October Newsletter: Liegois Media

beach covered with autumnal leaves by river

Well, I think it is official – I’m not hitting 225,000 words or even 200,000 words this year.

I’m trying not to think of it as a failure. I’m trying to think about it as a re-calibration – A refocus on… quality over quantity? Over what I’m trying to say with my fiction? I think that’s the case. I want to write something that has interest and impact. I think my current work in progress has this. I don’t want to screw it up.

This is The Writing Life, my monthly newsletter about a writer of many interests (me) and what’s been going on with me and my writing.

Let’s get started.

The Home Front

cozy fireplace with burning wood logs
Photo by Svitlana Ivanova on Pexels.com

As I mentioned last time (and without getting into too many details), I’ve been trying to get my head sorted out. That process continues.

Now, while I’m starting to be more productive, I have not had too much time to write anything down anywhere near the levels I was doing during the first few months of 2026. I feel like I’m at least making forward progress. I’m trying to narrow my focus at the moment.

What I’m Writing Now

Cover image for 'Shadows on the Mississippi' by Jason Liegois, featuring a vibrant sunset over the Mississippi River with a silhouette of a lamp post and trees.

What is it? An environmental sci-fi horror tale in a quiet Iowa town on the Mississippi River. In a state where agricultural pollution effects people and the environment are a big deal, the new pollution is getting into everyone…

Status: My main work in progress, which ends up dealing with a lot of issues facing those of us in Iowa and turbocharging it with a horror flourish.

I’m getting to some interesting portions of the book, when what has been threatened on the sidelines of the book so far has now burst forth and now has a casualty list. And my main characters are now deciding how they’re going to have to deal with the consequences.

I’m currently over 48,000 words on this project. I’m now just about done with some extra tweaks and slight revisions, although one last one I think I’ll save for the full revisions.

I’ve said that with my current rate of working, even though I’m now dedicating nearly my entire creative energies to this project, I might not have a final coherent rough draft by Halloween 2026, the one-year anniversary of the start of the rough draft, but an end date of New Year’s Even 2026 for it might be more realistic.

Prediction: Rough draft completed by the end of this year. Stay tuned.

Everything Else

Right now, I’m not working on too much other than Shadows on the Mississippi. All of my other fiction projects are either in planning, development, or paused. I just know that I want to get my current WIP set before considering and continuing anything else. Of course, there are some exceptions to this, which include the odd poem or two (I’ve created more than 20 this year, self-published or not published. And, this blog, although I have not done a good job of being consistent posting, I will try and do better as we move on.

What I’m Doing Having to do With Writing

Selfie of a man with a beard wearing a cap, standing in front of a display table with books and game pieces; a kitchen area is visible in the background.
At the Indie Author Book Expo in Des Moines earlier this year.

Although I’ve been cutting back on my appearances, I am going to do one this month in Iowa City. I’ll be participating in the local author book fair at the Iowa City Book Festival later this month.

I’ll be hawking my books The Holy Fool, The Yank Striker series, and my poetry (as well as hyping the new WIP. It will run from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday, October 25, at MERGE, 136 S. Dubuque St., in the heart of the city’s pedestrian mall. I’ve always enjoyed this event and I was happy to return.

Writing Quote(S) of the Month:

This fits me way too well.

The thing all writers do best is find ways to avoid writing.
― Alan Dean Foster

…and I might have posted this before, but I needed to see it again today.

Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.
― Stephen King

When and What I Post

I once posted here about when or what I post on a regular basis. I should say I have not been keeping this schedule regularly, but I’ll see if I can’t pick up the pace.

And Now … How to support me😊.

As always, go to the links on the side if you are reading this on a desktop/laptop or the links on my profile on mobile. If you follow the links, you will be able to buy both the paperback and ebook versions of my books on Amazon. If you just put “Jason Liegois” in Google. you’ll find them on the first page of search results.

I have quite a few places that now carry at least some of my books, some of the many great and fantastic independent bookstores in Iowa and the Midwest.
These are the bookstores you’ll find at least some of my work1:

  • Bent Oak Books, 619 7th St. Fort Madison.
  • Burlington By The Book, 301 Jefferson St, Burlington.
  • The Corner and More, 703 Main St., Mediapolis.
  • Green Point Mercantile, 217 E. 2nd St., Muscatine. [SPECIAL EDITORS NOTE: Green Point Mercantile is temporarily relocated to Salon Incognito, located at 216 E. Second St., due to building issues. Please check them out there or on Instagram – it’s a great store and Candy (the owner) is a fantastic person.]
  • The Brewed Book, 1524 Harrison St., Davenport.
  • The Black Rose, 116 W. Main St., West Branch
  • Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave. # S1, Des Moines.
  • Pella Books, 824 Franklin St., Pella.
  • The Atlas Collective, 1801 5th Ave, Moline, Illinois.

