Tag: Promotion

A Week in the Writing Life, 29 July 2023: Dubious writing productivity

[PHOTO NOTE: Me out and about at Mainframe Studios in Des Moines this week, where I talked with John Busbee for his The Culture Buzz program at KFMG 98.9.]

Hello, and welcome. Way too hot of a week this week, but I’m hopeful we’ll get some relief in the next couple of days. Let’s talk a little writing.

Home Front Stuff

Pretty much the only interesting bit of news personally is the whole family is getting together tomorrow and the next weekend to help my daughter Madeline move to a new apartment in Iowa City. It will be her new base of operations for her senior year at the University of Iowa as she continues to study chemical engineering. Thankfully, it appears it will not be as hot as it was earlier this week.

Otherwise, it’s coming to the end of July, and now I’m starting to get a bit antsy as I tend to do once it rolls around to August 1. That’s the official time when I start wondering and thinking about the new school year and new classes.

This coming school year will be my third at this school district. It will be a bit different this year since during my first year, I was half special education and half general education (English) and my second year, I was all English, and now I will be all special education, which was my hope. I’m cautiously optimistic about the upcoming school year.

What I’ve Been Writing

…not much.

I am in the midst of a pretty long dry spot – maybe one of the longer ones I’ve had for a long time. I think I’m at this point because recently I was writing and planning something quite a bit exciting for me to some previously begun works that just seem more like work to me.

This is a mentality that I’ve gotten to recognize in my writing habits. However, I’ve found some ways to overcome them and get past them, which I really need to start putting into gear. For example, if I’m writing a scene that seems to have turned into a chore, or just seems like work, sometimes I delay writing the scene and move on to another scene. Other options include radically reordering or rearranging some of the events in the scene, drastically reducing the length of the scene, or simply cutting the scene altogether.

I find the last option often can be the best for eliminating unnecessary scenes and speeding along the story. If I’m finding it boring, I have a good feeling people will thumb right past it.

So, I am hoping one or more of these techniques starts getting me out of the slump I’ve been in this week. It won’t be happening this weekend, with me trying to get out this week’s newsletter and moving my daughter out of her old place. Hope springs eternal.

What I’ve Been Doing Having to do With Writing

I was busy this week with an appearance with

John Busbee on The Culture Buzz in Des Moines on Wednesday and an appearance at Beaverdale Books in Des Moines the same day, one of three Iowa independent bookstores where you can find The Yank Striker in stock. I’ve set up links to recordings of both events on a new section of the front page’s sidebar called Interviews. Go ahead and click on the links if you wanted to hear me in person.

I don’t have many things coming up recently, but there are a few events I’ll be at this coming fall when I’ll have to be more of the “weekend warrior” than I have been this summer. So far:

  • From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, I’ll be at the Groundswell Cafe, 201 3rd Ave. SW, Cedar Rapids, for an Indie Author Book Expo.
  • From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14, at MERGE, 136 Dubuque St., Iowa City, I’ll be participating in the book fair as part of the Iowa City Book Festival that week.
  • And 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.

I hope to see some of you either there or around, and I’ll put any other events up as I confirm them.

What I’ve Been Reading/General Recommendations

This week, I learned two writers/journalists I’ve long admired have joined the Substack community.

Even though Dan Rather might still be somewhat beyond introduction several years into retirement from his run as a CBS news correspondent and anchorman, but I’ve appreciated his writing ever since rediscovering him on Facebook. On his new page Steady , he keeps writing up good stuff like this observation on events in the Donal Trump classified documents case.

Lucian K. Truscott IV is an author I’ve followed for a long time. I’ve long been a fan of his novels like Dress Grey and Army Blue, and in recent years I’ve appreciated his journalism in various publications such as The Village Voice. I was hyped to see him on Substack, with such articles as this one explaining the difference between the political world and the judicial world when it comes to the Trump situation.

I’ll really need to do another string of recommendations for Substack Notes when I get a free minute.

Writing Advice for This Week

As promised, some writing advice based on my reactions to the writing advice of others. I’ve decided to try this method for two reasons. First, it can be quite difficult generating new and novel writing advice on a regular basis. At least, this is the case for me. And second, except for a very few obvious examples (always capitalize the start of sentences, use proper punctuation), I am of the opinion there are always exceptions to many “tenets” of writing.

For starters, I’ll mention two this week, selected from the editorial staff of Custom-Writing.org’s “11 Basic Writing Rules – Common Mistakes & Fixes.”

