The Writing Life, 18 January 2025: Reaching the finish line

Hi, everyone. Welcome to my writing nook, so to speak.

There’s some big news having to do with a project I’ve been calling The Yank Striker 2. How about we talk about it? Also, I might discuss a few other things.

The Home Front

Fort Madison, Iowa, Dusk, 17 January 2024. Photo by Laura Liegois.

I got started on the second semester of the school year this week. It’s still amazing to me how fast the second half of last year sped along considering how long the first half of the year dragged along because of all the time spent on the road, out of my old home but not yet in my new one, just waiting for the school year to be over and to finish with all contractual obligations to my old district. It inspired some good poetry, but it was a bit of a slog especially at the end.

When we were having dinner together this past Sunday, my wife pointed out to me by the end of the current school year, I will have worked for five different school districts during the past ten years – an average of two years per district. I hadn’t thought it had been so many in such a short period of time, but the math worked out.

My wife has lived in five different residences in this time (one more than myself because she moved early to Chariton when she got the job of city manager there and I was wrapping up another teaching contract). Then there’s the fact my kids have moved a combined ten times during this time, counting moving them out of or into our homes, dorms in the case of our daughter, and apartments.

That’s a lot of moving in an out, a lot of time on the road. To be honest, both Laura and I would be happy not to be going anywhere different for a while. In another decade, she and even I will be within sight of retirement from our respective professions. Our house is nice, and work is going well. Even with all the uncertainty in the world, I try to appreciate what I do have. All things considered, my life is going well.

What I’ve Been Writing

Hey, remember that book I put out a year and a half ago? You might have heard of it if you’ve been hanging around my blog for a while?

Remember how I’ve kept saying it was going to be the first in a series? Well, this theoretical series is now coming closer to becoming a reality.

Subscribers, passers-by, and humans alike, I am delighted to announce I have completed the rough draft to the second book in The Yank Striker series, which I have referred to as The Yank Striker 2. I have an idea for the final title of this book, but I am not revealing it until later when the time is right.

I had hoped I would have finished the rough draft before the end of 2024, but I only overshot my target by a mere half month. I now have a 80,345-word first draft on my hands. Oopsy.

It is now in my cloud and various hard drives for future use, safe and sound, and ready for what I consider to be the true work of writing, the revising process.

Since I officially finished it mid-week this week, my plan is to let the manuscript sit and simmer in the computer and in my head for three and a half weeks. This would mean I’m going to start tackling the second draft of the book by 8 February 2025.

My ultimate goal would be to release the book with my publisher by 1 June of this year. This would mean:

Second draft – begun by 8 February and completed by the end of the month at the latest.
Beta reads – begun 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.

This might be the most ambitious release date for any book I’ve ever done. However, I managed to self-publish my own chapbook of poetry before 2024 ran out, so you never know.

My ultimate goal would be to release the book with my publisher by 1 June of this year. This would mean:

Second draft – begun by 8 February and completed by the end of the month at the latest.
Beta reads – begun 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.

This might be the most ambitious release date for any book I’ve ever done. However, I managed to self-publish my own chapbook of poetry before 2024 ran out, so you never know.

What I’m Doing Having to do With Writing

Starting this week, I’m planning on kickstarting my other preparations for getting The Yank Striker 2 to market. This is going to be more of an effort than just the revising and editing process.

Unlike my first two novels, I’m interested in going to an outside source to design the cover art for The Yank Striker 2. I’m also hoping to find some beta readers for my book once I finish the first revision.

And no offense to all of my great readers online, but I’m not soliciting such help here.

After some time online and having to deal with a massive amount of scammers and grifters trying to separate me from my money for different reasons, I am about done with working with any online book business operations, or at least done with people I don’t have recommendations for from my IRL friends, such as my fellow writers in places like Des Moines, Muscatine, Burlington, and points beyond. Online life might be cool, but it’s no replacement for human connection¹.

Also, I’m going to spend this weekend trying to email organizers of Iowa book fairs. I want to get some updates about upcoming dates and whether I can get on the road to be part of those events. When I confirm some of those dates, you’ll be the first to hear from me.

Writing Quote(s) of the Week:

Not sure if I’ve featured T.S. Eliot in this space, so I decided to go with this one. Seems he had a sense of humor for sure.

Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.

T.S. Eliot

Here’s another statement I would cosign, although I often get distracted during my writing. 😅

Writing is the only thing that when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.

Gloria Steinem

Finally, here’s the great Margaret Atwood with the wolves theory of storytelling.

All stories are about wolves. All worth repeating, that is. Anything else is sentimental drivel.

All of them?

Sure, he says. Think about it. There’s escaping from the wolves, fighting the wolves, capturing the wolves, taming the wolves. Being thrown to the wolves, or throwing others to the wolves so the wolves will eat them instead of you. Running with the wolf pack. Turning into a wolf. Best of all, turning into the head wolf. No other decent stories exist².

How to support me😊.

Go to the links on the side if you are reading this on a desktop/laptop or the links on my profile to check out some of my other links. For example, in those places, 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. Again, 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:

[NEWEST LOCATION] Green Point Mercantile, 214 Chestnut St., Muscatine.
Burlington By The Book, 301 Jefferson St, Burlington.
Bent Oak Books, 619 7th St., in my new hometown of Fort Madison.
Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave. # S1, Des Moines.
Pella Books, 824 Franklin St, Pella.
The Book Vault, 105 S Market St, Oskaloosa.

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 the first two bookstores above (and hopefully more down the road), 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.

$6.00

Shop now

On the subject of Substack, it’s fantastic if you are signed up for my free subscription, but I would love it if you signed up for a paid one. The monthly rate is the lowest I can put it ($5 per month) but my yearly rate of $35 is a steal at less than three/fifths the monthly rate.

Now, 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.

Go ahead and buy me a cup of coffee, why don’t you? 😊

Final Thoughts

Wow, a lot happening this week. Hope your week went well, and for you writers, I hope you got something down on paper or on screen.