I’m always looking for some new places to place my books, so feel free to hit me up in the comments if you have a suggestion.

For those who are budget conscious among all of you, my books are part of the collections of the Fort Madison, Burlington, and eventually at the Musser (Muscatine) public libraries.

My poetry book The Flow and the Journey is available at Bent Oak, Green Point, Burlington By the Book, and The Corner and More, but it is also available online but not on Amazon. If you want to get a physical copy, go ahead and click below:

  • The Flow and the Journey
The Flow and the Journey - Image 1

The Flow and the Journey

$6.00

The first collection of poetry from author Jason Liegois.

Category:
Tags: , ,

This is my obligatory announcement that if any podcasters or bloggers are interested in new fiction, if you are interested in stories based in the worlds of journalism and soccer, or if you are interested in featuring writers from Iowa or the Midwest, I would absolutely be open for a feature or interview. Get in touch here or at jasonliegois@liegois.media.

If you don’t have the budget for a paid subscription, feel free to just send me a one-time payment of whatever you have the budget for.

Button with a coffee cup icon and the text 'Buy me a coffee' on a yellow background

Looking forward to fall, fall weather, and fall colors.

All you writers keep writing and everyone keep safe.

-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. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.
  1. All Iowa locations unless otherwise noted. ↩︎

Worldbuilding, Part 3/?

globes and map on table

Oooh, you guys are lucky I’ve managed to slap this together. I’m within hours of getting my son married and I woke up soon enough before I had to get dressed to pull this off. Thanks to those looking ahead to this.

It’s once again time for The Writing Lab, where I pass along any insights into the craft of writing I’ve picked up during the past thirty years or so.

Recently, I started a new series on an aspect of writing, specifically prewriting/planning, that is often misunderstood. The process is that of worldbuilding – specifically, the art of creating a fictional world in which your characters and story reside. As I mentioned before, this is a more detailed process than simply deciding what the setting of the story is, and it can be useful especially if you decide to set a longer story or a series of stories in the same world.

[AUTHOR’S ONGOING NOTE FOR THIS SERIES:] The advice I give here is geared mostly toward fiction writing; however, it can easily be applied to nonfiction as well. I will say worldbuilding is primarily a fiction-writing process as I describe it here.

Flowchart depicting a writing process with steps: Prewrite, Draft, Revise, Edit, and Publish. Each step is represented in a colored box with directional arrows connecting them.
A representation of the writing process in full. Note that prewriting is at the start of the process.

World building is not just about creating a place, but crafting a story that exists within it, giving life to its inhabitants and breathing soul into its landscapes.

― J. Edwards Holt, The Seven Branches

“Real-Life” Settings and How They Can Be More Complicated Than You Think

chicago skyline
Photo by K on Pexels.com

A “real-life” setting seems to avoid many of the pitfalls of “fictional” settings at first glance. Your readers, for the most part, will be familiar with the place and time period, although this can be less so if you are dealing with historical fiction, especially in settings further back into history. You should be familiar with the people of the location, their customs, and all the ins and outs of the place and time.

Oh, if were only that simple.

As it turns out, when you use actual settings for your worldbuilding, you can run into some particularly tricky problems. Since these settings are real, real people (and real readers) will be familiar with them, and any sense of inauthenticity, anything that is not true to life, can be particularly tricky.

To illustrate, I’ll mention a project from my own writing experience. My first novel, The Holy Fool, was set in the “real world” (Chicago in the fall of 2008). I had to make sure my research was on point. I compiled a timeline of real-world events during the given time period so I could be familiar with what journalists in Chicago in Fall 2008 would have been concerned with.

In addition, although I was born outside Chicago and have frequently visited the city, my knowledge of the place was admittedly limited compared to native residents. So, I ended up making considerable use of some travel guide books, which gave me invaluable information about the different neighborhoods of the city and their histories. I don’t think I would have been able to pull it off without that research.

“Fictional” Settings and How They Always Tend to Reflect Reality

a red glowing city with a red light
Photo by Pachon in Motion on Pexels.com

Again, this seems as straightforward (although more labor-intensive) than real-life locations. It’s your world. You get to decide how many people are in it, what their culture (or cultures) are, you can lay out what it looks like physically, and you can assemble the history of the place all on your own.

However, the real world has a way of edging into fantasy.

In the Lord of the Rings series, Tolkien’s World War I experiences inevitably crept into his descriptions of warfare. Middle Eastern culture, language, and customs were sources for Frank Herbert to develop his Dune series1.

And George R.R. Martin? He build Westeros and Essos from fragments of Middle Ages societies from around the world. To illustrate:

Ironborn = Vikings

Dothraki = Mongols

Yi Ti = Chinese/East Asian

Riverlands = Medieval Germany

Reach = Medieval France

The North = Scotland

Essos = Byzantine and other Mideast culture

The bridge at Volantis = London Bridge

The Wall = Hadrian’s Wall

…And so on.

