This has been a pretty heavy revising week for me. In all honesty, I need to revise more, because I’m a little unsure how soon I will be finished with my current revising work on The Yank Striker’s Journey.
My totals:
Writing statistics for the week ending 26 April 2025: Words: 2,976 Days writing: 5 of 7. Days revising or planning: 7 of 7 for 780 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 7 of 7 days.
As you can see, light on the writing but very heavy on the revision – maybe heavier than I’ve ever had on a week, and I still feel like I’ve been slacking off. I’ll worry a little later what the April results are and where that puts me on my productivity for the year.
I’m still planning on June 2025 for a release on this book. Hopefully I will have a more exact date as the revising process starts.
That’s it for now. Everyone take care of yourselves.
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I have to admit the poetry wasn’t as free flowing as it has been recently. There’s a good explanation for that – I’ve been in the midst of revising my upcoming novelThe Yank Striker’s Journey. It’s a bit difficult to write words when you’re trying to trim down words you’ve written, among other skills. It’s especially true when you are trying to write in something approaching verse but revising in prose. But, those are the breaks, and I am dedicating myself to try and actually write poetry rather than just brag I write it every once in a while1. So, as usual, I decided to follow what was going around me as inspiration for today’s offerings.
Since Substack doesn’t quite have the setup for this, I’ve set up something here at Liegois Media. I set up my own Internet storefront page where you can order my chapbook for $6 per copy. This is the link, as is the one below.
Onto the new words. The first poem is inspired by the arrival of the shortest season in the state of Iowa – Spring.
Spring is Sprung
26 April 2025, Fort Madison, Iowa
It’s a fantastic feeling
Driving with the windows open
No sweat on your brow
Shirtsleeve comfort
Bright sun direct and above
No cloud in the sky
Enjoying the first soft-serve ice cream cone
Of Spring.
There’s a regret wrapped in the joy
Because this is Iowa
And in a few weeks
Summer and corn sweat will fill the air.
I couldn’t get revising off my mind this weekend, so it ended up in a poem.
Disappearing Words
26 April 2025, Fort Madison, Iowa
It’s a wonderful sensation
Just like creation
Of the words and worlds from your mind.
You feel accomplished again
When you read words then
Start making them disappear.
The aim is for
You to say less and not more
While allowing the reader to fill the empty spaces.
You hammer the words
Like the smith beat the swords
And leave yourself something strong and true.
That’s it for tonight. See you poetry fans back here in May.
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1I’m even writing several poems I’m not planning on publishing right away, which I never used to do. I like having the freedom of writing something without having the pressure of wanting to publish it right away. ↩︎
I had a slow week at first, but I had a great Easter weekend when I agree to go to a day-long writing retreat with some of my old writing friends from the Des Moines area in nearby Johnston, Iowa, I wrote close to 3,500 words on that day alone. This wound up being the majority of my weekly total, although it was by no means the only time I wrote during the week.
My totals:
Writing statistics for the week ending 19 April 2025: Words: 5,816 Days writing: 5 of 7. Days revising or planning: 3 of 7 for 330 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 6 of 7 days.
Revisions for The Yank Striker’s Journey continue, and June 2025 is when I’m planning on its release. I’ll get into more details once I’ve made more progress, but I don’t want to get to repetitive during these posts.
Once April is up, I will be one-third of the way through the year. I’m hoping I am keeping on pace toward my writing goals, but I’ll not worry about that until I get past the end of this month.
I’m going to cut it short, then. Everyone take care of yourselves.
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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.
One of the biggest observations I’ve ever made about writing is you need to work with what works for you. By this, I mean the art of writing is a very individual process. What works for me, or you, might not necessarily work for each other or for other people; or, it might work but in a heavily modified format.
In this spirit, this week’s writing lab is a continuation of what I began to talk about last month; namely, the task of revising. Where before I went over some of the basics of revision and how it fits into the overall writing process (spoiler; it might be the biggest part of the process), in this post I’m going to go over some basics of how I structure my own revisions and what it looks like for me.
