My Writing and LGBTQ issues: A brief explanation

I didn’t intend to release a book with an LGBTQ main character just in time for Pride Month 2023. It just ended up being that way.

The Yank Striker: A Footballer’s Beginning was the culmination of a long gestating story in my head about soccer, fame, and identity. Part of that exploration of identity, it turns out, was about sexual identity.

I have had LGBTQ friends, colleagues, and students that have been part of my life. I believe they have the right to live as they want in peace. I do not consider this to be a political viewpoint. I consider this to be a human rights issue.

Soccer is a reflection of the real world. Many of the issues facing the real world crop up there. Racism is a big issue in soccer. Just to pick out one recent example, Vinicius Junior, an Afro-Brazilian and star player for Real Madrid, was racially abused in a match with Valencia by opposition fans.

The issue of homosexuality in soccer has been an extensive one. English footballer Justin Fashanu came out as gay in 1990, more than thirty years ago, at the tail end of his career. The Wikipedia page on the issue has multiple stories of footballers or managers who either came out at the tail end of their careers or after their retirement, or some that choose to leave soccer rather than deal with the issues they faced. Many women players remained out for much of their careers.

Some of these players were people I cheered on as a fan. Abby Wambach and Megan Rapinoe were among some of the LGBTQ players who represented and continue to represent the US Women’s National Team.

Then there was the case of Robbie Rogers, the left back and winger who came out back in 2013 when he was 26 and had left England after attempting to build his career. Thankfully, he generally found acceptance when he returned to America and won a Major League Soccer title with the LA Galaxy.

All these stories and experiences were rattling around in my head as I began to wonder what the American version of Lionel Messi might look like. I was influenced by the stories of how athletes like Jackie Robinson in Major League Baseball, Kenny Washington and Woody Strode in the NFL, and Cyrille Regis and John Barnes in English soccer battled racism. In college, I read The Dreyfus Affair by Peter Lefcourt, a novel about how a star shortstop for a Los Angeles major league team falls in love with his teammate – it’s a great book; I would definitely recommend it.

With all of this in my head, I asked myself, What would it be like if one of these male LGBTQ players ended up coming out at the beginning of their career rather than the end or after they retired? What sort of support system would they need to be able to survive and thrive in the world of top-flight soccer?

The answers to those questions eventually were folded into the story of The Yank Striker. I can tell you I consider LGBTQ people to be human beings worthy of respect, and I could tell you I was inspired by this issue in the sport I love, and I’d be correct both times. But when it comes down to it, I just thought it would make a great story I felt compelled to write. In the end, I write a story because I think it’s a worthy tale.

While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. I will eventually be opening some special contests, offers, and first looks at original fiction, poems, and other items. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.

Quick Update on my Book Tour, 4 June 2023

[PHOTO NOTE: On the road near Pella, Iowa, 3 June 2023.]

The modest book tour I’ve set up for my new book The Yank Striker: A Footballer’s Beginning that I’ve released this month is continuing as we speak. Although I jokingly called this a summer tour, some of the events I’ve either confirmed or am trying to confirm will extend into this fall.

I’ll also be giving some additional reminders of these upcoming events on my other platforms, including Substack Notes, Substack Chat, my Facebook page, and my Instagram author’s page.

The following is a list of the appearances I have confirmed I will be at as of this writing. One of the biggest changes so far is I have set a confirmed time and location for my official launch party. Even though the paperback version of The Yank Striker is already out, I want to have an official party not only celebrating that release, but the release of the ebook edition of that book in late June.

On the Calendar (AKA Liegois’ Summer 2023 tour):

