Hi, all you readers old and new. This is the official newsletter of me, Jason Liegois, as I talk about what is going on with me having to do with my writing projects, my personal appearances if I’m making them, and some personal items.
So, let’s talk writing and a couple other things.
The Home Front
Not much to discuss here. I’ve started back with my school district for the 2025-2026 school year, and I’m feeling a bit more settled in with the place. I was also lucky enough to get a bigger room than what I had last year, which was a relief for my students who were feeling a bit crammed into the old place.
It’s good to get at least one year under my belt. At least this year I don’t feel like I’m building every single little thing from the ground up and trying to build relationships with my department colleagues and other teachers, as well as associates. I don’t feel like I’m trying to catch up all the time.
I’m also glad Premier League, the NFL, and the Hawkeyes got started with their seasons, but this week we’re in one of those weird soccer international breaks so I’m watching USA vs. South Korea this afternoon while I’m finishing up the newsletter today. However, they are honoring the legendary US player Michael Bradley at halftime, which I think is overdue1. He’s coaching New York Red Bulls II, the developmental team for the Major League Soccer team of the same name, and I think he could wind up being a great head coach one of these days.
What I’ve Been Writing
In all honesty, I’ve been disappointed with my productivity this past month, which was the least productive from a word count standpoint for this whole year. I’m desperately hoping to try and get more productive this month even though it is now the start of the new school year and restarting teaching once again. I get the feeling I need to have to be able to budget my time and not feel like I have all the time in the world. If I have a lot of time, sometimes I have a tendency to waste it. Hopefully I can turn things around in September.
So, let’s take a look at my ongoing projects, wherever they are in the process of creation.
- The Yank Striker 3 (AKA YS3, AKA Working Title): The Yank Striker series follows the exploits of Daniel John “DJ” Ryan, 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. Check this out if you want more information about the first book in the series, and thislink if you want to know more about Book 2, The Yank Striker’s Journey.
YS3 continues DJ’s story as he attempts to progress as a footballer, despite new challenges and an unexpected event that could either be a setback or opportunity.
When I’ve not been dawdling or trying to distract myself from anything productive, I’ve focused most of my creative energies on this project. I’m happy to note I’m now at more than 11,000 words into the into the rough draft. If I want to get this thing published next year, I truly have to push myself to have a full rough draft ready to go by at least by January. I learned from my experiences with Journey this year I need to take any estimates I have of completing a novel and double it. I’m not taking time for granted this time, especially since you never know when you have scheduling things come up that are totally out of your control. I have an ambitious goal of getting it published by next year, but I’m feel more capable of reaching this goal than I did with Journey at the beginning of this year. - There is also the sequel to my debut novel, The Holy Fool. This journalism thriller features Samuel “Sonny” Turner, a newspaper columnist tasked by his editor and mentor with protecting his newspaper, the Chicago Journal, from sale by its unscrupulous owner and breaking a major story on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars during the 2008 presidential election and Great Recession.
After a considerable break from this project, I’ve gotten back on it this week. The rough draft is now at more than 11,000 words. As with YS3, I don’t want this book to be a massive one, but I am willing to adjust if the story calls to be a little more heavier on word count than I might have expected.
Other projects I haven’t done much on include:
- Kayfabe Stories: This is a story about a family of pro wrestlers from Texas and a young man’s determination to understand what it all means; There’s not much progress on this for a couple of months, for reasons I’ll touch on below. I am poised to write the scene where the main character’s grandfather steps into a wrestling ring for the first time.
- The Untitled Iowa Series: Over the past year, I’ve started to want to write some books set in Iowa. For one thing, I’ve started to feel a compulsion to tell some stories based here in the actual Midwest and not all over the world. Part of the themes of this story fit into the current social and political environment and have something set in a familiar territory. It’s always fascinated me to see how smaller communities process larger sociological and historical changes.
Also, in all honesty, I get the feeling I might be able to attract more local readers if I start producing stories set here in local settings. Sue me for wanting to be more popular.
Two stories (I’d like to try at least three in this new setting) I have already started to formulate in my head.- The Heart Project: This is speculative/fantasy/soft sci-fi story I have in mind informed by our troubled times involving four one-time friends, a high school reunion, and a microcosm of a larger sense of chaos. Despite the events of the novel touching in some way on national and even world issues, the vast majority of the story would be focused in Iowa.