On Revising, Part 2 (of ?): My System: an overview
As I mentioned in the last Writing Lab post, the revising process is something that can be repeated (theoretically) to infinity but (practically) for anywhere from between three to five “rounds” of revisions. Based on everything I said, I’m not set on giving you one hard and fast number you have to stick with all the time. One rule of thumb, however, might be this: Take whatever number or revision rounds you come up with and add one or two to it.
I like to keep track of what changes I make to a document and the differences that come with those changes. But, I’m a lazy person in that I don’t want to give myself a lot of extra unnecessary work. So, I borrowed something from the software world for this process.
I designate the rough draft of every manuscript I write as “Book Project (or whatever its working title is) 1.0.” Whenever it is time for me to start my revisions, I will make a duplicate of the file and then retitle it “Book Project 2.0,” thus letting me know this is the first version of a manuscript now being revised. When it is time to do another full revision, you simply make a copy of the manuscript you are working on and then retitle it Book Project 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, and so on.
What happens if you are making minor changes, or you are only concentrating on one aspect of the manuscript to review? Well, let’s say you decided to see if you didn’t retell a background story to one of your characters or your setting more than a half dozen times. Then, you might make a copy of your manuscript and title it something like Book Project 2.1 or Book Project 2.5. The convenience of this procedure for me is it allows me to make as many smaller changes to a story and I don’t run out of numbers to keep it straight in my head (ex., Book Project 2.5, 2.6, 2.61, 2.8, 2.812, etc.). On most electronic documents like Google Docs or Microsoft Word, it allows you to make notes on the document itself. I can use it to write down comments regarding any major changes to the manuscript.
Exactly what each of those revisions covers is another good question. There are those who believe you should try to look at every aspect of a manuscript in a revision. While I do think it might be a good idea to do this for your first revision, afterwards you might want to fix your attention to one big idea to address in each of your later rounds. Some examples of what some of these big ideas can be include:
Word count. There are plenty of advice articles on how big your manuscripts should be. The consensus is that genre books and most fiction should be under 100,000 words or less. If you haven’t been watching your word count, that could result in a lot of sentences, paragraphs, or even scenes and chapters you must eliminate from your work. You might think it’s impossible to cut a 160,000-word manuscript down below 100,000, but trust me, it is possible. I wound up doing this for my first novel, The Holy Fool. That required a lot of scene cuts and me removing something of a subplot from my novel, but I managed it.
Continuity issues. I remember a scene from the 1985 Arnold Schwarzenegger film Commando where a car is trashed rolling onto its side, Arnold rolls it right side up, and he drives away in a perfectly maintained car. You want to avoid similar silliness, which can come from calling one thing by two different names or having one thing in two different places. In the process of writing my second novel, The Yank Striker, I changed the name of a soccer club halfway through my rough draft, so I wound up having to change pages of description1. It was worth it, but you must be meticulous when you do it.
Other big ideas. Is your main character unlikable? Do you need to give more or less background to your story? Are there subplots that are just fizzling out? Is the pace of your book off, or it takes too long to get going? This is where your heavy lifting happens.
On the next writing lab, I’ll go into some of these processes I skimmed over above and discuss them in more detail. Along the way, I’ll also go into how I’ve used the revising process to make improvements for my books and writings before publication. See you then.
Also, I’m going to post a related Substack Note for this post2, asking those of you with writing and/or revising questions to share them in the responses. I’d love to hear from you and maybe help you with that one project you’ve wanted to get you across the finish line.
See you then.
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The reason for this was due to my obsessiveness for research. I originally named the soccer team from the East End of London which recruits my main character, DJ Ryan, as Donchester FC. However, in speaking online to some people from England, they explained names with Chester as a suffix (meaning camp or fort) were not common in the East End area but those ending with Ford (meaning river crossing). So, Donchester FC became Donford FC. ↩︎
This was the first time in a while I was feeling productive during the week and the numbers eventually agreed with me.
Those totals:
Writing statistics for the week ending 12 April 2025: Words: 4,974 Days writing: 7 of 7. Days revising or planning: 6 of 7 for 510 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 7 of 7 days.
Revisions for The Yank Striker’s Journey have been humming along for the past week, as you can see from the totals. June 2025 is when I’m planning on its release.