  1. My next appearance will be at the Authors on the River Walk event from 12 to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 17, at the Hampton Inn & Suites, Downtown Capital Meeting Room, 120 SW Water St., Des Moines. I’ll be part of a wide variety of authors from different genres, so come check us out.
  2. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, June 24, I’ll be appearing at a community book fair at Gävle Hall on the campus of Augustana College, 639 38th St, Rock Island, Illinois. The Midwest Writing Center, of which I was a member when I lived in Muscatine, is hosting the book fair as part of its annual David R. Collins Writers’ Conference.
  3. At 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 25, I’ll be back in my hometown of Muscatine, Iowa, for an appearance at Musser Public Library, 408 East 2nd St. Muscatine. It’s not the old library where I spent good portions of my weekends and summers when I was a kid reading away, but it is a very fine facility and a good successor to the other buildings bearing the Musser name. I look forward to seeing you there.
  4. My Official Launch Party for The Yank Striker will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, July 1, at Chocolaterie Stam, 2814 Ingersoll Ave., Des Moines. My thanks to Terri Cooper for helping arrange the event. If you can only make it to one of my events, I would love it to be this one.
  5. From 12-6 p.m. Sunday, July 9, it appears that I will be one of the area authors participating in the Northside Market event in the Highland Park business district in Des Moines. I’ll be based at The Slowdown Coffee Co., 3613 6th Ave.
  6. I’ll be participating in the Iowa/Regional Authors Book Fair sponsored by the Iowa City Book Festival from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15 at MERGE, 136 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City. This will be my first year participating in the event and I’m really excited to do this in Iowa City, where I lived on and off for four years during my time at the University of Iowa.

At all of these locations, I will have advance copies of The Yank Striker for sale, as well as copies of my first book, The Holy Fool.

There’ll be at least a few more additions in the days and weeks to come, so keep posted. However, if you want to find my books online, just click on the buttons below. Hopefully, I might see you around, anyway.

Order The Yank Striker in paperback from Amazon.
Order The Yank Striker in paperback from Biblio Publishing.
Subscribe to my Substack here.

A Week in the Writing Life, 3 June 2023

I’m glad it’s summer or I think I’d never get to all of the things I’ve been trying to get to get to. At least some of that involves writing, so let’s talk about it.

Home Front Stuff

Heat becomes a bit of an issue in the summer. If you didn’t hear this from me before, I am not a hot-weather person. If I end up doing any type of chores outside, I do believe I’m going to save them for the morning if I’m going to do it if I don’t want to sweat to death. There’s days living in Iowa where I start thinking that Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iceland, or the Shetland Islands sounds like a good place to stay.

I also finally broke down and bought a new office chair. While my current desk and home office setup is pretty nice, my current chair is on the last legs of its usefulness. Over time, office chairs tend to wear out, especially the adjustable height ones. I didn’t realize that you could select office chairs on the basis of durability.

I’m a bit embarrassed I didn’t know about such things. I come from Muscatine, which happens to be the home and headquarters of the HON company, a very famous manufacturer of office furniture. I’ve used HON furniture during all phases of my professional life (journalism and teaching), and I’ve always rated their products.

While what I’ve bought is not HON, I’m looking forward to its arrival and putting it together. As a writer who needs a good writing space, you also need a good chair that works well for your posture and supports your back and spine. Unfortunately, I’m having to pay good mind to that issue more than I did as a younger man. Anyway, I’m looking forward to it.

What I’m Writing

Actually, a lot of the writing I’ve been putting out has been on my blogs. I’m happy with that.

In years past, whenever my word count for a particular week or month had a high percentage of writing on my blogs, it usually meant I had a slow week or month of writing. Back a couple of years ago, I might have some weeks where I’d manage to put out one blog post a week, where I would detail how many words I’d written and how much time I had spent on revising my work. I’d also talk a little bit about what I’d been busy with, what I was doing, and some other odds and ends.

I still post those weekly journals on my WordPress blog, Liegois Media. This is not because I think word counts and weekly reports are particularly traffic-worthy (which is why I don’t post them on Substack as well). Their purpose is to make myself publicly accountable for when I either am very productive or when I slack off.

It’s a lot more difficult to just ignore sitting on my butt and not writing anything when the numbers are there, staring at you, on the computer screen. It’s doubly more difficult to do so when you put those numbers out on the Internet for anyone to see and judge. There were times earlier in my life where I went weeks, months, and even years without writing anything connected to my day jobs as a journalist or educator, or as a student myself. By counting my words and seeing how productive I am over periods of time, I’ve been able to measure my work and my progress. If I go more than a day without writing or revising anything now, it’s an aberration. And last year, I had my most productive writing year on record.

So, I’m trying to keep up with the blog and everything else. As far as The Yank Striker Part 2 goes, I’ve begun toying with it and trying to figure out where to go with it. I have a brief outline for that next book and I’m ready to dig into it more. What I have in mind is I need to have the new book ready to go, all revised and proofread, by this same time in June 2024.

Whether I actually make it to that deadline is another matter. I’m going to be honest with everyone: this would be the shortest turnaround for a book I’ve ever had. The two books I’ve had published (and those I have not) have been the product of multiple years of thought, writing, revisions, and editing.