- From a recently completed short story (more on that whenever it gets released), I think I have the germ of an idea about a fantasy/horror novel set in Iowa, leaning on the environmental damage being done to my home state. Let’s give it the working title The Land, The River, and The Waste.
What I’m Doing Having to do With Writing (Which in This Case Means Where I’m Making Appearances)
As it turns out, I have a pretty busy September and October coming up before all the book festivals and events start to slow down. I’ll list them below, and I hope to see you there at one of these events.
- At 1 p.m. on Saturday, September 20, I will be back at one of my favorite book stores, Bent Oak Books, 619 7th St., in my new hometown of Fort Madison. I’ll have copies of my book The Yank Striker’s Journey and my other offerings there for sale. It’s a fantastic store and Danette, the owner, has been a fantastic supporter of mine.
- At 4 p.m. (thereabouts) Thursday, September 25, I am going to be back at Burlington By The Book, 301 Jefferson St., Burlington, for a Farmer’s Market appearance. Chris (the store’s owner) has been a massive support for me, so when he calls, I answer. It’s as simple as that.
- I am going to be making an appearance at the Atlas Collective, 1801 5th Ave, Moline, Illinois, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, 27 August. This is this first book store event I’ve participated in outside Iowa, and I am hyped for it. Atlas is a fantastic bookstore, one I would recommend to anyone.
- I will be at the Windsor Heights Book Fair on Sunday, October 5, at the Masonic Lodge at 1141 69th St., in Windsor Heights, Iowa (outside Des Moines). This will be the third time I’ve appeared at the event and I’m very much up for the event. Tyler Granger, the organizer of the festival, is a good acquaintance of mine and a fellow Iowa author himself.
- Finally, I will be at the Iowa City Book Festival, which runs from October 5-12 in Iowa City. I will be attending the local author book fair as part of the event, which will be on Oct. 12 at MERGE, 136 S. Dubuque St. I’ve always had a great time there, and I’ll be looking forward to it.
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.gois@liegois.media.
Writing Quote(s) of the Week:
An intriguing quote about how some authors want to give their readers more than just a good story. Which is a perfectly valid thing to do.
“You guys know about vampires? … You know, vampires have no reflections in a mirror? There’s this idea that monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. And what I’ve always thought isn’t that monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. It’s that if you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves. And growing up, I felt like a monster in some ways. I didn’t see myself reflected at all. I was like, “Yo, is something wrong with me? That the whole society seems to think that people like me don’t exist?” And part of what inspired me, was this deep desire that before I died, I would make a couple of mirrors. That I would make some mirrors so that kids like me might see themselves reflected back and might not feel so monstrous for it.”
― Junot Díaz
Considering how much I jump genres, I’m in total agreement with this quote, too.
“Don’t classify me, read me. I’m a writer, not a genre.”
― Carlos Fuentes
When I Post
Check out this post 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 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 find them on the first page of search results.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have quite a few places that now carry at least some of my books. Until the Iowa Indie Bookshop Tour got started a few years back, I wasn’t aware of many of these great and fantastic independent bookstores in Iowa and the Midwest. They’re still doing the tour through the end of September.
These are the bookstores you’ll find at least some of my books2:
- Bent Oak Books, 619 7th St. Fort Madison.
- Burlington By The Book, 301 Jefferson St, Burlington.
- [NEW] The Corner and More, 703 Main St., Mediapolis.
- Green Point Mercantile, 217 E. 2nd St., Muscatine.
- [NEW] The Brewed Book, 1524 Harrison St., Davenport.
- [NEW] The Black Rose, 116 W. Main St., West Branch
- Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave. # S1, Des Moines.
- Pella Books, 824 Franklin St, Pella.
- [NEW] The Atlas Collective, 1801 5th Ave, Moline, Illinois – my first out of Iowa bookstore, very proud of this.
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 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. 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 button below.
The Flow and the Journey
The first collection of poetry from author Jason Liegois.
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.
Final Thoughts
All you writers keep writing, and all of you keep safe. See you down the road.
-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.