The first rule it mentions is “Keep Your Sentences Short and Simple.” The reasoning for this rule is as follows:


To leave your readers satisfied and give them what they came for, you need to act fast. You don’t have time to ramble about random things, so your sentences should be short and straightforward.The golden rules are: You need to be able to fit up to 35 words in it. The main focus should be on verbs and nouns.

Right, let’s dive into this. To start with, I would hope when you are putting together sentences you are focused on verbs and nouns, because there’s no such thing as sentences without them.

But also, sticking to an arbitrary limit of 35 words is not always advisable. In a short journalism piece of only a few paragraphs, sticking to several short sentences might be the best policy. However, the longer a writer’s text becomes, the more those short sentences become monotonous to read and kills reader interest. In these circumstances, you should use a wide variety of sentence lengths. It is all right to use short sentences, long sentences, and sentences in between, just as long as you don’t use them all the time.

The third rule on its list is “Include Simple Words and Word Combinations.”

[…] what’s the point of having short sentences when they’re filled with words that a regular person would rarely use in everyday life?No one will ever want to look up the meaning of a certain word in the dictionary. […] Especially when quickly scanning through an article.It isn’t a grammar rule per se, but it can save you much trouble.

Again, keeping things simple by using these simple word combinations is not an inherently bad idea, but sometimes you have to wander outside that comfort zone for you and your reader for specific reasons. Maybe you want to insert some obscure words into a certain character’s dialogue to show they are a sophisticated, well-read person (or are desperate to make people believe this). Or, like in my short story “Into the Cave” I mentioned a bit ago above, maybe I want to not only use the somewhat obscure word “kayfabe” but also explain its definition because I wanted to give readers insight into the specific culture it relates to (professional wrestling).

As with this and the previous rule, you always need to take the writing situation under consideration before you make choices based on those rules.

Writing Quote of the Week

Decided to go a bit further back in time than normal this week with a quote from one of the greats about the purpose of storytelling.

I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which ‘Escape’ is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?

J.R.R. Tolkien

Final Thoughts

Would you be interested in me doing some book reviews? I’m always interested in trying something new, although if I did, I’d probably post those as separate from the regular newsletter.

If you have any questions, concerns, advice, let me know in the comments or email me. Any feedback you have would be valued, especially all of you fellow writers on WordPress or Substack.

And that’s a wrap. As always, check the sidebar and author page links for my work, and I’d love you to leave a review of my books as well wherever you get them. Thanks.

– 30 –

While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.

While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.
Subscribe to my Substack here.
Subscribe to my Substack here.

A Week in the Writing Life, 22 July 2023: A big announcement regarding The Yank Striker

[PHOTO NOTE: My backyard which won’t be habitable next week because it will be too darn hot.]

Welcome, everybody. A lot has been happening this week and the week to come.

Home Front Stuff

Late last week, I learned of the death of my brother-in-law, Rick. I never had brothers or sisters growing up, but when I first started dating my future wife Laura, I immediately came into a family of four sisters, of whom my wife was the youngest. Rick was married to Laura’s sister Kelly.

It seems so strange thinking I knew him for such a short time, but when I check the calendar I realize we knew each other for more than 30 years. Time is starting to play tricks on me.

He was actually more of my father’s generation, serving in Vietnam before returning home to work as a millwright. I’m not going to get into a full obituary here, but he was a good guy who loved his wife and kids and was always generous with me and especially my own kids. He will be missed and cancer is a stupid disease.

What I’ve Been Writing

I’ve actually been busy with several items this past week. Earlier in the week, I was finishing up a short story called “Into the Cave,” which I plan to post tomorrow as a paid subscriber exclusive piece. I consider it to be a prologue, test story, whatever you want to call it, regarding this new idea I have for a fiction series. I’ve been thinking of the idea to start putting the story together online and later publishing all of it or some of it in book format later. The whole idea of trying to build a series and showing off the creative process on Substack in real time is something very intriguing to me. It’s an opportunity for you the reader, to see the creative process as not something sacred and mysterious, but something that takes work, thought, and can evolve greatly over time.

So, that will be forthcoming tomorrow. I just want to remind any readers who sign up for a paid subscription get an automatic 7-day free trial. Sunday would be a good day to give it a try.

As for other projects, I need to get back into the groove with The Yank Striker 2, still in the rough draft mode. There are two scenes I have to get through and complete. Afterward, I think I might have some more freedom to hit and run. By this, I mean start writing scenes out of order to better speed along the writing process. When I have used this in the past, eventually it has had the good effect of prompting me not to write several scenes I thought were necessary to the story but I reconsidered when I realized I was too bored to write them, then it would make sense those passages would be too boring to read. It also helps to keep the story moving along.