So, in short, both approaches at worldbuilding have advantages and disadvantages, and they are not as separate of a process as it might seem.

…but feel free to ignore my advice if it clashes with writing techniques that work for you. Everyone writes differently.

Next Time at The Writing Lab:

We’ll get into some more basics of worldbuilding, including some of the techniques I have used and continue to use to help develop my own worlds in fiction.

See you then.

-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. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.
  1. I do not acknowledge the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson Dune novels. Fight me. ↩︎

Worldbuilding, Part 2/?

triangle and decagon shaped dice

It’s once again time for The Writing Lab, where I try to pass along any insights into the craft of writing I’ve learned during the past thirty years or so.

Last month, I started a new series on an aspect of writing, specifically prewriting/planning, that is often misunderstood. The process is that of worldbuilding1 – specifically, the art of creating a fictional world in which your characters and story reside.

It’s a bit more in-depth than just the regular planning you might so to establish the time and place of your story. For example, you wouldn’t likely need to go into in-depth worldbuilding just for the sake of a short story. (However, if you wanted to set multiple short stories in the same world2, you might want to put more thought into it.)

In this post, I’m going to lay out the categories I would consider essential to worldbuilding and detail what I consider the differences between simply establishing a setting and a larger worldbuilding project, as well as some concepts to keep in mind when you are deciding on what these elements look like in your story.

Let’s get started.

[AUTHOR’S ONGOING NOTE FOR THIS SERIES:] The advice I give here is geared mostly toward fiction writing; however, it can easily be applied to nonfiction as well. I will say worldbuilding is primarily a fiction-writing process as I describe it here.

Flowchart depicting a writing process with steps: Prewrite, Draft, Revise, Edit, and Publish. Each step is represented in a colored box with directional arrows connecting them.
A representation of the writing process in full. Note that prewriting is at the start of the process.

I propose to speak about fairy-stories, though I am aware that this is a rash adventure. Faërie is a perilous land, and in it are pitfalls for the unwary and dungeons for the overbold.

― J.R.R. Tolkien, Tolkien On Fairy-stories

Categories

I would separate the different aspects of worldbuilding (and probably setting, as well), into three different categories. The physical aspects of worldbuilding covers the physical, or tangible, location of your story. The temporal aspects of worldbuilding covers what period of time your story takes place in. Finally, the social aspects of worldbuilding cover the society and culture of the characters in your story, which affect their actions just as much as the physical and temporal aspects do.

Down below, I’m going to explain how worldbuilding is a more elaborate process than simply establishing setting in your story, by showing some examples from these categories.

The Physical Aspects

Establishing Setting

Every story requires a physical location where the action takes place, whether it is an actual location, an entirely fictional realm, or (as usually is the case), some subtle blend of the two. Of these three, I personally consider the actual location option to be the most difficult of all these. You become very self-conscious of being able to authentically portray an actual setting in a way that seems believable to those readers who inhabit the place3.

In any story, you have to determine how many locations you will have, their general size and relationship to each other, and maybe a few key elements and landmarks. Usually, it’s the type of planning a writer can do as he creates a rough draft.

Worldbuilding

One of the most famous fictional maps in history was the one created by J.R.R. Tolkien for his book series The Lord of the Rings. He hand-drew a map of his fictional Middle Earth, complete with names for the castles, rivers, and mountain ranges of the various kingdoms of men, elves, dwarfs, and others.

He didn’t just stop at the map, however. He invented histories for all of these locations, and descriptions of them, even locations where the characters in the series did not visit. It’s a far more detailed process, one you should most likely start even before you start on a rough draft. As George R.R. Martin later found, it’s often difficult to keep track of all these locations and names as you go along.

The Temporal Aspects

Establishing Setting

As with the physical, all writers have to determine the amount of time their story will take, and in which order this time is traveled, so to speak. Usually, most writers (myself included) simply stick to the order in which events occur, although there are plenty of stories (the film Pulp Fiction comes immediately to mind) where an out-of-sequence retelling can add something interesting to the tale.

Worldbuilding

When it comes to worldbuilding, however, you have to expand on this thinking more. Whether you are telling a story in a certain point in the past or in some far-off time in the future, you have to consider what will be known to the people of your world at that time. How will it influence the action or other parts of your world4? It’s a question science fiction authors have to ask themselves all the time.

The Social Aspects

Establishing Setting

It’s surprising about how you can develop society and culture in a short story. I used to teach “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson as an fictional example of the discussion of a process. However, looking back on that story, I also see it as a very efficient creation of a cultural event (the lottery itself) with just enough explanation to keep the story humming along. In the case of a short story, it often works better if there are some things the reader doesn’t know for sure.

