A to Z: Conversation and Chest Protection. and IWSG

The A to Z Challenge is posting every day in April except Sundays (we get those off for good behavior.) And since there are 26 days, that matches the 26 letters of the alphabet. On April 1, blog about something that begins with the letter “A.” April 2 is “B,” April 3 is “C,” and so on. This awesome challenge is hosted by founder Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out, Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Tina Downey at Life is Good, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude 2.0, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Matthew MacNish at The QQQE, Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Livia Peterson at Leave it to Livia, L. Diane Wolfe at Spunk on a Stick, and Nicole at The Madlab Post

My A to Z theme is fencing and swordplay, focusing mainly on fencing terminology, but with a few favorite movie fencing moments thrown into the mix too. Why: I love fencing and swordplay!
Warning: Today's post is a little long, especially in the extra word section. Just skip it if you need to run!!

Conversation: the back-and-forth play of the blades in a fencing match, composed of phrases (phrases d'armes) punctuated by gaps of no blade action. (I love this definition of a conversation)

Chest Protection: gear required for women fencers. The only reason I included this one is that I often get the "you used to fence, but isn't that uncomfortable for women?" with a pointed look at my chest. Excuse me? Women aren't stupid. There are different types of chest protection, but I prefer the full chest protection like this:


BTW: Guys are required to wear the usual protection for contact sport. (And I don't look pointedly when I tell guys that)

More fun C Fencing terms:

Change of Engagement: engagement of the opponent's blade in the opposite line.

Commanding the blade: grabbing the opponent's blade with the off-hand, illegal in sport fencing.

Compound: also composed; an action executed in two or more movements; an attack or riposte incorporating one or more feints.

Counter-attack: an offensive action made against the right-of-way, or in response to the opponent's attack.

Counter-disengage: a disengage in the opposite direction, to deceive the counter-parry.

Counter-parry: a parry made in the opposite line to the attack; ie. the defender first comes around to the opposite side of the opponent's blade.

Counter-riposte: an attack that follows a parry of the opponent's riposte.

Counter-time: an attack that responds to the opponent's counter-attack, typically a riposte following the parry of the counter-attack.

Corps-a-corps: lit. "body-to-body"; physical contact between the two fencers during a bout, illegal in foil and sabre.

Coule': also graze, glise', or glissade; an attack or feint that slides along the opponent's blade.

Coup lance': a launched hit; an attack that starts before a stop in play but lands after. Valid for normal halts, but not valid at end of time.

Coupe': also cut-over; an attack or deception that passes around the opponent's tip.

Croise: also semi-bind; an action in which the opponent's blade is forced into the high or low line on the same side.

Cross: an advance or retreat by crossing one leg over the other; also passe' avant (forward cross), passe' arriere (backwards cross).

Cut: an attack made with a chopping motion of the blade, normally landing with the edge

 Insecure Writer's Support Group was started by the amazing Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh to give each of us time to share our insecurities, or our way of dealing with those insecurities, or some positive inspiration with each other. It's a safe group, a loving group of bloggers who support one another through the trials and the triumphs of the writing life.

IWSG - I almost forgot, oops.
Despite many reminders, I almost forgot to write my IWSG for the month, and . . .that's the point. Life has been Crazy, blessedly busy, and I'm had to re-learn how to be Creative about Carving out time for writing and blogging. I say re-learn because finding time is a struggle I've faced before this, and I know I can Conquer it.

How do you Creatively Carve out time to write in your day and Conquer the evil twin challenges of distraction and "busy-ness"?