What I’ve Been Doing Having to do With Writing

BIG NEWS ALERT – My book The Yank Striker: A Footballer’s Beginning is now on Kindle! If you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription, you can just hoover that bad boy up into your library at no cost – otherwise, it’s just $4.95. Go to the link in this paragraph or in the link to my Amazon page on the front page or the My Works page here on Liegois Media to get to it. I’m super psyched.

There might be some more opportunities to see me out and about, perhaps later in the summer or beyond, but there is one event coming up very soon… I’ve already plugged it here on the past couple of newsletters, but if you’ll indulge me, I wanted to plug it just one more time.

I’ll be having my first “Meet the Author” event at 6:30 p.m. next Wednesday at Beaverdale Books, one of three Iowa bookstores where you can find The Yank Striker in stock. We’ll talk about the book and series, as well as writing in general.

Also, that same day I’ll be having my first ever radio interview with John Busbee and his show The Culture Buzz on KMFG 98.9. The interview should air the day of the event during his regular slot (11 a.m. – 1 p.m.). Hope you can give it a listen.

What I’ve Been Reading/General Recommendations

Earlier this week I listed several different recommendations for stuff to read on Substack over in my Substack Notes feed. I try to list most of them there because otherwise it’s really going to clog up the newsletter. (Don’t even get me started at trying to keep up with my ever-churning Substack inbox.)

One thing I do want to was recommend

Brian Reindel 👾⚔️ as a pretty good writer who, like me, is trying to get things going here on this platform. I noticed this note he recently posted announcing a link group of fellow writers he created on his homepage. It’s a cool thing to see writers here trying to create their own communities and cooperative groups together.

Sadly, I have not yet had the chance to create or join such a group yet, although I certainly am open to it. If and when that happens, I will have to recreate the old Andre the Giant meme (“Andre the Giant has a Posse,” etc.).

Writing Advice for This Week

While I like to consider myself a relatively creative fiction writer, I have to say I don’t consider myself to be creative when giving writing advice. I’ve been thinking about why that’s the case, when I suddenly had the realization coming up with writing advice is a lot like trying to come up with creating your own teaching materials for a class, and that’s something I struggle with all the time. Take it from me when I say the type of creativity needed to write fiction and the type of creativity needed to write lesson plans are two totally different things. Just because you are good at one form of creativity does not mean you are as skilled or practiced at another.

So, while I do think there’s value in trying to offer a quick bit of advice on here, I believe I’m going to try and change tactics. Starting next week, I’m going to be taking a look at pieces of writing advice I’ve found in various places and evaluate them. As I mentioned during my last newsletter, I’m more of a mind of keeping to general, broad principles rather than a long checklist of rules. So, I’m going to take a look at some of these checklists and give you my opinions on them.

Writing Quote(s) of the Week

Let’s go for two this week. First, there’s Dorothy Parker admitting writing is work:

I hate writing, I love having written.

Dorothy Parker

And then, our old pal and writing icon Steve with the real reason for writing:

Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.

Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Final Thoughts

That’s it for this week. Again, check out this post regarding a new sale I’m having for paid subscriptions on this site. Also, check back here at noon Central Time tomorrow for my latest paid subscriber exclusive fiction, based on my most recent possible fiction project and series.

As always, check the links in the sidebar and on my author page if you’re looking to buy one of my books. If you buy one, I’d absolutely love it if you could leave a review on Amazon or wherever you get it, because that would be very helpful.

– 30 –

While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.
Subscribe to my Substack here.

A Week in the Writing Life, 8 July 2023

Well, this might be a bit of a rush to get out my newsletter, but I have been very busy during the past week. And there has been plenty of new ideas popping into my head over the past couple of weeks.

[EDIT: And of course this takes a lot longer than I expected, so it’s coming out in the afternoon rather than right at noon. Not that this is a hard deadline, but I would like to have a consistent posting schedule. I will say I’ve been much better about consistently posting than I have been for years past.]

Home Front Stuff

There’s not too much to report on here. I’ve been basically chilling out at home most of the week and enjoying some much needed rain. Laura and I had a nice quiet Fourth of July at home, and I joined her in one of her favorite traditions – watching the Fourth of July celebrations in Washington, D.C. It was a good time for us.

I will say today we have the windows open in our house for the first time in several weeks. It finally got cool enough and a good enough breeze to make that tolerable, which is a rare occasion in Iowa during the summer months. We’ll likely have to close up the house by tomorrow, but I’ll enjoy things while I can.

What I’ve Been Writing

Well, for one thing, I’ve been writing a lot recently.

All kidding aside, I’ve also been doing a bit of creating as well. “Wait, isn’t any sort of writing creative?” Yes, this is true, but I’ve been creating some new stuff.