Unfortunately, I’ve not spent as much time yet on publicity, contacting media, bookstores, etc., etc. This week I need to get started on that, and check in with my team (such as it is) to coordinate a few things, such as my book cover, plans for proofreading, and so forth. It would be nice to set up an official date for the book release.
I’m still working toward a new personal goal to write 225,000 words this year, which I came very close to in 2024. I’ve written at least 200,000 words a year for the past several years and I’ve made it just about every time. To keep on that pace, I have to write an average of about 4,327 words per week and 18,750 per month. Once I get to the end of this month, I’ll have a better idea if I’m keeping on that pace or not. I was ahead of it at the end of last month, but I’ll be interested to see if I’m staying ahead by the end of April.
That’s it for now. Everyone take care of yourselves.
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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.
I think I might have some idea how to write, having practiced the art seriously, as a hobby or professionally, for the past 30 years or so. As far as marketing myself or my work, however, I am still green by any standards.
People like me often look for techniques or advice for how to do so, especially methods priced well for authors who have to write and publish on a tight budget. We’re also looking for simple, straightforward advice it won’t take a long time to digest. After giving it a read, I have to say The Book Marketing Handbook: How to sell more books in the Digital Age by Robert Sims would be a good place to start for authors beginning their journey into the marketing world.
This is where I need to give full disclosure that Sims and his company, Biblio Publishing, have been the publisher of my books The Holy Fooland The Yank Striker. With this in mind, we’ll move on.
Originally released in 2014, Biblio has recently released a revised version of the book this year. Edited by Connor Mayhorn, it is a brisk 34-page read covering all aspects of online and in-person marketing.
The straightforward text is organized into “Online Marketing” and “Offline Marketing,” even though some tips (such as book cover advice) could fit into either category. It might have been helpful to further organize the smaller sections in the online and offline marketing sections, perhaps in alphabetical order, but the length of the book means you are almost sure to find whatever section you are looking for.
Some of the advice Sims gives seems almost obvious. For example, building your web site or having a presence on Facebook are things almost any author might try even on their own. However, not every author is technically savvy, so I think it is appropriate to go into this advice. Also, as a teacher, I’ve learned not to assume everyone has the same knowledge as everyone else. For example, being able to have a strong description of your book for online sites is something fundamental to that marketing, so it’s important for you to do it right and make your book compelling to read.
There were quite a few items in The Book Marketing Handbook, however, that I was entirely unfamiliar with. For instance, it covers several tips aimed at those who decide to self-publish, such as promotional tools available through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) program, where to find advice on Amazon search engine optimization, and advice on online advertising. I wasn’t too aware of how TikTok was becoming a hub for those interested in reading and talking about books, but The Book Marketing Handbook has made me rethink perhaps having a presence on there.
It also gives some good tips I was little aware of in the area of offline marketing, such as how to approach both Barnes & Noble and independent booksellers to carry your book. Other tips include programs like Lightning Source, a way to make your book available for distributors. I think these are important, especially for younger authors who may be too focused on online marketing and promotions.
I’m not a fan of every piece of advice in The Book Marketing Handbook. For example, I’m not much of a fan of Twitter at the moment, but some of the Twitter tips there could prove useful on BlueSky, especially the advice to make no more than 20 percent of your content be promotional and at least 80 percent toward giving something of value to your audience. Also, I can’t approve of its advice for lower budget authors to use AI programs to design book covers, although I do think the non-AI features of programs like Canva can give authors a more ethical design option.
However, taken in total, The Book Marketing Handbook is a great starter tool for how to reach out and promote your writing to others. I would definitely recommend it for budget-conscious writers to pick up on Amazon if they have the chance.
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.
For a while, I thought I hadn’t put out much of anything new this week, but after totaling up all the words and what-not, it turned out I was not horrifically behind on writing this past week.
Those totals:
Writing statistics for the week ending 5 April 2025: Words: 4,010 Days writing: 5 of 7. Days revising or planning: 6 of 7 for 630 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 7 of 7 days.
This has to be the most time I’ve done for revisions for any week this year – not that much of a surprise as I am deep into revisions for my new book, The Yank Striker’s Journey.I wrote about it in the last monthly newsletter – I’m planning on its release for June of this year. This also means paying attention to a lot of things not having to do specifically with writing, such as publicity, contacting media, bookstores, etc., etc., I would prefer not to, but I want people to know my book’s coming out.
