Quinn mystery series)
      • Matter of Trust (1st in Mia Quinn series)
      • Face of Betrayal (1st in the Triple Threat series)
      • Hand of Fate (2nd in the Triple Threat series)
      • Heart of Ice (3rd in the Triple Threat series)
      • Eyes of Justice (4th in the Triple Threat series)
      • Learning to Fly
      • Circles of Confusion (1st in Claire Montrose series)
      • Square in the Face (2nd in the Claire Montrose series)
      • Heart-Shaped Box (3rd in the Claire Montrose series)
      • Buried Diamonds (4th in the Claire Montrose series)
    • Foreign Covers
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • About My School Visits
    • A Sneak Peek at a School Visit
  • Fun
    • FAQ
    • Does Your Character Need a Job?
    • Girl, Stolen Alternative Covers
    • I Get Letters
    • Blob on the Side of the Filing Cabinet
    • Books I Like
    • JB's Cinnamon Rolls
    • Vanity Plates
    • Diary of My First Book Tour (From 2000)
    • 1999 Interview with James Lee Burke
    • 1997 Interview with Carol Shields
    • Oregon, the Writer's Toronto
    • Stealing From Myself to Create A Character
    • Panties in a Twist
    • Heteronyms
  • Write
    • How to get an agent
    • Videos with writing tips
    • Writers writing during Covid-19
    • Tips for writers
    • Story starters
    • Write what you know?
    • What if you get stuck?
    • More tips about writing
    • Need to create a fake social media profile?
    • How to start a new book
    • My daughter is 14 - how can she be published?
    • I'm a teen writer-can you give me feedback?
    • Student Writing
    • How to get it right
    • Questions about writing from two teens
    • Should I pay to be published?
  • Blog
  • Contact