First, let’s get onto the (slightly) older stuff. The rough draft of The Yank Striker 2 remains under construction, and some of the workers were on the job site this week. On this subject, I have to say undertaking a side quest has had some benefits toward the project moving forward. A few weeks ago, I went slightly insane and decided to write a whole history of the English soccer club at the heart of The Yank Striker series.

It turned out all right as a piece of writing, but the short story (for lack of a better word) wound up being a valuable resource for putting together the new book. As I mentioned earlier, I now have a fuller understanding of the setting of my series even after writing a book set in that world. It made me aware of characters and situations I was not even aware of, and they added so much texture to the story. I’ve been busy this last week on adding new scenes or revising old scenes using some of the information and characters I discovered throughout creating the history. It’s been exciting.

Also, I’ve come up with a new idea for a series1.

I still have an idea for a fantasy series I’ve been toying with for at least the past couple of years, and it’s still something I want to do. However, over the weekend I was back around my hometown in Muscatine where I did a couple of quick appearances, including one at the book fair at the David R. Collins Writers’ Conference.

It involves not exactly a sport, but something that could be considered an art form and a storytelling medium, involving physical activity and movement. That art form? Professional wrestling.

Photo by Patrick Case on Pexels.com

I want to discuss how this series came about in a separate post, but what I will say is the idea for this story, a multi-generational tale set in the world of professional wrestling, has grown faster than the xenomorphs in the Alien series, it appears. I’m already hearing full conversations in my head, ideas of greater themes and surprising connections to writing. And there’s an actual Iowa component to this series, which is a bit amazing considering I’m writing it2.

I had to chuckle a bit as I continued to consider this subject matter. I started paying attention to wrestling as a fan in the mid-1980’s, just as the WWE hosted its first Wrestlemania shows and the NWA was still active in some of the (slowly dying) territories. My parents were by no means fans of my fandom, and I remember several conversations with my father about the whole silliness of the situation and my obsession tough men and their psychodramas. I was pleasantly surprised when my father did not immediately discount my idea, but you need to realize this is a man willing to drive halfway across Iowa to meet with me at a book fair and have lunch one day, so I’ve always considered him to be a very supportive parent.

I’m not sure they will read this new series, but then again, my mother, bless her, is nervous about reading my fiction because she doesn’t want to be critical of it. On the other hand, my daughter Madeline is fearful of few things and certainly not of taking the piss out of her pops, so she might read some of it. My son Jacob, who also follows wrestling off and on, might give it a look, as well.

Don’t worry, there will be more on this soon.

What I’ve Been Doing Having to do With Writing

I’ve got two events coming up, so I’ll just mention them quickly.

Tomorrow, the Highland Park Historic Business District in Des Moines is hosting the Northside Market from 12-6 p.m. There’s going to be a whole bunch of great local vendors out there and Sixth Street from Euclid to Douglas will be shut down for the event. I’ll be there at the Slowdown Coffee Co., 3613 Sixth Ave., Des Moines, with my books, including The Yank Striker. We can talk writing, soccer, or just about anything, to be honest. I’ll be there for most of the afternoon.

On the last week of this month, I’m truly honored to have my first “Meet the Author” event at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 26, at Beaverdale Books (which happens to be celebrating its 17th anniversary today). Beaverdale is also one of three Iowa bookstores where you can find The Yank Striker in stock. I’m really excited for the event and to talk about this book and the series.

If there is any chance you can come out here and join me at this event, I would absolutely appreciate it. Anyone who wants a copy of my books will be able to get them, autographed, at $10 each – about a 30 percent discount.

Also, that same day, it appears I’ll be having my first ever radio interview with John Busbee and his show The Culture Buzz on KMFG 98.9. If all goes according to plan, the interview should air the day of the event during his regular slot (11 a.m. – 1 p.m.). I’m truly looking forward to it.

What I’ve Been Reading/General Recommendations

I’ve been finding a lot of good articles on Substack Notes and “restacking” them, so to speak, so keep checking out my feed for some cool reads.

What I’ll briefly mention here is this great article by Write More with Simon K Jones covering different classifications of serialized fiction in the Western World from approximately the 19th century onward. It’s a great read. Made me think about which of these formats best meets my interests at the moment.

Writing Quote of the Week

This was actually one of the better analogies I’ve ever heard on the subject.

A short story is a love affair, a novel is a marriage. A short story is a photograph; a novel is a film.

Lorrie Moore

Final Thoughts

Okay, that’s it for now3. Hey, if you’re interested in purchasing any of my books, all you need to do is click on the links on the sidebar, or you’ll also find those links on my bio page as well. See you here next week.