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I am very much tempted to spend the next Prose Night post detailing one of the most elaborate grifts someone tried to pull on me. It’s a cool story, trust me. Might be more interesting than some of my fiction excerpts. 😅 ↩︎
The Yank Striker 2, I believe, would best fit being thrown to the wolves and also running with the wolf pack. ↩︎

The Flow and the Journey

As I’ve mentioned previously in this space, I came into writing poetry more or less under protest.

My mother reminded me recently that she had encouraged me to try and write poetry as a young kid, but I had never taken to it. I always pictured myself as a fiction writer rather than a poet. My evolution into considering myself a poet took place over an extended a period of time and I was well into adulthood when it started in earnest.

At the risk of repeating previous stories, the process towards writing poetry began during the late aughts. It was then I moved back to my hometown of Muscatine, Iowa, and rejoined a local group of writers calling themselves Writers on the Avenue (WOTA). It was a solid group of writers who were like me – writers who wanted to improve themselves and to grow in their craft. Everyone needs a similar group or two or three or more if they want to see growth.

I did get this from WOTA. Without them, I’m not sure I would have moved forward on the projects which became my first two books, The Holy Fool and The Yank Striker.

However, there was a lot of reading and a lot of critiques between people interested in my work. In all honesty, a good portion of my contributions to our group was listening to and critiquing poetry.

Many of the WOTA members wrote tons of poetry – poetry about the natural world, their feelings, their history, their faith – things attracting strong emotions and imagery, which are natural fodder for poems. I would sit in these workshopping/critique sessions, attempting to provide feedback, while not having something for them to read. What parental pressure failed to accomplish, adult peer pressure did.

I started off slower than a soccer-playing turtle goalkeeper trying to waste time at the end of a match. Fiction was (and is) my priority, so it was something I just played around with.

I kept finding myself return to the theme of the Mississippi River, the body of water I’d lived next to for about 40 years of my life. The imagry of living next to this watery highway, the source of life for everyone around it, attracted me like nearly nothing else.

This theme continued to attract me as I spent four years away from the Mississippi while living in Chariton, Iowa, in the middle of south central Iowa and well far away from any significant nearby body of water. It was a nice little town, but mentally and emotionally I was missing something.

I was further inspired by living on an actual highway (Iowa 14) for the first time in my life and only a block and a half away from railroad tracks. The theme of travel, the road and rails, also started to creep in to my verse.

Eventually, I decided if I wanted to call myself a poet, I needed to start publishing those poems, even if it was only on my own platform. That’s when Poetry Night was born.

Forcing myself to publish my poetry every month ended up being a good thing for me. Eventually, I started to run out of my old work, so it forced me to start creating new poems and new verse. I started to get out of the old prose writer habits of adding in more words when fewer, more descriptive words would do.

Early in 2024, I ended up spending a lot of time driving, traveling, and staying in unfamiliar places due to personal circumstances. I spent more than a bit of time in unfamiliar hotels and apartments due to this, and poems about being on the road started to spring from my laptop.

It was around this time I wanted to try and put together a physical collection of my work. I didn’t want it to be something just half-hearted and scattered. The poets I knew in real life (including those from the now-disbanded Iowa Writers’ Corner, of Des Moines, Iowa, and the Society of Great River Poets of Burlington, Iowa) said it made sense to base the collection around a particular theme.

It was then I took a look at the topics which had been dominating my verse for at least the past couple years and perhaps longer: River life and traveling life. Rivers and traveling became The Flow and the Journey.

This is a chapbook I put together with the assistance of Dodd Printing in my current home of Fort Madison, Iowa. It contains 19 poems touching on the Mississippi River and river life in general, as well as what you experience and encounter in life on the road. They run the gamut of the first poem I like to say I wrote with intent all the way back in 2010 to poems from 2024. All of them speak of either what river life has meant to me or what a traveling life is like.

If You’re Interested…

…in poetry, especially river and travel poetry, this might be the book for you.

Other than running into me at book fairs and events around Iowa, I’m trying to put together ways for you to purchase my first self-published work out to people. I’m hoping to make them available at independent bookstores here in Iowa, depending on their interest.

Until then, I’ve set up a new online bookstore for The Flow and the Journey here at Liegois Media. Currently, it’s just $6 for a copy, and I’m limiting it to one purchase at a time due to limited supplies. But go ahead and click on the button below. I’d love you to take a chance on my poetry.

Get a copy of The Flow and the Journey

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Poetry Night at the Writing Life, 28 December 2024: End-of-Year poems and my new poetry book

Welcome, everyone.

We’ll get to the actual poetry in a little bit. Before then… I typically don’t do much “business” or “promotion” when it comes to to these Poetry Nights (or Prose Nights, either), but I’m going to make a quick exception to this rule because it is attached to my interest in poetry. I’ll keep it short, however.

I announced in my last newsletter I had finally put together my first chapbook, The Flow and the Journey, a collection of 19 of my poems. One of them dates all the way back from 2010, five of them from 2019, and the remainder from 2023-2024, when I finally decided to take my poetry seriously by writing these Poetry Night entries¹.

Since this was all a self-published thing² (where I decided to just put it together and do it because there wasn’t a massive push for someone to publish my poetry just yet), I had to start thinking of a way for people to buy this chapbook other than trying to hunt me down either in my hometown or at my personal appearances. So, I decided to get something set up.

Since Substack doesn’t quite have the setup for this, I decided to put something together at my WordPress sister site, 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.

The Flow and the Journey

In all seriousness, I have to admit this is a beta rollout of this service. Pay the amount and make sure to include your address in the purchase, and I will do my darnedest to get the product to you. If for some reason, you haven’t gotten a delivery to me, email me at jasonliegois@liegois.media. Make sure to put in the subject line “You got my chapbook, boy?” I’m more likely to see it³.