Worldbuilding

Any sizable writing should make you think in more detail about the society and culture of your world. However, when you get into the realms of fantasy, science fiction, and horror writing, you have to get a bit more expansive in explaining the society and culture your characters find themselves in. What faiths do the characters follow? What do their places of worship look like? If there is a system of magic in your world, how does it work? Is there more than one system? Are there other languages or customs similar or dissimilar to those your audience is familiar with?

It can get pretty complicated – you start off with describing the system of government in your world, and by the end you might be creating an 18-page glossary of terms like Frank Herbert for Dune or creating a whole language like Tolkien did for Middle Earth?

And sometimes you can go overboard in a way that doesn’t help your story. But I’ll get into those issues later.

…but feel free to ignore my advice if it clashes with writing techniques that work for you. Everyone writes differently.

Next Time at The Writing Lab:

We’ll get into some more basics of worldbuilding, including differences between realistic worlds and fantasy/science fiction worlds (not as much of a difference as you might assume at first glance).

See you then.

-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. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.
  1. I checked Merriam-Webster, Cambridge Dictionary, and a couple other locations to confirm “worldbuilding” can be used as one word despite what auto-correct keeps telling me. ↩︎
  2. By “world,” I do not mean an actual planet, although this could serve as the world for your story. It is simply the physical and temporal space your story exists in, whatever shape this takes. ↩︎
  3. Truthfully, this nervousness about authentic settings also applies to the temporal and social categories, as well. ↩︎
  4. There is quite a bit of interplay between all three setting/worldbuilding categories. ↩︎

By The Way, What Have I Been Writing?

student taking notes in buenos aires classroom

I decided I’m going to try and get into a little more detail about the one project I’m putting my creative energies (such as they are at the moment).

I’ve been tripped up by some realizations about the project, but I think I’m on the verge of moving forward on something that is going to be good. A story set in a town much like the ones I grew up in and grew older in. I look forward to bringing it all to you.

A book cover titled 'Shadows on the Mississippi' by Jason Liegois, featuring a vibrant sunset over the Mississippi River with silhouettes of trees and a lamppost.

Shadows on the Mississippi

What you don’t know is in the water and the land can definitely hurt you.

What happened to Iowa Nice? It must be something in the water…

Mescootin, Iowa – a quiet little Mississippi River town now supported by big agribusiness. Over one summer, three former high school classmates reunite in town as the 10-year anniversary of their graduation approaches:

  • Logan Fischer, an officer with the Mescootin Police Department, is seeing a rash of unexplained animal attacks and a rise in violent crime among residents.
  • Nikki Sundstrom, an ecologist and former girlfriend of Logan, who returns to Mescootin after years away to investigate the possible dumping of new toxic substances into already polluted lands and waters.
  • Their friend, Ty Garabaldi, a former agribusiness worker turned coffeehouse owner, who seeks justice at the ballot box from businesses who’ve escaped government scrutiny.

All three must come together when a disaster is poised to destroy their hometown once and for all…

After years of idolizing Stephen King, I’m finally attempting a story that might fit into the horror category. Ever since I started this story last Halloween, I’ve been hyped about its possibilities.

I’m currently at more than 47,000 words on the rough draft. I could likely cut quite a bit more if I wanted, but I feel like I have to wrap up the rough draft before I even consider something like that.

I’m on a new scene, now. Someone finally got hurt, and one of my main characters is making a speech about holding people accountable. Hope you like it when the project finally comes out.

All you writers keep writing and all of you 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. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.

September Newsletter: Liegois Media

sailboat in front of picturesque lighthouse landscape

Hey, everyone,

Ooh, it’s been a hot minute, hasn’t it? We’ll let’s not worry about August and head straight into September, all things considered. Sorry about that.

Let’s get started.

The Home Front

I am, reluctantly, going to be relatively tight-lipped about the reason or reasons why I suddenly stopped dead in the middle of summer and just stared at the screen for a couple months. While I’m not one of those fans of “vaguebooking” or “vaguejournaling,” I do think you have to be discrete in my position as an educator and now is one of those times.

What I will say is this. my health is overall well; all is well with my wife, kids, and immediate family. Essentially, I had a personal revelation about myself that has to do with how I think about things and process information. It was something that manifested itself (well, it was manifesting itself for a long time; I just realized it was actually manifesting in the way it was until now.

I also will say the main way this manifested myself into my writing is that I came to realize, as I was reviewing my recent work (see below), that I was paying so much attention to details, worldbuilding, and with the little details in the story I almost was ignoring the main plotline in my works and developing characters and their motivation. In some ways, I became more aware of how my main characters might think and react to things in a way I wouldn’t have been aware of before.

So, this realization was a bit of a shock to me.