– 30 –

While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.
Subscribe to my Substack here.

Footnotes

  1. This was the idea in last week’s newsletter I promised I would have a separate story on this idea. I still want to do one, but this might have to wait for a bit. I might be able to put something together later today or on Sunday, but as of right now, it is a work in progress, as is the idea for the series in question.
  2. I am probably one of the most hopeless Iowa writers out there because Iowa has not been a major setting in my books up to this point. My first book, The Holy Fool, was based almost entirely in Chicago. The only connection to Iowa was as the birthplace of my main character, Samuel “Sonny” Turner. The Yank Striker has no Iowa connection whatsoever. A good amount of the poetry I’ve written in recent years has been based in Iowa, especially along the Mississippi River.
  3. I figured out how to do linkable footnotes in WordPress this week! Very cool.

A Week in the Writing Life, 2 July 2023

[PHOTO NOTE: Back in my hometown of Muscatine, Iowa, looking at the Mississippi River. :)]

Man, I’ve been keeping busy this week – and I’ve been out of town for a bit as well. So, this newsletter might be pretty short when I get done with it.

However, there was a lot happening this week, and some of it actually has to do with writing. Let’s talk about it.

Home Front Stuff

As you can see, my wife Laura already has the house all decorated for the Fourth of July. We’ll be just hanging out in town for when the Tuesday itself happens, with no plans at the moment to travel.

I did decide to make it out to a soccer match, however. When I was just scrolling around online, I noticed there were still tickets available for the US Men’s National Team’s CONCACAF[1] Gold Cup Wednesday night match against St. Kitts & Nevis, to my shock. A visit to Seatgeek and Priceline later, I was headed for a five-hour one way trip to St. Louis to watch the USMNT in action. Although this was my second USMNT live match, it was the first one in a competitive match.

Citypark is right in downtown St. Louis and is definitely one of the nicest and well-designed stadiums I’ve visited yet. The boys managed a 6-0 victory, Jesus Ferreira got a hat trick and became the fastest American man to score double digits for the US, and my old Chicago Fire keeper Sean Johnson captained the team for the first time ever and got his seventh clean sheet for his country. It was a long drive up and down, but a fantastic two days.

What I’ve Been Writing

I ended up getting the first chapter of a new fan fiction piece done this week. I’ve talked about my relationship with fan fiction previously, but I’ve enjoyed my time just writing for the sake of writing, especially the little world I’ve build over the course of a couple years. It can also be an excellent way of breaking a writing block, since I don’t feel as much pressure to be as perfectionist with the material than “serious” writing.

I have a feeling this year fan fiction makes up a far smaller percentage of my total overall production than it has in the past couple years. I believe I have been putting out much more material for my blogs and on my original fiction than at any point during that time. Since I have made notes regarding what I wrote at various times, I could possibly work out those percentages if I really wanted to, but I’m not sure it would be an efficient use of my time.

I can’t say I spend time on the second book of The Yank Striker series, but I do have something that came up. An idea for a brand new series I’m formulating as we speak. I’ll do a separate post on the idea this weekend (this coming Saturday). I hope it will be an intriguing surprise.

What I’ve Been Doing Having to do With Writing

I had my book launch party for The Yank Striker last Saturday!

It was great to see my family at Chocolaterie Stam in Des Moines, and thanks to especially to Terri Key, who is a fellow member of the Iowa Writers’ Corner, for helping set everything up.

The IWC’s president, Maggie Rivers, also stopped by to say hi and managed to win the gift basket.

There’s going to be some more events later this month. I’ll post on my Substack Notes feed a full update on events later today at least. I’ll also post announcements on my Instagram and Facebook pages. If you can make it, I’d love to see you there.

What I’ve Been Reading/General Recommendations

As with last week, I’m going to do one recommendation here and put some of the rest of the stories I’ve read on my Substack Notes.

As what I would call an educated amateur on the subject of the Substack platform, I always like to read the articles on how to better use the platform. This article is about how you can celebrate milestones in a way that can get readers’ attention.

Writing Quote of the Week

Carl Sagan here gets real about where books can take you.

What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.

Carl Sagan, Cosmos

Final Thoughts

That’s it for this week. I might have what I was hinting at in this week’s newsletter ready for next weekend, or not. But I’ll try. Take care, everyone.

– 30 –

Footnotes:

  1. The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, the regional governing body of football.

While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.
Subscribe to my Substack here.
Go check out all my other links here.