I can do this, however. I have the capability to write things pretty fast. I once wrote 50,000 words in a single month when I participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)[1]. I’ve already put together 16,000 words in a rough draft. I just need to be ambitious and daring.

What I’ve Been Doing Having to do With Writing

Not much to mention here. I’m going to be running around to different places to promote The Yank Striker. I will have a post on Sunday detailing any updated appearances and book talks.

I’ll also be promoting those appearances on Substack Notes, Facebook, and Instagram. Hope you check me out at those locations, as well.

If you are not sure where my links are for not only my Facebook and Instagram pages, but my links for The Yank Striker, either go to my author’s page on Substack or the Link in Bio Page on my WordPress. You’ll find it all there.

What I’ve Been Reading/General Recommendations

There’s plenty of people I’d recommend you to read, but I’m hard up on time to get this done, so I’ll restrict myself to one recommendation.

Quadcities.com is a great website for information on the Quad Cities area (Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline, Ill.). Sean Leary is their director of digital media and a great columnist and writer in his own right. They were kind enough to publish the first media story on The Yank Striker to date.

The story is here, but I’d urge you to check out their other coverage of the Quad Cities, especially in the arts and entertainment arena. It’s good stuff.

Writing Quote(s) of the Week

The more I hear from Neil Gaiman, the more I get the impression writing’s not that easy for him.

Being a writer is a very peculiar sort of a job: it’s always you versus a blank sheet of paper (or a blank screen) and quite often the blank piece of paper wins.

This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It’s that easy, and that hard.

Neil Gaiman

Final Thoughts

That’s it for this week. All you writers and creators, keep doing what you are doing, and everyone keep safe.

– 30 –

Footnotes:

  1. The secret to accomplishing that? What you write doesn’t have to be good.

While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. I will eventually be opening some special contests, offers, and first looks at original fiction, poems, and other items. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.

Writing Journal, 1 June 2023: Promotion is a time suck (but I’ll call last week a win)

Welcome back.

It’s my summer break, but I haven’t been lying around the house.

I’ve seen the soft launch of my book The Yank Striker just earlier this week, but ever since I got on break March 20, I’ve been busy emailing different people, posting online, and related stuff. A lot of busywork, and it’s always going to be tough to say how effective it’s going to be. I’m going to be on a bit of a mini-tour this summer. I will say I’m much more aware of concepts of marketing, although I have to say that I’m still green when it comes to it.

I was really worried about how this past week was going to look. I had a couple of weeks that were for me sub par, below 3,000 words written in a week. I usually don’t get impressed by my numbers at all unless they’re over 4,000. I usually have a down month of May because I’m beginning to decompress from the school year, and this year I had slightly more to decompress from than in some years. In addition, I had all the promotion stuff that took up a lot of time, and I thought my productivity was really going to go down the tubes last week.

Imagine my surprise when that didn’t turn out to be the case.

Writing statistics for the week ending 27 May 2023:
+3,801 words written.
Days writing: 5 of 7.
Days revising/planning: 3 of 7 for  90 total minutes.
Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 7 of 7 days.

So, the word count is at least 1,000 words higher than my last two weekly totals, and I met all my daily quotas last week. Given this is May and given that I was hitting the promotional duties hard, I will be happy with those results… but I’ll be even happier if I get that number over 4,000 next week at least.

That’s it for now. Take care of yourselves.

If you want more information about my new book The Yank Striker: A Footballer’s Beginning, check out the My Work page on this site here.

While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. I will eventually be opening some special contests, offers, and first looks at original fiction, poems, and other items. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.

I’ve Got a Surprise Gift for You

Hey, everyone, hope you are having a fun Memorial Day weekend. I’ve got a bit of a surprise for everyone.

Do you remember when I told you my new book, The Yank Striker, was coming out in July?

Well, it’s actually going to be available a lot sooner than then. Actually, the hard copy version of the book is out NOW. Call it a soft launch.

You can get a paperback copy of my book right now on Amazon or at the website of my publisher, Biblio Publishing. I’ll drop the links to both locations below. The paperback version retails for $14.95.

There’s going to be an official book launch party sometime next month, and I’m in the process of trying to schedule it for sometime in June. I already have several appearances throughout Iowa scheduled for this month and beyond, and I am planning on adding to those as soon as possible.