I spent pretty much all of my summer staring at screens and second-guessing everything I wrote. Not that I had doubts about my writing skills, but I was seeing how I had developed blind spots in my creative life, and I couldn’t just ignore the situation.

This realization I just had likely has some other implications for me, but for now I will set those aside as not being something I want to get into here. The overall message is, I had a sudden realization about the way I think and who I am that startled me a bit.

What does this mean for me, moving forward with the writing?

I have to say that with the past two weeks, which have coincided with the beginning of the school year, I have started to regather myself toward writing. Frankly, I’ve not been eager to write anything, whether it’s Substack blurbs or fiction. I do know I want to pick up my pace, even though I might not be announcing my word count on a regular basis for the remainder of the year. And I do have one or two goals for the remainder of this year that might not necessarily fit onto a data spreadsheet.

Now, enough of the personal mumbo-jumbo; time to discuss what I have (or have not) gotten accomplished.

What I’m Writing Now

A sunset over the Mississippi River, with vibrant orange and red hues, featuring a silouetted street lamp and trees, along with the title 'Shadows on the Mississippi' and the author's name 'By Jason Liegois'.

What is it? An environmental sci-fi horror tale in a quiet Iowa town on the Mississippi River. In a state where agricultural pollution effects people and the environment are a big deal, the new pollution is getting into everyone…

Status: As of now, this novel is, I am certain, the main project and focus of my fiction efforts.

This story has dominated my thoughts. Many of the issues Iowa face now are going to pop up in this book. It doesn’t take too much imagination to consider how such issues could blow up into far wilder situations.

I’m currently over 47,000 words on this project after I’ve done some severe carving to the first three chapters and some more on later ones. Looking at the calendar, it might be a bit ambitious to finish the first draft by this Halloween, the first anniversary of when I began my work.

Prediction: Rough draft hopefully completed by the end of this year. Stay tuned.

Currently Untitled Anthology Submission

What is it?

A short story about a man who gets in trouble for speaking the truth… and then decides to see if he can make a run for the line.

Status:

This is a short speculative fiction story with a border or line theme. I just submitted it for a local fiction anthology, although I think it will be a few months before I learn of its publication status.

I ended up writing about 10,000 words, so I hope it didn’t end up rambling. This main character might have ended up being a lot like me. I’ll look forward to all of you reading it one way or the other.

[NOTE: For more detailed summaries/synopses of other projects of mine in various states, as well as my initial plans for the year, check out this link.]

Writing Quote(S) of the Month:

As it is in art, it is in writing.

To be an artist means never to avert one’s eyes.

― Akira Kurosawa

When and What I Post

I once posted here about when or what I post on a regular basis. I should say I have not been keeping this schedule regularly, but I’ll see if I can’t pick up the pace.

And Now … How to support me😊.

As always, go to the links on the side if you are reading this on a desktop/laptop or the links on my profile on mobile. If you follow the links, you will be able to buy both the paperback and ebook versions of my books on Amazon. If you just put “Jason Liegois” in Google. you’ll find them on the first page of search results.

I have quite a few places that now carry at least some of my books, some of the many great and fantastic independent bookstores in Iowa and the Midwest.
These are the bookstores you’ll find at least some of my work1:

  • Bent Oak Books, 619 7th St. Fort Madison.
  • Burlington By The Book, 301 Jefferson St, Burlington.
  • The Corner and More, 703 Main St., Mediapolis.
  • Green Point Mercantile, 217 E. 2nd St., Muscatine. [SPECIAL EDITORS NOTE: Green Point Mercantile is temporarily relocated to Salon Incognito, located at 216 E. Second St., due to building issues. Please check them out there or on Instagram – it’s a great store and Candy (the owner) is a fantastic person.]
  • The Brewed Book, 1524 Harrison St., Davenport.
  • The Black Rose, 116 W. Main St., West Branch
  • Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave. # S1, Des Moines.
  • Pella Books, 824 Franklin St., Pella.
  • The Atlas Collective, 1801 5th Ave, Moline, Illinois.

I’m always looking for some new places to place my books, so feel free to hit me up in the comments if you have a suggestion.

For those who are budget conscious among all of you, my books are part of the collections of the Fort Madison, Burlington, and eventually at the Musser (Muscatine) public libraries.

My poetry book The Flow and the Journey is available at Bent Oak, Green Point, Burlington By the Book, and The Corner and More, but it is also available online but not on Amazon. If you want to get a physical copy, go ahead and click below:

  • The Flow and the Journey
The Flow and the Journey - Image 1

The Flow and the Journey

$6.00

The first collection of poetry from author Jason Liegois.

Category:
Tags: , ,

This is my obligatory announcement that if any podcasters or bloggers are interested in new fiction, if you are interested in stories based in the worlds of journalism and soccer, or if you are interested in featuring writers from Iowa or the Midwest, I would absolutely be open for a feature or interview. Get in touch here or at jasonliegois@liegois.media.

