It’s already November? Last month just flew by, but thank goodness we finally have fall weather in Iowa. I remember a year ago still waking up to 80 degree afternoons and wondering if I’d ever feel cool again. However, it feels lovely outside now.
This month, I’m going to discuss a big change with my writing focus that happened this past weekend, some thank yous go out to some great hosts of author events over the past month or so, as well as all the normal odds and ends.
Personal Items…
Thank goodness it turned into fall in Iowa during the last couple of weeks. Somewhere in October we went from 80 degree highs one day to twenty degrees cooler the next. I’m sorry, but if I wanted to live in Texas or Florida I’d be there. Proper fall weather is the best.
I’m already a fourth of the way through the school year. I like teaching, and I like special education, but I’ve previously made the analogy that teaching is like running a marathon with your brain even in the best years. It is an intense experience, but I’m glad I have a good group of co-workers and administrators.
That’s enough real life; let’s get to the writing.
Writing Projects
As it turns out, I’ve decided to change the focus of my writing priorities a bit.
I’ve mentioned something I’ve referred to as The Untitled Iowa Series. For at least a few years, I’ve had the idea of setting some fiction in a small Iowa town on the Mississippi River not much different from the ones I’ve lived in for the past few decades. It seemed to call to me, become a setting to explore the current social and political environment from a small community standpoint. And frankly, I want to reach more Iowa and Midwest readers by putting out something they might get into.
The first one I will refer to for now as The Land, The River, and The Waste (LRW)1. It will be a sci-fi/horror novel set in Iowa, leaning on the environmental damage being done to my home state. I decided, “What would it take to really get people’s attention to this issue, enough to do something about it?” In speculating on this question, my mind took some wild twists and turns, and all of them started to head toward the horror/sci-fi route.
I went from the beginning of this month mildly considering what this town and some of its residents might be like, to coming up with main characters, to outlining the main story of LRW, to openly asking fellow authors and visitors to the book fairs I attended last month whether they’d be interested in the type of story I was thinking of. (The reactions I got were overwhelmingly positive.)
After doing quite a bit of soul-searching, consideration, and this informal market research, I started writing the rough draft beginning Halloween night. If you’re curious, I put out a video commemorating the start of this process. Or just watch it below.
The other book I’ve got an idea for in this series I’m calling The Heart Project. This is a speculative/fantasy/soft sci-fi story I have in mind involving four one-time friends, a high school reunion, and a microcosm of a larger sense of chaos. The vast majority of the story would be focused in Iowa, even though it touches on events occurring nationwide and globally. Until I’ve made further progress on LRW and other projects, I’m going to keep this quiet for a while.
Other projects in various stages of completion are:
- The Yank Striker 3 (YS3). The Yank Striker series follows the exploits of DJ Ryan, a fledgling American soccer player who leaves his family behind to try his fortune with an English Premier League team in the East End of London. This has more information about the first book in the series, and this link will brief you in about Book 2, The Yank Striker’s Journey. YS3 continues DJ’s growth as a footballer as he faces both setbacks and opportunities.
I’ve actually reached the 20,000-work mark with this rough draft, and it’s been taking up a good portion of my creative bandwidth. I had had a soft deadline of having this book ready to go by 2026 sometime, but I’ve had something of a change of heart on this.
I do believe in this story, but it somehow feels unbalanced to have three out of four published novels be about a single series when I have other stories to tell. And they’ve been calling to me. So, I will finish this story, but it will be a slightly lower priority than some others. - The Fool 2: This is the sequel to my debut novel, The Holy Fool. It was a thriller featuring Samuel “Sonny” Turner, a newspaper columnist for the Chicago Journal, tasked by his editor and mentor with protecting his newspaper from sale by its unscrupulous owner during the 2008 presidential election and Great Recession.
The sequel revisits Sonny in 2024, sixteen years after he’s left Chicago and founded his news site, The Fool. In addition to the chaotic political situation the US is now in and how he plans to cover it from a distance with the help of his American colleagues, he’s also dealing with life as an emigrant to the unfamiliar land of Switzerland, and raising his family and children there.
It’s a timely story worth telling, but something about the story makes me want to wait and see how events play out in real time. I see this story being book-ended by the 2024 and 2026 elections, so I’m thinking perhaps a 2027 release at this point. I’m too much of a believer in journalism to be a force of good in communities not to have a love for the craft, and there are plenty of independent journalists who are trying to do the work properly such as the writers of the Iowa Writers Collaborative Roundup.
So, we’ll see how this progresses. I’m now past the 10,000-word mark on this project, and it looks like I’m going to put more work into it, even though I think the feeling of writing historical fiction as the history occurs will me much like building the railroad as the train creeps forward behind me.
- Kayfabe Stories: This is a story about a family of pro wrestlers from Texas and a member of this family, an aspiring young writer, who is determined to understand what it all means.
All quiet on the Western Front when it comes to this project.
Thank Yous and Another Appearance
I want to thank Tyler Granger, the lead organizer of the Windsor Heights Book Fair, and the Iowa City Book Festival for hosting me at their book fairs earlier last month. I had a great time at both places, and I’m looking forward to returning to both places next year.
I also want to thank the Urbandale Public Library’s for allowing me to participate in their book fair last weekend on short notice. I truly appreciated the opportunity and look forward to being back there soon.
This coming Saturday, 8 November, I’ll be at the Burlington Public Library as part of their Sterling Lord Author’s Showcase. I’ll be at the library beginning at 9 a.m and there through at least noon and perhaps into the afternoon, as well. The library has been a big supporter of both me and area authors, and I’m excited to take part in this annual event for the first time.
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.
Writing Quote(s) of the Month:
This pretty much says it about why I decided to move forward with LRW.
My bursting heart must find vent at my pen.
― Abigail Adams
This is always a good reminder.
The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.
― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art
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 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 work2:
- 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.
- 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 – 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-
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- I’m too superstitious to release the actual title of my books until they are closer to publication. ↩︎
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