A Week in the Writing Life, 23 June 2023

[PHOTO NOTE: Back in my hometown of Muscatine, Iowa, looking at the Mississippi River. :)]

I had a pretty busy week this week when I got a lot of writing done, and paid subscribers are going to be able to take a look at what I wrote.

We’ll talk about that and a little more, although not too much more. I’m on the road this weekend.

Home Front Stuff

My wife Laura and I are going to return back to our hometown of Muscatine, Iowa this weekend. She plans to attend her high school reunion and meet some family and friends she hasn’t seen in a while. I’m looking forward to seeing some of them because we went to school together and I was only two classes ahead of my wife.

As for me, I’m planning to meet with my parents once again for the weekend and do some writing tour stuff (I’ll talk about that very briefly down below). Hoping to have a good time.

The CONCACAF[1] Gold Cup is kicking off this weekend. I might need some headphones for my cellphone to listen to the radio call if nothing else. Then again, what would you expect from someone who’s decided to write a whole series about the sport (The Yank Striker).

Swimming’s been working out for me this summer, so I might check in and see what it would cost to have a membership at a pool near my work this fall. I sure as heck have more fun than going to a gym.

What I’ve Been Writing

Everyone, I think I can now clearly understand how a writer can do something like get caught up in a writing side project that takes up all of their attention, like George R.R. Martin deciding to write something like Fire and Blood but everyone’s wailing for (or despairing of receiving) the next book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series (The Winds of Winter). I have undergone something similar this week.

I promised everyone last week I would put out a paid subscriber exclusive short fiction piece (call it historical fiction) tied to my series The Yank Striker. In the first book, the title character, DJ Ryan, is tempted from playing for his college football coach father by a tryout offer from Donford FC, a Premier League soccer club in the East End of London. This is a wholly fictional club, created for this series.

Six days, multiple hours of research, and more than 7,000 words later, the short story I promised readers is finished and will be posted at midday this coming Sunday (tomorrow). In addition to be (hopefully) a good and interesting read, I think it gave me far more insight and knowledge of the world I want to write about, and it will be a good resource for me as the series continues. I hope you give it a look.

What I’ve Been Doing Having to do With Writing

The Author’s on the Riverwalk event I went to last weekend was a fantastic experience. I got to meet a lot of great authors, and it was a fine experience on the Des Moines riverfront. I always learn something new at these events, and I’m keen on making it back there next year. Did you know Canva can make business cards, display signs, and other items you design on Canva for your use? Pretty cool.

I have at least two events this weekend and the official book launch of The Yank Striker next weekend in Des Moines, but I’m not going to hash over those here. I’ll post on my Substack Notes feed a full update on events this weekend and the following two weekends. I’ll also post announcements on my Instagram and Facebook pages. If you can make it, I’d love to see you there.

By the way, my hometown newspaper (and former employer) the Muscatine Journal did a very cool article about my new book and doing an appearance in Muscatine tomorrow. You can check it out here.

What I’ve Been Reading/General Recommendations

I’m going to do one recommendation here and put some of the rest of the stories I’ve read on my Substack Notes. Trust me, you’ll find some good recommendations there.

One I will recommend here is this little article by Andy Kopsa of Noheartland regarding the governor of Iowa. What I will say here is Boss Tweed was right back in the Gilded Age of the late 19th century – to broadly paraphrase him, it’s the images that get people’s attention, and Andy does it amazingly here.

Writing Quote of the Week

I have a feeling this is going to be me during the last part of my life. Honestly, I always was faster and more productive on a deadline.

If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.

Isaac Asimov

Final Thoughts

That’s it for this week. Keep an eye open for the paid-exclusive content I mentioned for Sunday while I’m on the road back to my home stomping grounds of eastern Iowa. Take care, everyone.

– 30 –

Footnotes:

  1. The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, the regional governing body of football.

While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.
Subscribe to my Substack here.
Go check out all my other links here.

A Week in the Writing Life, 17 June 2023

[PHOTO NOTE: Des Moines, where I am today. :)]

Another summer week has passed by, and it feels like I was keeping busy without getting a lot of work done. Of course, there were times where I slightly vegged out, but I did get some things done.

Stop in for a while. We’ll talk.

Home Front Stuff

My wife Laura has taken to joking I watch soccer all the time. One of the advantages of being a fan of soccer (football)[1] is there is literally no off-season for the sport in a practical sense. Most of the club leagues in Europe run from August to May (a little longer this year due to the weird World Cup interruption in November), while Major League Soccer here in America runs from about March to November, and some Central and South American leagues run a similar schedule.