There will also be ebook versions of The Yank Striker up for sale on Amazon, likely in late June or July. I will announce when those links go live.

So, if you’re interested in the book, click on the links below. Leave some reviews on the sites – they are a big help to raising awareness of the book. If you have any questions, contact me at jasonliegois@liegois.media and I’ll get right back to you.

I’ve previously given a synopsis of the book, but I’ll include it below if this is the first time you’ve heard of this book. Otherwise, feel free to head to the links and check out The Yank Striker yourself.

DJ Ryan’s story has been rattling around in my head for a while now. I’m glad to have the chance to share the first part of his story with you now.

All of you writers keep writing, and everyone look out for themselves.

Order The Yank Striker in paperback from Amazon.
Order The Yank Striker in paperback from Biblio Publishing.
Order The Yank Striker in paperback from Biblio Publishing.

What The Yank Striker is About (if you didn’t know)

Continue reading “I’ve Got a Surprise Gift for You” →

A Week in the Writing Life, 27 May 2023

This might be one of my shorter weekly newsletter posts, since I’ve written some supplemental posts just about that new book I’ve got coming out.

So, I’ll get on with the newsletter and keep the promoting to a minimum. Promise.

Home Front Stuff

Other than me being on the phone and emailing a good number of people, my first full week of summer vacation has been quietly uneventful, which I’m glad for. As I was already on vacation, my only bit of awareness of Memorial Day weekend approaching was the fact that I was trying to send out my queries to various locations and people before Friday was done, after which nobody would be checking their emails or messages for at least three days.

My wife pointed out to me that this will be the first time since at least 2001 that we have celebrated Memorial Day on our own. Both our son and daughter have their own school or work plans this weekend, which is not that much of a surprise considering they are now 22 and 21, respectively. Time flew for all of us, but I think I at least did appreciate having our kids with us when they were here. I’m just happy that they’re beginning their own journeys through life and finding some success.

What I’m Writing

Not that I’m going to bang on about word count here in detail (if you’re really interested in such things, check out my writing journals here), but I’ve not been too happy with my productivity over the past couple weeks. In years past, I might write less than 3,000 words a week and not be too upset about it, but now I look at that and think I’ve had an off week if I didn’t get above 4,000.

Now, however, I need to just kick butt and start writing stuff. I’ve started to sort through what I’ve put together already on my newest “pro” fiction project, The Yank Striker 2 (working title). I’ve pretty much put together how I want to structure the book, but I haven’t gotten around to actually adding more than a small amount to the manuscript. I have to get going on it if I want to be done with a rough draft by the end of the year, and have a finished product ready for next summer. That would be a fast turnaround time for me, but I want to try and see if I could put it together that fast. Since I’m dealing with a series, the books absolutely don’t have to be 100,000 words or even 80,000 words, so that is a plus.

Along with all of the above, I’m still interested in moving forward with a possible fantasy series, a memoir, and perhaps a poetry collection at some point. I’m very possibly messed up in the head, but at the very least, I don’t have any excuses anymore that I don’t have anything to write about. And that doesn’t even take into account the amount of writing I’m putting together for my blogs, which is probably the only reason why my word count numbers aren’t fully in the latrine.

What I’ve Been Doing Having to do With Writing

I decided to break down and and make some more use of Instagram, because I refuse to engage with Twitter for reasons I laid out before.

So, I decided to set up a new Instagram page dedicated to my writing and writing activities. I’m still attempting to get the hang of it. You can check it out here if you want a laugh.

I’m planning on making a bunch of personal appearances and book signings all through Iowa this summer and beyond. I just posted a new list of some of those appearances I’ve confirmed here; I’ll be updating that list on a regular basis.

As of this writing, I don’t have a final location set for the “official” book launch for The Yank Striker. I do know that I want it to be sometime either in late June or early July. You’ll hear about it on these pages first.

As for the rest of it… I’m continuing to update pages, etc. etc.

What I’ve Been Reading/General Recommendations

One good thing to read disregard all that because I haven’t had time to put a list of links together. I’ll try to do better next week. Or, maybe I should just restrict that to my Substack Notes? Let me know what you think.

Writing Quote of the Week

Needed some inspiration this week. I hope this will do it.

This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It’s that easy, and that hard.

  • Neil Gaiman

Final Thoughts

It feels like there’s a lot happening with me, the blogs, and everything else. There’s some exciting times ahead. See you next week.