All right, blatant capitalistic pitch over. Let’s talk new poetry.

I think I’m built a bit different from many of my fellow humans, especially my fellow Iowans. Most Iowans I run into can’t wait to get outdoors into the summer heat. The Iowa State Fair is our secular pilgrimage, even though I’ve lived here for longer than 40 years and never attended myself. Most of my fellow friends, neighbors, and co-workers love the sun and warmth of spring and summer.

When it gets around this time of the year, however… many of them get down. They wonder where the sun had gone, hidden behind the clouds bringing along rain, snow, a mix of the two, or maybe an ice storm. They wonder why everything is so gray, why it’s so cold, even though it’s nothing compared to those living at 45° North (say, Ottowa, Canada, or Maine) or even 50° North (The Maritimes in Canada)⁴. It seems to bring them down emotionally, drain them of their physical and mental energy. “I haven’t seen the sun in so long,” I hear sometimes.

I believe I am of different stock.

Both of my parents grew up in Wisconsin. I have German and Norwegian heritage from them, and neither of those countries are known to be tropical paradises. The last time I went to Florida was somewhere around a decade ago. It was at the invitation of my parents and it was a chance for my kids to experience Disney World, the Atlantic Ocean, and for me to to reunite with my aunt I hadn’t seen in maybe 20 years. And it was in December. Without this confluence of coincidences, I’m not sure I’m visiting Florida ever again.

Maybe you couldn’t tell from all those posts in October and November whining about how I was tired of seeing summer weather in Iowa around then, but I’m not a fan of tropical or desert climates. I don’t like to have to dodge the sun and humidity when it gets to be 100℉. Those places like Florida, Texas, and Arizona aren’t my idea of vacation getaways or retirement forever homes. When I think of places that feel like a relaxing place to be, my dream places, they look more like Wisconsin, Minnesota, Upper Michigan, Norway, the Scottish Highlands, the Faeroe and Shetland Islands, and Iceland. Like these places:

timber cottage standing at foot of mountain — Photo by Stijn Dijkstra on Pexels.com

red and white boats on water — Photo by Simon Hurry on Pexels.com

island surrounded by city — Photo by Tobias Bjørkli on Pexels.com

aerial photography of river between cliffs — Photo by Wendelin Jacober on Pexels.com

Well, those might be adventures for another day. For now, the next two poems are the result of some seasonal inspiration. Hope you enjoy them.

Misty Stroll

28 December 2024, Fort Madison, Iowa

The wet weight draping all over me and here

Would be a draining burden in Iowa July

With sweating corn, sweating animals, and

Sweating people wading through the wet air.

But now in the chill of December

Shielded from the sun by the mist and the low veils above

I can let it surround me, I can absorb it, let it refresh me

And my home is more like home.

Cozy Winter’s Eve Nook

Fort Madison, Iowa, 28 December 2024

Winter eve charcoal, parchment, gray, midnight,

Medium cool atmosphere, comfortable enough to lounge in without a coat

Until you lounge for more than a few minutes.

The winds persistent on level plains with not enough wood sentinels

Fortune for mariners but disaster for the unsheltered.

My nook is sealed from the worst of The Hibernal

Good wood, stone, metal, concrete, and sealant

The hearth providing the extra needed few calories of warmth

A crow’s nest view of my lovely winter abode

But as a submariner among the fathom-length depths

So am I among The Hibernal.

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As I write all of this, I realize I need to make a post discussing this project specifically like I made specific posts about both of my books, The Holy Fooland The Yank Striker. Watch this space for the post coming soon. ↩︎
Shoutout to my hometown biz Dodd Printing for their help in putting this together, by the way. ↩︎
I get a lot of emails from the blogs I subscribe to. ↩︎
I currently live just above 40°30’ North. For me, I have sworn to my wife Laura that 40° North is the farthest South I will ever live in my life. Anywhere between 45° or 60° degrees North would suit me just fine – in fact, I’d be good with 45° or 60° degrees South, as well. I’ve heard decent things about southern Argentina and New Zealand. ↩︎

The Writing Life, 5 October 2024: Still hoping for fall

We are officially into the start of autumn since the equinox happened, but despite a cruel tease of such weather, we here in eastern Iowa have not been getting consistent fall weather. I am going to insist on decorating my blogs with autumn imagery until it actually looks and feels like these pictures in the outside. That’s just the way it has to be for a while, folks.

But we’ve got writing and new events to talk about, so let’s get into it.

The Home Front

The transition between old residence and new residence for Laura (my wife) and myself continues.

Painting in our home had been completed, and the removal of our carpet is all but done. We also did some trimming up on the tree in our front yard that was a bit overdue. Now will come the process of treating the hardwood floors, moving all the items now in storage into the storage of our new house, installing new lighting and ceiling fans, and carting away some of the resulting detritus. Soon enough, our modest apartment will have to be packed up and ready for shipping, either by us or the movers.

Thankfully, unlike our last move, this is a move within our current city and will not need to be finished immediately. I am somewhat selfishly looking forward to my new writing space and how I will eventually get it set up.

Of course, not even this move will be the end of moving and changes for us. My son is moving closer to buying his own home, and we will be happy to provide any assistance for his own move in Des Moines. Thankfully, he does not have as much possessions as we do and his is also a move within a city.

What I’m Writing

I’ve been quite busy this week and last with my ongoing projects.