If you don’t have the budget for a paid subscription, feel free to just send me a one-time payment of whatever you have the budget for.

Button with a coffee cup icon and the text 'Buy me a coffee' on a yellow background

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. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.
  1. All Iowa locations unless otherwise noted. ↩︎

Apologies

sticky note with apology

This is just me saying sorry to everyone.

I’ve probably been hanging out on Substack more than here, and my posts show it.

Basically, ever since the end of May I’ve been something on a personal self-improvement run, particular concentrating on my mental health and processes. I want to emphasize that I’m doing well, but given how I tend to have to keep things quiet and confidential in my line of work, on some of these things I have to say relatively vague. I will say I’ve learned a bit more about myself and my past than I ever anticipated.

So, I’ve been horrible about posting (or reposting) on here. I will get caught up slightly this week, or soon. I’m finding it more time-consuming and labor-intensive trying to cross-post on two blogging platforms. What that looks like going forward is an open question for me.

Anyway, I’ll post my newsletter next. Thanks for following if nothing else, especially those who have been doing so for a while.

I’ll try to explain more as we go along. I’ll see you soon.

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. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.

July Newsletter: Liegois Media

Hey, everyone,

I was a bit (more than a little bit) later with this than what I anticipated – so it might make this a short newsletter, but that’s all right. Might get into it if I can here.

This is The Writing Life, my monthly newsletter about a writer of many interests (me) and what’s been going on with me and my writing.

Let’s get started.

What I’m Writing Right Now

[NOTE: For more detailed summaries/synopses of the works in progress I discuss below, go to this link. The story below also contains some titles I have been working on but not at the level of the projects I’m discussing this month, so you can find out about them there.

Shadows on the Mississippi

What is it? An environmental sci-fi horror tale in a quiet Iowa town on the Mississippi River. In a state where agricultural pollution effects people and the environment are a big deal, the new pollution is getting into everyone…

Status: See above in the “Meta-Commentary” section. I think I’m just about finished with the first round of revisions (call the draft SOM 1.5 for now). I’ve sorted out the first 50 pages and I’ve gotten some good initial feedback from writing ground members. Now I need to keep the action going.

Stay tuned.

Currently Untitled Anthology Submission

What is it?

A short story about a man who gets in trouble for a bit of dissent … and then decides to see if he can make a run for the line.

Status:

This is a short story I’m submitting for an anthology (I’ll go into more details if I get it). The collection is speculative fiction with a border or line theme. It has to be 4,000-12,000 words, so I have to get moving on this since it is due by 31 August of this year.

I had to fix things around since I realized right when I started things that I was revealing too much at the beginning. I think the result will keep readers guessing. I’ll let you know how it goes.

What I’m Doing Having to do With Writing Now

First of all, thanks to Jenn Thompson and the organizers of the Indie Author Book Expo for having me over at the 11th annual expo late last month. It was a fantastic experience as always.

All set for a day’s book signing and selling.

As I am working on my new work in progress, I want to try and concentrate on getting this closer to publication (whatever shape that takes) rather than promoting my past works, but I still am open to some possibilities if they come open, especially events closer to my home ground.

The Home Front

As I write this, the US Men’s National (Soccer/Football) Team is struggling against Belgium in the Round of 161. Admittedly, this has occupied much of my mental bandwidth, considering I was crazy enough to write a book series about what I thought the first US soccer superstar might look like.

Enough foolishness has been written and spoken about the given controversy over Flo Balogun, but what I will do here is list two quotes that summarize the sport I love so well2.

It’s the money, you morons.

– Giorgio Chinaglia, Italian philosopher and footballer, regarding the reason why events happen in football/soccer.

Football, bloody hell.

– Sir Alex Ferguson, Scottish football manager, Manchester United.

Feels like I have been at loose ends for a while for summer break 2026. I’ve been keeping to myself, trying to walk regularly, do things for my physical and mental health, not to get more specific than that.

As for the Fourth of July, it went all right for my family, even with all the attendant weirdness. I try not to get too far into the political weeds here on The Writing Life, but I admire and subscribe to Laura Jedeed on Substack, and she put together a good article on the Fourth of July celebrations in Washington, DC. Click here to check it out.

My son’s wedding is in two weeks. Looking forward to it.

Writing Quote(S) of the Month:

Maybe this explains last month 🤣:

Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That’s why it’s so hard.

― David McCullough

And one more quote from the King.

Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.

― Stephen King

When and What I Post

Check this out for when and what I post on a regular basis.

How to support me😊.

As always, go to the links on the side if you are reading this on a desktop/laptop or the links on my profile on mobile. If you follow the links, you will be able to buy both the paperback and ebook versions of my books on Amazon. If you just put “Jason Liegois” in Google. you’ll find them on the first page of search results.