– 30 –

While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. I will eventually be opening some special contests, offers, and first looks at original fiction, poems, and other items. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.

There’s Going to be a Book Tour This Summer

[PHOTO NOTE: Since I was on the road the other day in Des Moines, I thought this picture was appropriate.]

You might have heard that I’m releasing a book this summer. I also want to get out and about and talk to people about my new book, The Yank Striker, and about my other work[1].

Well, this week, I’ve started getting in contact with people and talking about making some appearances. And I’ve already started to book some dates.

I truly don’t want to keep doing repetitive blog posts on my “touring” schedule, however, so I’ll probably do one weekly “update” post, but also post some notices on my other platforms, including Substack Notes, Substack Chat, and my Facebook page. I have puttered around with Instagram, off and on, for a few years, and two days ago I broke down and decided to set up an Instagram author’s page[2].

So, the following is a list of the appearances I have confirmed I will be at as of this writing. I am planning to add to this as much as possible. As soon as I know something, you will know something.

On the Calendar (AKA Liegois’ Summer 2023 tour):

  1. From 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, June 2, I’ll be at Pella Books, 824 Franklin St. Pella, Iowa, as they act as one of the hosts for the Great Iowa Road Trip.
  2. I just found out that I’m going to be part of the Authors on the River Walk event from 12 to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 17, at the Hampton Inn & Suites, Downtown Capital Meeting Room, 120 SW Water St., Des Moines. I’ll be there with a whole slew of other authors, so I’m hoping for a good crowd.
  3. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, June 24, I’ll be appearing at a community book fair at Gävle Hall on the campus of Augustana College, 639 38th St, Rock Island, Illinois. The Midwest Writing Center, of which I was a member when I lived in Muscatine, is hosting the book fair as part of its annual David R. Collins Writers’ Conference. While I’m not planning on attending any of the workshops this year, I have gone to it in years past and it is a great conference that I learned a lot from.
  4. At 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 25, I’ll be back in my hometown of Muscatine, Iowa, for an appearance at Musser Public Library, 408 East 2nd St. Muscatine. It’s not the old library where I spent good portions of my weekends and summers when I was a kid reading away, but it is a very fine facility and a good successor to the other buildings bearing the Musser name. I look forward to seeing you there.
  5. From 12-6 p.m. Sunday, July 9, it appears that I will be one of the area authors participating in the Northside Market event in the Highland Park business district in Des Moines. I believe I’ll be based at The Slowdown Coffee Co., 3613 6th Ave.

At all of these locations, I will have advance copies of The Yank Striker for sale, as well as copies of my first book, The Holy Fool. I hope to see you there at one of these appearances, at least. There’ll be at least a few more additions in the days and weeks to come, so keep posted.

Pre-order my book, The Yank Striker

Also, please let me know if you do use the pre-order button and something doesn’t work correctly. It’s the first time I’ve ever tried something like this before.

Subscribe to my Substack here.

Footnotes:

  1. This is where I want to apologize if, during the next few months or so, I begin to sound a bit repetitive when it comes to book promotion. However, if I don’t say something about it, nobody is going to hear about my work. I don’t have a public relations guy working for me. I’m it when it comes to selling my work.
  2. I’ll try to take more photos as a result. You might even see a few here.

The Yank Striker is Coming in July [Actually, it’s here now]

I’m really excited for my new book, The Yank Striker: A Footballer’s Beginning, to be coming out this July. I’m in the process of putting together a official launch date for the book in July, although I am still in the process of determining the exact date for the launch party.

However, the contracts are signed with my publisher, Biblio Publishing, and we’re going to be releasing this book in both paperback and ebook formats. In addition to the formal launch party, I’m also planning on making other appearances before and after that launch party this summer around Iowa to help promote The Yank Striker, which is the first in what I will be calling The Yank Striker series.

This series started out with a simple question: what might an American version of Lionel Messi look like? Over a long period of several years, I began to play with some different ideas until the character of Daniel John (DJ) Ryan formed on the page. And after all this time, I’m excited to share the first part of his story with you.

A Quick Reminder of What the Book is About

We meet DJ Ryan as a 17-year-old All-American wide receiver about to graduate high school. Most people know him as the son of John Daniel “Junior” Ryan, former legendary college and NFL linebacker turned college football national championship winning coach at Hamilton State University, just outside Dallas. They might also know him as the younger brother of Junior Ryan’s star quarterback and son, John Daniel “Trey” Ryan, who is now a college All-American and dark horse Heisman Trophy candidate.