The Yank Striker 2, the sequel for The Yank Striker: I am now at 52,000 words for the first draft of the book. I am currently shooting for 75,000 words as a new target for the end of the year. If I average about 250 words on it for the remainder of the year, I should be able to get to 75,000 by 31 December 2024.
At this point, I think it is doable. I will concentrate on this for my short-term goal, and then work toward getting it publication-ready for summer 2025.
The Untitled Pro Wrestling Family Drama project: Made a big jump in progress on this project. As of this writing, I’m beginning to wrap up the critical scene where my main character makes the fateful decision to look into his family’s history of professional wrestling although he has been at least on a surface level avoiding this world for all his life. I’m going to write just what I consider to be the essential scenes until I get to something approaching a full rough draft. This will be interesting because the story will eventually bounce between the late 2010’s and 1954-1974. It’s the first time I’ve dealt with different time periods in one of my stories, and I’m looking forward to the challenge.
The Untitled Liegois Poetry Chapbook: I have actually made more progress on this project this week. I’ve finished revisions on the poems, and finished arranging them in order in the chapbook. Again, I think my revisions have significantly tightened up those poems and given them more impact.I am not sure when I will have this ready for sale when I’m out and about, so to speak. I have to add in some author’s notes and acknowledgements, consider whether some more photos might be called for, and some other design issues. Plus, I have to start figuring out how to print the thing. However, I’m inching closer to being a self-published poet.

What I’m Doing Having to Do With Writing

(AKA personal appearances)

I (also sometimes known as The Dude In Purple) still have a few events coming up for this fall and some others I’m tentatively adding to the schedule. All these events will be me appearing live and with my books, The Holy Fool and The Yank Striker.

Here are my current events¹:

I’m headed back to the Des Moines area from 12-6 p.m. Sunday, 6 October [THAT’S TOMORROW], for the Windsor Heights Book Fair. This will take place at the Agora Events Center, 7692 Hickman Road, Des Moines. This will be the second year I’ll have participated in this event, and I’m eager to return.

I’ll be participating in the Local Writers’ Book Fair, which will be part of the 2024 Iowa City Book Festival. It will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, at MERGE, 136 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City. This is again my second year of participating, and I am looking forward to being back in Iowa City.

I’m planning to attend the Fort Madison Area Art Association’s Meet the Author Book Signing event from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, November 30, at the FMAAA’s center at 825 Avenue G, Fort Madison. This would be my first author’s event in my new home of Fort Madison, and I am overjoyed to be part of this gathering.
I’m hoping to be part of the DSM Book Festival at the at Franklin Junior High Event Center, 4801 Franklin Ave., Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday, 22 March 2025. This is being sponsored by one of my favorite independent book stores in Des Moines, Beaverdale Books. I’ll provide more information, hopefully, as the event approaches.

I’ll be looking to add some more dates on the appearance calendar as time goes on. Hope to see you at one of those places.

Writing Quote of the Week:

I agree with Eudora’s words here, although I’m more certain of the sentiments.

Indeed, learning to write may be part of learning to read. For all I know, writing comes out of a superior devotion to reading.

Eudora Welty, On Writing

A Few Links About My Books and Where to Find Them

(Feel free to ignore this bit if you’ve read it before)

Currently, I have the mighty total of TWO novels which make up my official backlist².

My first book is a journalism thriller set in Chicago during the turbulent days of the 2008 election and the start of the Great Recession. Check out more about it here.

You can get the paperback version of this book on Amazon here and the ebook version of it here.

A fellow Iowa writer and organizer of the Windsor Heights Book Fair, Tyler Granger, recently did a review of my book: you can find it here³.

My second book, the first in the The Yank Striker series, is a soccer drama telling the story of the beginning of a young American’s career as a player. There’s more about it here.

The paperback version of this book can be found on Amazon and the site of my publisher, Biblio Publishing. It is also available in ebook format on Amazon here.

John Buzbee of The Culture Buzz radio show in Des Moines (KFMG FM) interviewed me about the Yank Striker: You can catch it here.

For full links to these and other helpful places having to do with me and my writing, you can go to this page on my WordPress site, Liegois Media.

You can also get my books in person at these fine Iowa bookstores:

NEW: Burlington By The Book, 301 Jefferson St, Burlington.
Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave. # S1, Des Moines
Pella Books, 824 Franklin St, Pella.
The Book Vault, 105 S Market St, Oskaloosa.

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.

Final Thoughts

All the writers keep writing and everyone keep safe, especially those who are continuing to deal with the effects of Hurricane Helene passing through the southeastern US over the past week. Best wishes.

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All promotional images courtesy of their respective organizations. ↩︎
Don’t worry, I won’t include this bit in the next regular newsletter in two weeks to give you a break, lol 👍🏻. ↩︎
If anyone does any reviews of my work, I’d love to post some links to them. Send it to me in the DM’s or comments. ↩︎

The Writing Life, 21 September 2024: Hoping for fall

We are getting deeper into fall in Iowa, but sadly not yet not deep into proper autumn weather. It is more like the weather at the beginning of a school year where you walk to school wearing a proper fall coat in the morning and yet it gets so hot by mid-afternoon you’re forced to walk home with the coat tied around your waist. Such is life in Iowa, but at least it’s not Kansas, which is flatter, doesn’t have as many good rivers as Iowa, and is at least ten degrees hotter¹.

The Home Front

Not much here in recent weeks.

It’s part of a slow process, but we are starting to get things sorted out with our new home in Fort Madison. Most of it involves removing carpet, which both my wife and I always thought seemed strange to put over perfectly good hardwood floors, and cleaning things up.

Once the move gets done, we’ll be hopeful not to move again anytime soon. Seems like the past few years has been a constant move for both my wife and I and now our kids, who are in their own apartments or in the process of hunting for their own homes. Besides, Fort Madison is a nice little river town to get settled in.

I am hoping beyond hope this Friday will be the very last 80-degree-plus day in the state of Iowa for 2024. The stinking heat we have to deal with every afternoon after I get out of work can’t go away soon enough. Bring on actual fall weather and even winter at this point.

What I’m Writing

Time for an update on what I’m writing.