As a reminder, I’m currently pushing myself to write 225,000 words this year, which I came very close to in 2024 but it would be a new record for me. I’ve written at least 200,000 words a year for the past several years and I’ve made it just about every time.To keep on that pace, I have to write an average of about 4,327 words per week and 18,750 per month. It’s a big ask, especially for someone who is doing this part time like I am.
That’s it for now. Everyone take care of yourselves.
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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.
I’ve released the second draft of The Yank Striker 2 to some trusted beta readers, but I was keeping quite busy with new writing over the past week (check it out here in my last newsletter if you are interested). I entered at least two writing competitions, for one thing.
Anyway, here are the numbers for last week:
Writing statistics for the week ending 22 February 2025: Words: 5,165 Days writing: 5 of 7. Days revising or planning: 3 of 7 for 2400 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 6 of 7 days.
I was slightly more inconsistent in my writing and there was slightly less revising time spent, but otherwise the numbers were a bit better than the previous week.
In the end, I can’t have any complaints about productivity this week. I just want to keep writing and revising consistently as I continue into the year. This is my current timeline for The Yank Striker 2.
Beta reads – begin at the start of March and completed by the end of March.
Two more rounds of revisions in April.
Final editing and proofreading in May and concluding by the end of May.
Publication June 2025.
By the way, if you are interested in being a beta reader for The Yank Striker 2, you still have time to hit me up in the comments or at jasonliegois@liegois.media. Make sure to use “Beta Reader Yank Striker 2” in the subject line so I don’t lose track of it.
And here are the stats for the whole month of February:
Writing statistics for February 2025: Words: 18,414. Revise/plan: 885 Minutes. DWGM: 93%
Considering this was a short month, those are quite good numbers.
So, where does this leave me on my 2025 writing goals?
Write 225,000 words this year. To reach this figure, I’d have to average at least 4,327 words per week and 18,750 words per month. I missed that total by just a few hundred words this month (which was February, mind), but not last month, and I’ve missed my weekly totals only one time I had all seven days to write. As of right now, I’m 5,442 words above pace, which is nice to see so soon in the process. Let’s see if I can keep it up.
Meet my daily writing goals 80% of the time. Right now, I’m meeting my minimum quotas 87% of the time, also good to see.
There’s a couple other goals more aimed at project completion, but I’ll hold off on talking about them for now. I’m feeling good, though.
That’s all I have for the moment. All you writers keep writing and the rest of you stay safe.
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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.
Hello and welcome back to my modest little Substack here on the interwebs but produced in southeast Iowa.
For those just joining me here or those who have been away for a while, my publishing schedule has slightly changed.
What you are reading now, The Writing Life, is my official newsletter, where I talk about my upcoming writing projects, promotional events, some personal news, and some odds and ends. It runs on the first weekend of the month, usually (not always) Saturday.
Second weekend of the month is Prose Night. This is where I post an original piece of prose writing. It could be an excerpt of a larger work in progress, an original essay, such as my A Writer’s Biography posts looking back at my life and path as a writer, or the occasional short story.
Third weekend of the month will be The Writing Lab. This will cover advice about writing to readers, as well as glances at issues I’ve faced myself as a writer. Hopefully, it can be useful to those who want to improve their own work. For the first of those last month, I ran a live Substack Chat for anyone wanting to get advice or feedback on writing. That didn’t get much response, so I might try a Substack Note instead. I’ll let you know what I decide.
Fourth weekend of the month is Poetry Night. You get a couple of fresh new poems from me, and likely some random exposition as to why I might have written them. It’s been a good challenge for me to be more productive with my poems, and I’m surprised at how much I’ve grown as a poetry writer in the process.
If there is a fifth weekend in the month, I either take the weekend off or we do a Hodgepodge Night. It could be anything – fiction, non-fiction, poetry, advice – shoot, maybe even a video or podcast if I get crazy.
Anyway, I’ll try not to repeat this list in my later Writing Life newsletters, or I’ll figure out another way to get the schedule out there without clogging up the newsletter.