Also, the summer is typically the time for big international tournaments involving the national teams of various countries. The CONCACAF[2] Nations League and Gold Cup tournaments just got started this week, and there are various qualifiers and tournaments active in Europe and South America[3].

Basically, this is my way of explaining why I didn’t get any writing done Thursday when the US Men’s National Team (USMNT) played Mexico in the Nations League semifinal and beat them Tres A Cero. It’s also my way of explaining why I’d consider writing a whole fiction series about a burgeoning American soccer star (The Yank Striker) since I’m just that obsessed over the sport[4].

In other news, my daughter’s staying over for the weekend and I’m expecting to meet with both my kids for dinner tonight. So, there’s that.

What I’ve Been Writing

I’ve continued to make some slow progress on Book Two of The Yank Striker series, but not quite as much as I would like. It’s just a matter of sitting down and putting what’s in my head on the page and start to mess around with it (my highly technical term for the revision process).

I’ve ended up writing a lot more on the blog in the past few months. Earlier in the week I heard of the death of Cormac McCarthy and I decided to put something together on it. He’s not one of my childhood idols or anything, but I do think he’s one of the better writers I’ve encountered on the page and I don’t usually say that about “literary” authors.

Although this weekly edition of the newsletter will always be free, I also am interested in putting together more paid-subscriber exclusive material. I want people to get something of value for subscribing to me, even as I make sure to keep it affordable for anyone who wants to upgrade their subscription.

So, next weekend, I am going to put out an exclusive article connected to my new book series The Yank Striker. In my new book, readers are introduced to Donford Football Club, a Premier League team located in the East End of London, which offers the title character, DJ Ryan, a team tryout. Of course, no such club actually exists, except for in my book. The article will be “A History of Donford FC” and will give you some background to this world I’ve built for the series. I hope you give it a look.

What I’ve Been Doing Having to do With Writing

As of this writing, I’m hoping to be in Des Moines for the Author’s on the Riverwalk event. I’ll let you know how it went next week, but I always look forward to getting out, meeting people interested in literature, and talking about what I write.

On separate posts, I’ve been posting an updated list of appearances I’m making this summer and beyond. I’ll also be posting those on Substack Notes, Facebook, and Instagram. If you are not sure where my links are for not only my Facebook and Instagram pages, but my links for The Yank Striker, either go to my author’s page on Substack or the Link in Bio Page on my WordPress. You’ll find it all there.

Trying to promote the site, my book series, and my appearances has been a bit of work as well. I don’t pretend to know everything about marketing and social media, but I might know a little more than I did before.

What I’ve Been Reading/General Recommendations

I’ll continue adding a couple of these every week, but I’m tempted to restrict the majority of them to Substack Notes posts. Those I don’t get to here I’ll post on here. There’s so much good writing on Substack and WordPress, but there’s no way anybody can read it all and get anything done in a week.

Even my kids were asking me about the recent reports of what the US government knows about UFOs.

Erik Hoeldid a great job of debunking those reports (and the news organizations breathlessly reporting them.

Some of my favorite writers on Substack, the Iowa Writers Collaborative , got together IRL this past weekend in the Amana Colonies (look it up, non-Iowa readers) and talked about how they’ve been doing something new in the world of Iowa journalism this past year. Go check them out.

Laura Jedeed put out a new post on an article she did about what she saw at the recent Turning Point USA convention. Definitely worth a read.

Finally, over at

On Substack , Hamish McKenzie put out an interesting exploration of how other writers are using Substack Notes that might give me some ideas.

Writing Quote(s) of the Week

Two quotes for this week. The first quote from Stephen King comes via Veronica Blake, an author I follow on Facebook:

Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.

Stephen King

And the next quote on writing comes from Cormac McCarthy (RIP):

I don’t know why I started writing. I don’t know why anybody does it. Maybe they’re bored, or failures at something else.

Cormac McCarthy

Final Thoughts

That’s it for this week. Keep an eye open for the paid-exclusive content I mentioned for next weekend, which will see me back in my hometown of Muscatine. Writers keep writing and all of you keep safe.

– 30 –

Footnotes:

  1. I use the term soccer here typically since I’m for the most part writing for an American audience, but in other contexts (like my football series The Yank Striker) I use football at the very least interchangeably with soccer.
  2. The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, the regional governing body of football.
  3. This also is not taking into account the start of the transfer season in soccer, of which the whole Lionel Messi move to Inter Miami is just a small portion of that news. Picture a Hot Stove baseball off-season involving dozens of leagues on six continents.
  4. For those readers not particularly interested in the sport of soccer, I also promise this will be the maximum amount of soccer-related material you will likely read in my weekly newsletter. Thank you.

While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.
Subscribe to my Substack here.
Go check out all my other links here.