The Yank Striker 2², the sequel for The Yank Striker: I am now at the 50,000-word mark for the first draft of the book, which is a bit amazing thinking back to how blocked I was on the project in late spring and early summer of this year. I’ve got around nine chapters I’m thinking about adding onto the story, but not all of those are going to be of any considerable length. There’s at least 5,000 of the words in my first draft I know are going onto the discard pile whenever I start revisions. 80,000 words is going to be my absolute limit on the word count for the first draft, and I would prefer to have a final draft of somewhere around 70,000 words, especially since this will be a series and I’ve got a lot more story to tell down the road.
With the regular progress I’ve been making on the first draft over the course of last month, I’m now feeling quietly confident I might have the first draft wrapped up by the end of the year. That’s going to require considerable focus on my part. From some back of the envelope calculations I just made this week, if I manage to get maybe 300 words on the project written every day, I should have my first draft done and ready to revise by the end of 2024.
I would love to try and produce a book every year if possible. Getting a book done in two years (as The Yank Striker 2 looks to be at this point) is still the fastest I’ve ever written anything up to this point. If I’m writing this much, I want to be producing books and releasing them. The larger backlist I have, the better in my opinion, and I want to have whatever time I have left to write and produce as much as I can. Also since I am actively working on one series (and have a second in mind), I don’t have the feeling I am going to run out of things to write anytime soon.
The Untitled Pro Wrestling Family Drama project: I’ve had some time to work on this project last week, not so much this week. I’m getting close to the point in a typical story, if you are using a Hero’s Journey or a Steal the Cat-type outline, where the main character gets a challenge to go on a quest or a challenge.

[MINOR SPOILER ALERT:³]

I decided the impetus for such a call to action was a mini-family reunion in the scenic location of northeastern Minnesota, and it involves a glance into a family past my main character has avoided for years. But when he gets a glimpse of his past from an entirely unexpected source, that past comes rushing back, prompting him to find out the truth about it.
Pro wrestling is also involved.

[END OF SPOILERS]

The Untitled Liegois Poetry Chapbook: Not much work on this one this week. I think I’ve sorted out which poems I want in the book and have taken a shot at revising them. I’m quite satisfied with the results of the revisions, making what I’ve created more compact, more impactful.
Whether I get them done or not in time for some of my more recent outings is a totally different story, but it still seems closer to being done than it was when I was just talking about the idea a year or so ago.

What I’m Doing Having to Do With Writing

(AKA where I might be appearing soon, among other things)

Here are my current events⁴:

I’m headed back to the Des Moines area from 12-6 p.m. Sunday, 6 October, for the Windsor Heights Book Fair. This will take place at the Agora Events Center, 7692 Hickman Road, Des Moines. This will be the second year I’ll have participated in this event, and I’m eager to return.

I’ll be participating in the Local Writers’ Book Fair, which will be part of the 2024 Iowa City Book Festival. It will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, at MERGE, 136 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City. This is again my second year of participating, and I am looking forward to being back in Iowa City.

I’m tentatively planning to attend the Fort Madison Area Art Association’s Meet the Author Book Signing event from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, November 30, at the FMAAA’s center at 825 Avenue G, Fort Madison. This would be my first author’s event in my new home of Fort Madison, and I am overjoyed to be part of this gathering.
I’m hoping to be part of the DSM Book Festival at the at Franklin Junior High Event Center, 4801 Franklin Ave., Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday, 22 March 2025. This is being sponsored by one of my favorite independent book stores in Des Moines, Beaverdale Books. I’ll provide more information, hopefully, as the event approaches.

I’ll be looking to add some more dates on the appearance calendar as time goes on. Hope to see you at one of those places.

Writing Quote of the Week:

Good words from the King about one important requirement for a writer.

You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.

Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

A Few Links About My Books and Where to Find Them

(Feel free to ignore this bit if you’ve read it before)

Currently, I have the mighty total of TWO novels which make up my official backlist.

My first book is a journalism thriller set in Chicago during the turbulent days of the 2008 election and the start of the Great Recession. Check out more about it here.

You can get the paperback version of this book on Amazon here and the ebook version of it here.

A fellow Iowa writer and organizer of the Windsor Heights Book Fair, Tyler Granger, recently did a review of my book: you can find it here⁵.

My second book, the first in the The Yank Striker series, is a soccer drama telling the story of the beginning of a young American’s career as a player. There’s more about it here.

The paperback version of this book can be found on Amazon and the site of my publisher, Biblio Publishing. It is also available in ebook format on Amazon here.

John Buzbee of The Culture Buzz radio show in Des Moines (KFMG FM) interviewed me about the Yank Striker: You can catch it here.

For full links to these and other helpful places having to do with me and my writing, you can go to this page on my WordPress site, Liegois Media.

You can also get my books in person at these fine Iowa bookstores:

NEW: Burlington By The Book, 301 Jefferson St, Burlington.
Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave. # S1, Des Moines
Pella Books, 824 Franklin St, Pella.
The Book Vault, 105 S Market St, Oskaloosa.

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.

Final Thoughts

That’s about it for now. All the writers keep writing and everyone keep safe.

-30-

I do not mean to insult any Kansas residents or those who like living there. It’s just my taste to live somewhere near a big river and have it be relatively cool for most of the year if I can help it. ↩︎
All of the following titles are working titles. I’m going to wait to release what I think should be the real titles when these projects are closer to publication. ↩︎
Then again, isn’t this the point of this whole newsletter in part, to let you know what I’m working on? ↩︎
All promotional images courtesy of their respective organizations. ↩︎
If anyone does any reviews of my work, I’d love to post some links to them. Send it to me in the DM’s or comments. ↩︎

The Start of the 2024 Book Tour

Trying out a new look – The Dude in Purple.

I knew I said I was going to take a weekend off due to today being my birthday (yea for making it to another one), but I decided to update everyone regarding where I’ll be appearing at some local book events over the next several months. This will likely change and hopefully grow over time as I continue to promote my current works, The Yank Strikerand The Holy Fool, when I’m not at work writing my new projects.

That said, let’s get to the appearances.