It would seem natural for DJ to join his dad and brother at HSU for glory and a title, with an eye toward a future NFL career and financial security. However, DJ’s relationship with his dad is complicated, especially considering Junior Ryan’s divorce from DJ’s mom Jenny, driven first by Junior’s womanizing and neglect and later by Jenny falling in love with another woman. DJ himself is attracted to people regardless of what sex they are or aren’t, but he knows that the world of football is a hostile place to people like him, so he tries to keep that part of himself private.

Then there’s DJ’s love for the other sport known as football – soccer. He’s a talented striker for both his high school and semipro teams. However, he sees that as just a hobby or private passion… that is, until he is spotted by a scout from the Premier League club Donford FC, and he offers to have him come to London for a tryout.

DJ faces two choices – what sport will be part of his future? And will he continue to live in secrecy, or out in the open?

This book appeals to both those fans of the sport of soccer as well as those interested in LGBTQ fiction. Although this book is not aimed at kids, and I don’t consider myself a young adult author, I’d say the subject material in my book is not really explicit. By that, I would mean it would be rated R if it was a movie, not NC-17.

How can you get Your Hands on the Book Now?

You can get a paperback copy of my book right now on Amazon or at the website of my publisher, Biblio Publishing. I’ll drop the links to both locations below. The paperback version retails for $14.95.

The ebook version will be out sometime in late June or July. I’ll make an announcement of it here when the links drop.

Order The Yank Striker in paperback from Amazon.
Order The Yank Striker in paperback from Biblio Publishing.
Order The Yank Striker in paperback from Biblio Publishing.

Writing Journal, 24 May 2023: Getting down to business on break

Hello to everyone.

I’m finally done with the school year, so the summer now stretches before me as far as writing progress goes. I am aware I usually have a slump the past couple of years immediately before and after the end of the school year, so I am hoping that I avoid it this year.

But, it’s not happening yet.

I’ve had two weeks in a row where I’ve written less than 3,000 words. I’m not satisfied any longer with my productivity unless I’m at least over 4,000 words in any given week. That is the pace I managed to hit on a regular basis last year, and it’s now the minimum I expect out of myself. And, if I’m going to shake myself out of a writing slump, this week is the week to start doing it.

However, another issue for me is the promotional campaign I’m setting up for my newest book, The Yank Striker, which I talked about last week. I want to devote more time and thought to this campaign than I did with my first book. I believe I learned a couple things from my first experience, although I will readily admit I would not consider myself a marketing guru by any means. Considering that I’m living near the biggest media market in my state (Des Moines), I think I have a better chance at getting noticed than before. However, I’ll be doing a lot of phone calls, emails, and plenty of reading up on different networking and marketing ideas all this week.

Anyway, here’s the stats for last week.

Writing statistics for the week ending 20 May 2023:
+2,711 words written.
Days writing: 5 of 7.
Days revising/planning: 4 of 7 for 210 total minutes.
Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 6 of 7 days.

Well, better luck for me next week. All you writers keep writing, and everyone keep safe.

While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. I will eventually be opening some special contests, offers, and first looks at original fiction, poems, and other items. Just click the button below.

A Week in the Writing Life, 20 May 2023

Things are hopping here over at my place. I’m officially on summer vacation and there is a bit of a to-do list for me coming up. And one of those things concerns you, my readers and subscribers. Let’s get into it.

Big Announcement

It’s coming.

I’ve now finalized my publishing contract with Biblio Publishing for my latest book, The Yank Striker: A Footballer’s Beginning. It will soon be available for sale both in paperback and ebook format. And I cannot be more excited to share this story with the world. It’s a story that has been years in creation and development.

As readers of this blog, my friends, and my students are aware, I’m more than a little obsessed with the sport of soccer. It’s a fandom that has stretched throughout my life, but picked up speed ever since I became a devoted fan of the sport and the US Men’s National Team as I watched them play during the 1994 World Cup.

I wrote the first essay that post above refers to more than 10 years ago. I’d have to say that it’s been at least that long since I began to ask myself a simple question.

What would an American Diego Maradona look like? What would an American Lionel Messi look like?