I have quite a few places that now carry at least some of my books, some of the many great and fantastic independent bookstores in Iowa and the Midwest.
These are the bookstores you’ll find at least some of my work3:

  • Bent Oak Books, 619 7th St. Fort Madison.
  • Burlington By The Book, 301 Jefferson St, Burlington.
  • The Corner and More, 703 Main St., Mediapolis.
  • Green Point Mercantile, 217 E. 2nd St., Muscatine. [SPECIAL EDITORS NOTE: Green Point Mercantile is temporarily relocated to Salon Incognito, located at 216 E. Second St., due to building issues. Please check them out there or on Instagram – it’s a great store and Candy (the owner) is a fantastic person.]
  • The Brewed Book, 1524 Harrison St., Davenport.
  • The Black Rose, 116 W. Main St., West Branch
  • Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave. # S1, Des Moines.
  • Pella Books, 824 Franklin St., Pella.
  • The Atlas Collective, 1801 5th Ave, Moline, Illinois.

I’m always looking for some new places to place my books, so feel free to hit me up in the comments if you have a suggestion.

For those who are budget conscious among all of you, my books are part of the collections of the Fort Madison, Burlington, and eventually at the Musser (Muscatine) public libraries.

My poetry book The Flow and the Journey is available at Bent Oak, Green Point, Burlington By the Book, and The Corner and More, but it is also available online but not on Amazon. If you want to get a physical copy, go ahead and click below:

  • The Flow and the Journey
The Flow and the Journey - Image 1

The Flow and the Journey

$6.00

The first collection of poetry from author Jason Liegois.

Category:
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This is my obligatory announcement that if any podcasters or bloggers are interested in new fiction, if you are interested in stories based in the worlds of journalism and soccer, or if you are interested in featuring writers from Iowa or the Midwest, I would absolutely be open for a feature or interview. Get in touch here or at jasonliegois@liegois.media.

If you don’t have the budget for a paid subscription, feel free to just send me a one-time payment of whatever you have the budget for.

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. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.
  1. Aaand we’re out. USA 1-4 BEL. The US boys played their hearts out. However, I might always believe a certain American put a curse on the team. #USMNT always. ↩︎
  2. Would anyone be interested in a short story regarding how my series main character, DJ Ryan, might have handled soccer and politics? Or maybe I’m the only one who’s interested in it, which might be par for the course lol. ↩︎
  3. All Iowa locations unless otherwise noted. ↩︎

Writing Journal 2 July 2026: Tough to write this or anything at the moment

photograph of crumpled paper near a pencil

Whelp, it’s been a bit, hasn’t it?

In all honesty, I’ve procrastinated about writing this post, or something like it, for the past several weeks. I always sort of understood why some of my students would rather repeat a grade rather than do an assignment they’d prefer not to do, but this past month or so has been an illustration of how it would actually work (lol).

I once had bold, gold aspirations to massive word counts for 2026. I had hoped to make it to 230,000 words this year and make my daily minimum writing quota (see below if you are not familiar with it) at least 85 percent of the time. Based on what I had written over the past couple of years, those goals appeared to be attainable.

Over the past eight weeks, however, my productivity has collapsed.

While I realize pure word count is not indicative, necessarily, of progress in your writing. And this year, I’ve come to the conclusion that completing one work in progress (WIP) has become the massive priority it has. I want to make sure this book gets finished, because in the personal inventory I’ve been doing on myself, I think it’s the key to where my head is at right now.

At this point, I’ve gotten so behind on writing new work it’s not funny. In all honesty, I think instead of putting all of those numbers up here, I will instead list my monthly totals for May and June 2026, as well a full stat recap for the first part of the year. I think these numbers should show the tale:

Writing statistics, May 2026:
Words: 11,363
Revising or planning:1,260 minutes.
Daily Writing Goals Met: 69 percent.

Writing statistics, June 2026:
Words: 2,431
Revising or planning:1,445 minutes.
Daily Writing Goals Met: 87 percent.

Writing Statistics, first half of 2026:
Words (total): 86,542
Words (avg.): 14,424
Revise/Plan (total): 3,335 min.
Revise/Plan (avg.): 556 min.
DWGM (avg.): 76%

Yes, absolutely horrific statistics for me considering the past several years of my work. How to explain this?