Current Schedule for 2024:

I am now confirmed to be at the Ankeny Book Fair at the Ankeny public library from 1-4 p.m. April 20. Several of my writer friends in Iowa have appeared at the event in years past, but this will be my first time appearing here. I’m really looking forward to it.
Pella Books is going to be part of the Pella Tulip Festival, and I’m looking forward to being part of its 4th Local Author/Illustrator Book Tent event. I’ll be at Pella Books, 824 Franklin St., Pella, at the following dates and times:
- 12-2 p.m., April 27 (Saturday)
- 6-8 p.m., May 2-3
- 12-2 p.m., May 4
It will be my second time attending the Authors on the Riverwalk event, which will be from 12-4 p.m. May 25 at the Des Moines Marriot Downtown, 700 Grand Ave., Des Moines. It was a fantastic event last year, and I’m hoping for an even better experience this year.

I’ll be at the Valley West Mall, 1551 Valley West Drive, West Des Moines, for the 9th Annual Indie Author Book Expo. I’ll be there with many other area and regional authors from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, June 7, and at the same time Saturday, June 8.

I’ll be there for the Windsor Heights Book Fair in Windsor Heights, Iowa, from 12-6 p.m. Sunday, 6 October. More information when I get it.
Finally, I’ll be part of the local author book fair sponsored by the Iowa City Book Festival. Not sure about the exact day or time, but it should occur sometime during this year’s festival, which will be 14-20 October in Iowa City.

I am very interested in appearing at other events and venues between now and Fall 2024. If you know of some events or are organizing one of those events, I would love to hear about them and show up. You can email me at jasonliegois@liegois.media or mention something in the comments.

Also, if you can’t make it out to one of my events, you can get my books at the links on the sidebar of this page or the “My Work” page. If you want to get some copies of my books in person, you can check out the following independent book stores in Iowa:

Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave # S1, Des Moines
Pella Books, 824 Franklin St, Pella.
The Book Vault, 105 S Market St, Oskaloosa.

I’m always looking for some new places to place my books (especially now in eastern Iowa), so feel free to hit me up in the comments if anyone has a suggestion.

Subscribe to my Substack here.

The Yank Striker: A Footballer’s Beginning: A look back at my most recent book

What would an American soccer superstar look like? Not just someone who was a good player, but an actual legendary, world-class player, someone on the level of a Lionel Messi, a Diego Maradona, a Pele? Where would he come from? What would he be like as a person? And what would his path to soccer superstardom look like?

Those were the questions I started to ask myself about a decade or so ago, as my obsession with the sport grew (which I’ve documented before on this site here and here, for example). As much as I loved the American players I’ve cheered on as they played for the US Men’s National Team, or representing there clubs here or abroad, we’ve never had a world-class player, someone who could be considered among the top 10 players in the world. The more I considered the situation, the more the storytelling possibilities of the situation intrigued me.

How the Creative Process Happened

I might have mentioned this previously on the page, but for me, my own creative process is a perpetual stew, constantly simmering in my head. For those unaware, the stew, which is also called a hunter’s pot, hunter’s stew, or forever soup, is a concoction you constantly keep cooking in a pot. Ingredients and liquids keep going in to keep the thing going as you continue to serve people from the pot. That’s my creative process – new items keep coming in, I like a mix, and then I ladle it out to serve, so to speak.

In this manner, then, I started to cook up the idea, the concept of this main character. This process would be something entirely differnt to me in this instance. In the fiction I had written before, both published and unpublished, my main characters had shared more than a little resemblance to myself.

However, I knew this main character would be someone very different from myself. Obviously, even though I am a fan of the game, I only played it as a kid and nowhere near at the semi-professional levels, never mind pro levels. The further I went through the process, the further this character drifted away from who I was and toward something unique. And it excited me. First he became a Texas native because it seemed right for a soccer player to be from somwhere that produced so many good players like the legendary Clint Dempsey. Then it made sense for him to have a connection with the college gridiron through his father. And before I knew it, I had the first ever LGBTQ main character I’d ever written.

I stirred all this up with almost a decade’s worth of research into the world of professional soccer (and more since then), and what resulted was The Yank Striker: A Footballer’s Beginning – what will be the first in The Yank Striker book series. I feel more assured that the title of this book is a bit more straightforward than my debut novel, at least. I think it’s a great start to my first, very unique, series.

The Story

As he prepares to graduate from high school, Texas native Daniel John (DJ) Ryan thinks he has his life plans in order. A star wide receiver for the Liberty Rock Park High School football team, he won the state title with his older brother and quarterback Trey Ryan. It makes sense for him to commit to attending Hamilton State University (HSU) just outside Dallas, where he’ll join Trey and their father, championship-winning coach Junior Ryan, for college football glory and a shot at the NFL, with a pro career which could help support him as he pursues the life of an artist later.

Yet, the gridiron is not the only part of DJ’s life. He also plays the other sport known as football – soccer. A talented striker for his high school and a local semi-pro team, DJ finds an artistic creativity and freedom in the sport he doesn’t have anywhere else. And he will have to set the sport aside if he plays for his father.

There’s also the secret he is keeping from all but a few of his closest family and friends. DJ is pansexual, sexually attracted to people regardless of their genders. He also is romatically attracted to more than one person at a time, and unlike his serial philanderer of a father, he is open and honest with all involved.

As he joins the HSU Copperheads, however, two circumstances threaten these plans. First, a chance encounter at a soccer tournament with a English scout turns into an offer for a tryout with Donford FC, a mid-level Premier League club from the East End of London. And then, the possibility of DJ’s personal secrets being revealed threaten his football dreams.

Will DJ decide to stay close to home and family, as well as the familiarity of the gridiron? Or, will he attempt to follow his creative heart across the Atlantic Ocean and into the unknown world of professional soccer?

If You’re Interested…

…in the sport of soccer, family intrigue, and/or LGBTQ fiction, The Yank Striker is absolutely for you.