What I’ve Been Writing
The Yank Striker’s Journey (Previously referred to as The Yank Striker 2): the sequel to my book The Yank Striker: A Footballer’s Beginning. The Yank Striker series follows the exploits of a prospective American soccer player who leaves his family behind to try his fortune with an English Premier League team in the East End of London. The Yank Striker’s Journey focuses on what my main character, Daniel John “DJ” Ryan has to face now he is trying to establish himself as a footballer in England, both as an American in a strange land and someone whose sexual orientation brings extra scrutiny.
I’ve now finished the second draft and have gotten feedback from the majority of my beta readers. I’ve now begun the second of three planned revisions after a first one in February. My plan is to finish this and the third revision by the end of April. In May, I am planning to have a final editing and proofreading session, and this needs to get wrapped up by around Memorial Day. If all goes well, I am hoping for a June release, although I do not have an exact date yet.
The Untitled Pro Wrestling Fiction Project: I’ve been making more progress on this. Over the past year and a half, this story about a family of pro wrestlers from Texas and a young man’s determination to understand what it all means has been at the head of my creative interests for a while, with the exception of The Yank Striker’s Journey. Currently, I’m at more than 36,000 words on the project. However, over the past few months, I’ve had the great opportunity to share the rough draft with two different writing groups. In getting feedback from members of those groups, I’ve come to the conclusion my rough draft starts off at a leisurely pace and it’s not clear enough what the main conflict of the main character is. In 21st century fiction, you just can’t spend the first several pages of a book wandering around the story rather than getting to it. I’m going to continue to make progress on the rough draft, even though every instinct in my head is telling me to go back and rewrite the beginning of the book. It will be an experience, I am sure.
The Heart Project: This is the name of the… let’s call it speculative/fantasy/soft sci-fi story I have in mind informed by our troubled times. This involves four one-time friends, a high school reunion, and a microcosm of a larger sense of chaos. With The Yank Striker’s Journey on my radar, this has been put on the back burner, in all honesty. But I haven’t forgotten about it.
Poetry: No word on whether I swept the Lyrical Iowa 2025 Contest awards, but I’m glad I entered it. Otherwise, I keep trying to produce some more works.
I didn’t win or place in this year’s Iron Pen Contest sponsored by the Midwest Writing Center, but it was a heck of a ride as always. Looking forward to next year’s contest.
In total, however, my writing output over the past two weeks especially has gone down the toilet as I have been spending much time on reviewing revisions for The Yank Striker’s Journey. I want to pick up the pace, especially if I am hoping to write at least 225,000 words written for 2025, which would be a new yearly record for me if I make it. I just need to refocus myself and realize I have to keep producing stuff. I need to realize the rough draft stuff doesn’t have to be perfect.
What I’m Doing Having to do With Writing
I’ve continued to participate in different writer’s groups in the area. I attend one sponsored by the Fort Madison Area Art Association two Tuesdays a week, and I do a virtual meeting with the Midwest Writing Center’s group usually every first and third Saturday, and a live meeting with the Society of Great River Poets in Burlington the same days. Those days get pretty hectic when I make it to both meetings, but I truly get some great feedback and advice from them. I credit the writing groups I previously belonged to, the active Writers on the Avenue in Muscatine and the defunct Iowa Writers’ Corner in Des Moines, with helping me on the path to publishing my past two books.
I absolutely enjoyed my time at the DSM Book Festival last month in Des Moines, hosted by Beaverdale Books in town. I let them know I would absolutely be interested in making a return trip there next year.
Here’s a couple others:
I will be at the the Badger Public Library book fair between around 8 a.m. until noon on Saturday, 17 May, at the Badger Public Library, 211 1st Ave SE, Badger, Iowa. They were one of the first places ever to participate in a book fair and I absolutely enjoyed the experience.
I will be at the 10th anniversary celebration of the Indie Author Book Expo from 12 to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 21, at the Valley Junction Activity Center, 217 Fifth St., West Des Moines. I did this show a couple of times these past few years and it didn’t run last year, but I’ll be back at it in June.
