Write about something you consider “ugly” — war, violence, failure, hatred — but try to find beauty, or a sense of hope, in your thoughts.

 As she placed her throw she knew she’d applied too much strength: the other girl went flying – it was perfect. But Penelope, as she bowed, was already full of remorse: her adversary was lying inert surrounded by three medics.

The umpire said: “A beautiful uchi-mata, Miss B, but of course no-one in your category could have parred this!” Penelope bowed low. Then the thought hit her: she had won her third dan.

She knelt near her beaten competitor: the girl was crying but breathing. So Penelope said to her ear: “I will show you, you will know how to use this, in a way that no-one will resist.”