Essentially, you can probably find it just by Googling “Jason Liegois The Yank Striker,” but if you want faster links, you can check out either the links on the sidebar of my desktop version of this site, or go to my profile page on Substack and click on the “Links” section. If you’re interested, you can pick up the paperback version for $14.95 or the Kindle version for $4.99.

Or, if you happen to visit a book fair or author’s event in Iowa, western Illinois or maybe even Northeast Missouri, you might see me there and ask me if I’ve got a copy to sell and autograph. I’ll be the relatively big guy with a gray beard and I’ll almost certainly be wearing something in purple. You won’t miss me.

The Holy Fool: A reintroduction to my debut novel

Debut novels are tricky things. While I’ve not asked this question specifically of some of my fellow writers, the general impression I get is most writers consider their debut novels both with pride at their accomplishment and ruefulness at missed opportunities for improvement. And I’m no different.

Looking back at my own novel, I am absolutely amazed that after years of considering and planning for a novel, I finally got a finished book in my hand. Are there things I wished I might have done differently? Sure, but I don’t think it takes away from the book itself. I set out to tell an intriguing story set in a world (journalism) which was such a part of my life for many years, and I believe I ended up with a good read.

Origins

I first started thinking of the story which would eventually become The Holy Fool in the early 2010’s. Back then, I was making a transition away from the field of journalism (with an 18-month or so return to work for my hometown newspaper, The Muscatine Journal), and pondering what I’d experienced. My service as a (primarily print) journalist convinced me of the importance of the profession, especially its role in keeping local communities accurately informed about the important events and issues affecting them.

It also convinced me of the dangers American journalism faced, which was leading to decline which has only accelerated in recent years. There are a wide variety of factors leading to this – short-sighted media companies addicted to unrealistic and unsustainable profit margins, the presence of the Internet and how it disrupted the traditional media delivery model, and politicians who never liked being held accountable for their actions.

I was observing all this as well as the economic and cultural turmoil stemming from the George W. Bush years which extended into the Obama years and beyond. It all dropped into the creative stewpot in my head, simmering, cooking, and transforming.

Into the pot dropped a story I’d read about in one of the books we used when I’d attended the journalism and mass communication program at the University of Iowa in the mid 1990’s. Back in 1993, the New York Post was owned for two weeks by a parking garage tycoon named Abe Hirshfeld. The staff of the Post so despised their new owner they ran an entire issue about how he was unfit to own and operate a newspapers in New York. They got rid of Abe, but Rupert Murdoch ended up buying the paper. 🤷🏻

Just as an insurance salesman named Tom Clancy once transformed an unsuccessful mutiny aboard a Soviet destroyer into a more successful one on a Soviet missile sub for The Hunt for Red October, I decided to see what an even more successful journalistic revolt set in the city of Chicago (which, as a Midwest kid actually born in its outer suburbs, I was more familiar with than New York). I was off to sort out the story.

After several years of work-shopping, advice, and major revisions, I published The Holy Fool through Biblio Publishing in 2019.

The Story

It’s mid-August 2008. Samuel “Sonny” Turner is the Iowa-born star columnist for the Chicago Journal, which has served the Windy City for the past 140 or so years. He’s approached by his mentor, City/Metro desk editor Arthur “Gus” Pulaski, with a confidential task: investigate John Michael Edson, the CEO of Journal owner Edson Media, to find out if the paper is in danger of being sold and perhaps even closed for good.

Over the course of five weeks, against the backdrop of the Obama-McCain presidential races and the beginnings of the Great Recession, Turner, Pulaski, and a handful of trusted colleagues investigate their own owner and his plans. Once they realize their journalistic home and their livelihoods are at risk, Turner, Pulaski, and the others prepare to take drastic action in a last ditch effort to keep the Journal’s presses running.

At the same time, Turner has in his possession a mountain of classified and top secret information about the conduct of the wars now raging in Iraq in Afghanistan. He wants to report on the information, but even Pulaski is hesitant about the ethics and feasibility of doing so. With pressure coming from his own bosses and the federal government, Turner starts to consider whether a new approach to journalism might be what’s needed.

The Holy Fool is a reference to a a Russian archtype of someone who seems foolish but is actually intelligent, and the court jesters who were able to tell the truth to kings without losing their heads¹.

If You’re Interested…

…in thrillers with a journalistic slant, with a dash of a heist story and political intrigue, The Holy Fool is absolutely for you.

Essentially, you can probably find it just by Googling “Jason Liegois The Holy Fool,” but if you want faster links, you can check out either the links on the sidebar of my desktop version of this site, or go to my profile page on Substack and click on the “Links” section. If you’re interested, you can pick up the paperback version for $14.95 or the Kindle version for $4.99.

Next Sunday, I’ll reintroduce my second novel to all of you – The Yank Striker.

Subscribe to my Substack here.

And yes, I admit titling my debut book with a cultural reference requiring a paragraph to explain was a bit of a choice. ↩︎

Saying Goodbye to a Writing Group (sort of)

A Week in the Writing Life, 14 October 2023

Well, hello. Let’s get to it.

My Plans for the Weekend and How They Almost Crashed and Burned, AKA What I’m Doing Having To Do With Writing

If you haven’t heard, until very recently I was under the mistaken impression I was scheduled to do a book fair event today, right about the time this newsletter is coming out. However, I was wrong.

To be honest, I was a bit embarrassed to have thought it was today rather than tomorrow for so long. However, I’m also keeping things in perspective. It’s not like I forgot to go into school on a day I had to work, for example. And I’ll be going to the event, so it’s not like I’m missing out.

The event will be tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at MERGE, 136 S. Dubuque Street, in Iowa City, part of the week-long Iowa City Book Festival. Here’s a link to the event page. When you do get on there, I’d urge all of you to check out the other writers planning on being at the event, including an old classmate of mine from Muscatine, Juan Fourneau. It looks like there’s going to be a lot of great authors there¹.