I know I need to get some appearances and other things going to promote the book, and get in contact with some media as well. I think this is the appropriate time to say if any podcasters or bloggers are interested in new fiction, if you are interested in stories based in the world of 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.
Writing Quote(s) of the Week:
This in particular seems to be good advice for many writers, including my own students.
Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report written on birds that he’d had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books about birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
This next quote reminds me I want to put out as much writing and creativity as I can in the time I have left because I spent a lot of time not doing it. I’m trying to make up for lost time, but then again that’s something everyone does when you get down to it.
The second thing you have to do to be a writer is to keep on writing. Don’t listen to people who tell you that very few people get published and you won’t be one of them. Don’t listen to your friend who says you are better that Tolkien and don’t have to try any more. Keep writing, keep faith in the idea that you have unique stories to tell, and tell them. I meet far too many people who are going to be writers ‘someday.’ When they are out of high school, when they’ve finished college, after the wedding, when the kids are older, after I retire . . . That is such a trap You will never have any more free time than you do right now. So, whether you are 12 or 70, you should sit down today and start being a writer if that is what you want to do. You might have to write on a notebook while your kids are playing on the swings or write in your car on your coffee break. That’s okay. I think we’ve all ‘been there, done that.’ It all starts with the writing. ” ― Robin Hobb
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. There’s where you can find out about my first book, the journalism thriller The Holy Fool: A Journalist’s Revolt, as well as the first book in my The Yank Striker series, The Yank Striker: a Footballer’s Beginning.
If you go follow the links above, 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 probably find them on the first page of search results.
If you happen to visit these fine independent book stores in Iowa, you can find my books there:
Bent Oak Books, 619 7th St. Fort Madison.
Green Point Mercantile, 214 Chestnut St., Muscatine.
Burlington By The Book, 301 Jefferson St, Burlington.
Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave. # S1, Des Moines.
Pella Books, 824 Franklin St, Pella.
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.
My poetry book The Flow and the Journey is available at Bent Oak, Green Point and Burlington By the Book, but it is also available online but not on Amazon. I’ve set up a new online store for copies of my chapbook on my WordPress site, Liegois Media. If you want to get a physical copy, go ahead and click on the link below.
The Flow and the Journey
The first collection of poetry from author Jason Liegois.
If you want to support me but can’t quite afford a full subscription, I am now on Venmo. You can just send whatever you can afford. Just click the button below; anything you can provide helps me keep things going.
It’s going to be a hectic few months for me coming up. All you writers keep writing and everyone keep safe.
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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.
I’m thankful that I managed to make something of a mini-comeback during the last week of the month, as I get into a critical time with my year’s work. I have to admit it’s a bit nuts to realize one-fourth of the year is essentially over. All things considered, however, I’m feeling all right about my progress.
Here are the numbers both for last week and last month:
Writing statistics for the week ending 29 March 2025: Words: 4,664 Days writing: 6 of 7. Days revising or planning: 0 of 7 for 0 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 6 of 7 days.
Writing statistics for March 2025: Words: 16,518 Revise/Plan: 180 minutes DWGM: 86%
I’m glad I have managed to do better this week, at least. March was the least productive month so far this year, but at least it was above 15,000 words.
As a reminder, I’m currently pushing myself to write 225,000 words this year, which I came very close to in 2024 but it would be a new record for me. I’ve tried to make sure I write at least 200,000 words a year for the past several years and I’ve made it just about every time.
To keep on that pace, I have to write an average of about 4,327 words per week and 18,750 per month. Right now, I’ve written 59,460 words this year, which is more than 3,000 words above that pace. However, I’ve slightly cut into that cushion of words I’ve built up this year.
As for my other plan to meet my writing goal at least 80% of the time, I’m now at about 86% for the year. That’s looking pretty good.
As for my new work in progress, I recently made a “soft announcement” that the official name of the book will be The Yank Striker’s Journey. My beta reads for the story are about wrapped up and now I have to start working fiercely on a new set of revisions for the book. My schedule for now:
Two more rounds of revisions in April.
Final editing and proofreading in May and concluding by the end of May.
Publication June 2025.
I will also be balancing out an official cover for the book and hopefully some publicity for the new book as well.
That’s it for now. Everyone take care of yourselves.
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