There have been a lot of great American players now and in the past, although I can safely say none of them could have been ranked among the top 10 players in the world during their careers. But, what if?

I wrote the first essay that post above refers to more than 10 years ago. I’d have to say that it’s been at least that long since I began to ask myself a simple question.

What would an American Diego Maradona look like? What would an American Lionel Messi look like?

There have been a lot of great American players now and in the past, although I can safely say none of them could have been ranked among the top 10 players in the world during their careers. But, what if?

I turned that question over and over in my head for a long time, wondering what kind of person that player would be. Eventually, a character started to form in my head, the character of a young man by the name of Daniel John (DJ) Ryan.

Before this, I had written two (unpublished) novels and one published one (The Holy Fool: A Journalist’s Revolt). Looking back on the main characters in all of those books, I would have to say that all three of them were, if not copies of myself and my personality, at least a reflection of them. DJ Ryan, however, is something far more unique and different than me, of which I’m glad.

What’s it About, Again?

We meet DJ Ryan as a 17-year-old an All-American wide receiver about to graduate high school. Most people know him as the son of John Daniel “Junior” Ryan, former legendary college and NFL linebacker turned college football national championship winning coach at Hamilton State University, just outside Dallas. They might also know him as the younger brother of Junior Ryan’s star quarterback and son, John Daniel “Trey” Ryan, who is now a college All-American and dark horse Heisman Trophy candidate.

It would seem natural for DJ to join his dad and brother at HSU for glory and a title, with an eye toward a future NFL career and financial security. However, DJ’s relationship with his dad is complicated, especially considering Junior Ryan’s divorce from DJ’s mom Jenny, driven first by Junior’s womanizing and neglect and later by Jenny falling in love with another woman. DJ himself is attracted to people regardless of what sex they are or aren’t, but he knows that the world of football is a hostile place to people like him, so he tries to keep that part of himself private.

Then there’s DJ’s love for the other sport known as football – soccer. He’s a talented striker for both his high school and semipro teams. However, he sees that as just a hobby or private passion… that is, until he is spotted by a scout from the Premier League club Donford FC, and he offers to have him come to London for a tryout.

DJ faces two choices – what sport will be part of his future? And will he continue to live in secrecy, or out in the open?

So, When’s it Coming Out?

I am planning on having a proper launch party for The Yank Striker. I am currently searching for locations for that event, likely to be somewhere in the Des Moines area. There will probably be some other events as well, and I would love to put something together somewhere in my current town as well as my old hometown of Muscatine, among other locations.

The official launch of the book will be in July. I will have an exact date in the weeks to come. As always, watch this space, and subscribers here will hear about it before anyone else.

What I’ve Been Doing Having to do With Writing

I don’t remember if I mentioned this previously[1], but I undertook a quick refresh of this site’s look. I like the new options for Substack to alter the design of pages, so I decided to change the colors on The Writing Life to purple and gold, the colors of my former school, Muscatine High School. I’ve always had a soft spot for that color combination, and I honestly think it looks hip. So, there’s my explanation for that.\

On my WordPress page (Liegois Media, https://liegois.media), I decided to freshen up the look of that page as well. So, I changed it from the Penscratch 2 theme to Independent Publisher 2.

In both cases, leave me a comment on either site if you care about such things.

I had a great meeting today with the Iowa Writers’ Corner (IWC) in Des Moines. Roxanne Rustand was our guest speaker and gave a great presentation on book publishing and promotions. Her site has some very good resources for writers, as well, so I’d recommend checking them out. Between her and some of my other IWC members, I have a lot of homework and reading to get through beginning this following week.\

What I’ve Been Reading/General Recommendations

As I promised last week, I’m giving a couple of shout-outs for sites I’ve run into on my WordPress feed.

Robin Leeann was one of the first people I started following on WordPress, and I really admire her work. This piece is a great reminder to all the writers out there.

Literary Hub is one of the great online locations for writing about writing and writing in general. For example, there are some fine author interviews such as this one on Samantha Irby. Go ahead and check it out.

Writing Quote of the Week

This is the way you should approach writing. It takes a lot of mental energy, however.

You must write every single day of your life… You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads… may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.

  • Ray Bradbury

Final Thoughts

Again, I’m really excited to share not just The Yank Striker with you, but all of the later books in the series to come. I’m looking forward to the ride.

– 30 –

Footnote:

  1. If I did, I’ll do it again. Heck with it.

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