What I’ve Been Writing

I’ve been busy this week with some decent original fiction. For the first time in a while, pretty much all of the writing (except for here) has been focused on The Yank Striker 2. I’ve gotten past a main stumbling block in the rough draft and I’m moving forward with the next part of the story – what happens after my main character DJ’s first game and what eventually becomes an after party for him.

This is the part of the newsletter where I’m obligated to warn about SPOILERS for both The Yank Striker and The Yank Striker series. If you are allergic to such things, stop reading for a bit.

One of the things about The Yank Striker: A Footballer’s Beginning I somewhat regretted was introducing so many new characters briefly near the end of the book as DJ meets his new teammates at Donford at the first time. However, I still feel I stopped the book at the right time, right after DJ finally makes the choice to go to London and join Donford.

What I am really happy with is the opportunity the second book brings to talk more about Donford FC and it’s players and coaches. There’s Lexx, the Brazilian forward and fellow LGBTQ player, for example. One of the reasons DJ even gets a chance to play for Donford is because the club believes he could serve as support for Lexx, who they see as a potential world soccer superstar. Lexx is definitely unlike any other character in my fiction up to this point, and I’m really excited about exploring him further in this book.

There also many other great characters to talk about, like DJ’s fellow American transplant Gord and a Dutch player who insists on everyone calling him Jojo. There’s so much dramatic and comedic potential in these characters, which will only strengthen DJ’s story. I can’t wait for you to have a proper introduction to them.

All Right, Spoilers Over

Writing Advice for the Week

This week, it’s time to talk about the fourth of George Orwell’s six rules of writing. During the past few weeks, I’ve been reviewing the first couple of rules. Orwell, the author of 1984 and Animal Farm, is a longtime idol for me.

“Politics and the English Language” is one of his best essays, which explores the connection between the deterioration of the language and political thought. He thought politicians were obscuring their true intentions behind vague or meaningless language. It’s worth a read in full.

So, number four on the list is:

Never use the passive when you can use the active.

This is going to require some explanation, but I think you’ll get it by the time I’m done.

Essentially, this is referring to active verb versus passive verb sentences. Passive verb sentences are arranged so they run in this order: object, verb, subject. I’ll use an example I have often used when I am teaching this in front of students:

The body was dragged by Sam and Dean Winchester into the living room.

As you see, the sentence is focused on what is happening to the body, not who is dragging it. Essentially, the object has now taken the subject’s place.

Active verb sentences are arranged so they run in this order: subject, verb, and object. An active verb version of my passive verb sentence example would be:

Sam and Dean Winchester dragged the body into the living room.

Notice how direct and simple the active verb sentence. It also has the advantage of giving the same information in a fewer amount of words.

In most cases, you should use an active verb rather than a passive verb sentence. There are exceptions to this rule, however. In headlines or other areas, your reader interest might be in the actions the subjects of your sentences take rather than the subjects themselves. However, the more active verb sentences you can use, the better.

Writing Quote(s) of the Week

Anthony Trollope seems to get my idea of working small but steady. The big gesture, when it comes to writing, never seems to work with me.

A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.

Anthony Trollope

I also think that Ursula K. Le Guin would vibe with Orwell concerning the importance of exact and clear language.

A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen their souls. Story-tellers and poets spend their lives learning that skill and art of using words well. And their words make the souls of their readers stronger, brighter, deeper.

Ursula K. Le Guin

Where I’ll Be and Where You Can Find my Books

After this weekend, there’s only one book event on my calendar. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4, I will be at the Elwell Building at the Iowa State Fairgrounds as part of the 8th Annual Indie Author Book Expo. If something else comes up, I’ll let you know.

I’ve got links to my books in paperback and ebook format in the sidebar here, but you can get them in person at these fine Iowa bookstores:

Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave # S1, Des Moines
Pella Books, 824 Franklin St, Pella
The Book Vault, 105 S Market St, Oskaloosa.

All three are great independent bookstores who deserve your support.

Final Thoughts

Sorry this was out slightly later than usual. In this case, I was just a bit caught up in writing something else and the deadline crept up on me.

Take care, everyone.

– 30 –

Subscribe to my Substack here.

Consider this my Reading Recommendations for the Week. ↩︎

The Home Front

What I’ve Been Writing

What I’m Doing Having to do With Writing

Writing Quote(s) of the Week:

How to support me😊.

The Flow and the Journey

Final Thoughts

-30-

Share this:

Like this:

If You’re Interested…

Share this:

Like this:

Misty Stroll

Cozy Winter’s Eve Nook

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Like this:

The Home Front

What I’m Writing

What I’m Doing Having to Do With Writing

(AKA personal appearances)

Writing Quote of the Week:

A Few Links About My Books and Where to Find Them

(Feel free to ignore this bit if you’ve read it before)

Final Thoughts

-30-

Share this:

Like this:

The Home Front

What I’m Writing

[MINOR SPOILER ALERT:3]

[END OF SPOILERS]

What I’m Doing Having to Do With Writing

(AKA where I might be appearing soon, among other things)

Writing Quote of the Week:

A Few Links About My Books and Where to Find Them

(Feel free to ignore this bit if you’ve read it before)

Final Thoughts

-30-

Share this:

Like this:

Current Schedule for 2024:

Share this:

Like this:

How the Creative Process Happened

The Story

If You’re Interested…

Share this:

Like this:

Origins

The Story

If You’re Interested…

Share this:

Like this:

Subscribe to continue reading

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Like this:

My Plans for the Weekend and How They Almost Crashed and Burned, AKA What I’m Doing Having To Do With Writing

What I’ve Been Writing

This is the part of the newsletter where I’m obligated to warn about SPOILERS for both The Yank Striker and The Yank Striker series. If you are allergic to such things, stop reading for a bit.

All Right, Spoilers Over

Writing Advice for the Week

Never use the passive when you can use the active.

Writing Quote(s) of the Week

Where I’ll Be and Where You Can Find my Books

Final Thoughts

– 30 –

Share this:

Like this:

[MINOR SPOILER ALERT:³]