  1. My main focus right now is a work in progress (WIP) I started on Halloween last year, a sci-fi environmental horror project set in a little Mississippi River town in Iowa, known as Shadows on the Mississippi.
    In the process of writing the book, I came to the realization that I have devoted far too much time to worldbuilding and minutiae and not enough on a propulsive story that might attract people.
    For the past several weeks, I have been performing major surgery on SOTM. I cut the first 57 pages down to a lean and mean 50-page, three-chapter opener I’m feeling much better about before. And I am now in the process of finishing up two things I think the rough draft (or SOTM 1.5, perhaps) require – a plausible threat that I won’t have to get into a massive amount of sci-fi research to pull off, and then taking a close look at the pacing of the book. If I want this to be a good horror, it needs to have good tension and pace.
  2. World Cup 2026. Obviously, this has distracted me. I have to watch from home because I’m not going to take out a loan to get one World Cup ticket and have to travel all the way over to the West Coast to watch the US Men’s National Team play (I don’t have too much interest in seeing the other teams live). I’ve been privileged to already watch the USMNT play in person before, so that’s already off my bucket list. I’m definitely distracted, especially with the US about to play Belgium this coming Monday.
  3. Some personal realizations about my writing in general are leading me to question not only how I put together my work, but how I deal with people generally. I should keep vague on this until I have some clarity on this, but rest assured I am not in danger or in any particular harm. In some ways, I have to learn how to write again, or concentrate on what I need to concentrate on.

Well, that’s about all I want to get into for now. This is the closest I’ve come to writing an Iowan Stephen King story. If I give it the attention it deserves, I won’t. I can’t wait to share it with you.

Have a good week everyone, and all you writers keep writing. Hopefully I show up next week as I normally schedule.

If you don’t have the budget for a paid subscription, feel free to just send me a one-time payment of whatever you have the budget for.

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. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.

An Apology and Checking In

It’s been a minute, hasn’t it?

And those of you who were paying attention – no, I did not run an article last weekend, and no, this was not expected.

I couldn’t do this without citing one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite all-time writers. I should have known I’d relate to this too well.

I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.

– Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time

Why It Happened

I’d be at least slightly fibbing if part of the drop off hasn’t had at least a little to do with the World Cup, especially those of you who know my soccer obsessiveness up close.

It’s been good action and the US has been doing slightly better than I expected, as well as some other countries who are not traditional World Cup powers. I’m not intending to go to any of these games in person, not even the US ones, not even though the games will be in this country. It’ll just be too much hassle.

In short, tickets are too expensive and I’m not keen on dragging myself all to the West Coast to catch my team playing. Despite everything that would be cool about being there in person, I’m doing just fine watching it all from the couch.

But Really…

I’ve been pondering a few things.

One is, as I mentioned before, I was feeling very self-conscious about the direction of my fiction. In all honesty, I’m thinking that I’m writing my work way too much for my own amusement without giving any thought as to whether anyone might be interested in picking up my work.

As I’ve gotten into two works in progress (one of those being Shadows on the Mississippi), I’ve come to realize that I spend way too much time discussing my fictional worlds and the minutia of those worlds that my stories get lost. This realization has brought my work, for the last two weeks, more or less to a screeching halt.

Part of this is some issues that I believe do tie into this, but because I haven’t fully looks into the matter, I don’t want to get into it here at this time. Sufficient to say that there are ways I think about things that seem slightly different than others. However, I will say I suspect the two things are at least marginally connected. So, I’m investigating it, but be assured there is no life-threatening or other severe issue I’m dealing with. I’m just figuring out, over the course of decades, how my mind works best. If something important comes of it, I’ll let you know.

For now, here on WordPress I’m going to be working on my writing journal (detailing my lack of writing for the past couple of weeks (and then try to add on some others I haven’t posted here recently). See you around.

One Last Item:

And also…

Screenshot

I’ll be at the 11th annual Indie Author Book Expo from 12 to 5 p.m. at the Valley Junction Activity Center. This is one of the bigger book events in Des Moines during the year and I’ll be happy to return there once again.

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. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.

Prose Night at The Writing Life, 9 August 2025: Why do I continue to write

A couple of days ago, I decided to put together a video with which I intended to both ask and offer some help to fellow writers as well. Promotion and marketing have been mysteries for me, although I’m making much more of an effort to do this than I ever had before.

So, I shot the video. I’m getting a bit more confident with editing skills and putting videos together. For example, as part of these experiences, I learned Instagram doesn’t use its algorithm to recommend videos, so stay away from those. Meanwhile, I learned Substack helps you generate shorter clips of videos to use as promo clips. So I can use the promo clips on Insta while referring the Insta viewers back to Substack for thew full video.

Well, the video is below. And it wound up being almost more of a soliloquy and reflection than a request to my audience.

I can’t approach writing as just another job. It’s something far more important to me, my identity. I want to tell the stories that are important to me, and if they aren’t as obviously commercial-ready as other authors, then so be it.

The irony is it was me getting interested in fan-fiction – an absolutely non-commercial enterprise – that got be reinvigorated in the process of fiction writing again. I think it’s about time for me to do another one of my An Author’s Biography pieces about the influence that experience has had on my work.

Until then, take care, everyone.