A Week in the Writing Life, 10 June 2023

[PHOTO NOTE: The featured photo is in honor of the UEFA Champions League Final I’ll be watching today. :)]

It’s Saturday and it’s the Superbowl of world soccer upon us – the UEFA Champions League Final. Given I’m insane enough to write a whole book series about an American soccer player, you should know what my priorities are today. I am a degenerate soccer fan, even though neither of the teams in the game (Manchester City or Inter (officially Football Club Internazionale Milano)) are teams I root for[1].

Home Front Stuff

After two whole weeks of essentially hanging out in the house for summer vacation, I finally took the advice of my wife and made it out to the municipal pool. They have adult swim for an hour every day at noon, so I’ve been making an effort to get out there and get some laps in.

I have to admit a water workout is my preferred physical exercise above others. I have been trying to walk more, but it can be a bit of a wear and tear on your joints. With swimming, it doesn’t strain your joints, and you don’t have to worry about sweating all over the place. I have to say that swimming has always been one of my favorite recreational activities, as far back as when I was a little kid in Texas.

So, that’s been fun. I’ve heard there is at least one indoor pool somewhere in the next county north of us, so maybe I can continue this type of exercise even after the summer is done. One of the disadvantages of rural Iowa is a lack of indoor pools.

As I mentioned last week, I decided to plunk down some change and get a new office chair. I have started to get fussy about the type of office chars that I use nowadays. If you are a writer, you want to have where you sit down to write to be as comfortable and supportive as possible. You don’t want to feel worse when you get up from a chair than when you sat down in it, surely. I also want to take into account weight limits, and there are some more sturdy chairs out there than some of the typical ones you would find in Wal-Mart and so forth.

As for the chair pictured… I have to say the jury is still out on it. So far, it’s sturdy and doesn’t put any strain on my spine, no matter how long I sit in it. The fixed armrests are not my favorite, especially since you have to have them to keep the chair together. I tend to like either very wide arm rests that either can be kept wide or removed altogether. However, this was affordable and mostly comfortable, so I think I’m going to keep it and see if it works out. I can always try something else later.

What I’ve Been Writing

For once, I’ve been making some progress on the new book in The Yank Striker series. I ended up writing about an additional 1,000 words to the rough draft (I think I learned the term “puke draft” from Wil Wheaton the other day on Facebook).

So, I’ve actually started to add to the draft rather than just putter around on the sides and see how it’s going to lay out. I know what’s going to be in it in this case, and it’s a big help. This is not going to be a long book by any means. If it exceeds much more than 80,000 words, that will be a significant surprise. One of the advantages I can see with writing a series is that I have, so to speak, a pretty massive pizza I can divide up into however many pieces needed to lay out the story. I can make those parts (the individual books) as large or small as needed.

In addition to this, I have been taking a new writing approach I first used to full effect, coincidentally, with The Yank Striker: A Footballer’s Beginning. When I first started to write novels, I always proceeded from the beginning of the story to the end. This always seemed to make the most sense for me, but in practice, it led to many times where I just stalled out on a story. It wasn’t really writer’s block in the traditional sense. I knew where the story was going, and what would be happening. I got to certain points in the story where it was just a slog to write them. I’d literally get bored trying to put it together on the (virtual) page.

It was then I had a thought stuck inside my head:

What if I concentrated on writing the exciting parts of my story first and leaving the rest of it for later?

It seemed like a simple enough concept; it seemed too simple when I first considered it. But really; why should I be writing something I’m not finding interesting or stirring? If I’m finding it a slog to write, how would I expect someone to get into reading that particular scene, much less want to continue reading it?

With this all in mind, after I sketch out the basic outline of my story, I start filling in the exciting parts first, what I consider to be the essential scenes to the story.

I fill those in first, with the exception of the last scene. I save it for last, just like if I have some jelly beans and I want to save the red ones for last. That final scene is my stash of red jelly beans.

Once I get those essential scenes done – not in any particular order, mind – I then decide to add those “fill-in” scenes, the ones connecting the essential scenes. Or, I don’t. Maybe I decide those scenes don’t need to be in there. Maybe, I’ve got enough connecting information in those essential scenes that those fill-in scenes aren’t even needed. It’s a useful way of paring down my story to what it needs to say, not what I think it needs to say.

Hopefully, this process will help speed along the creation of this rough draft. If I do manage to make my goal of getting it released in June 2024, it would be the fastest turnaround for any novel-sized project I’ve ever written. And I do like a challenge.

What I’ve Been Doing Having to do With Writing

Not much to add. I won’t drop my appearances here, but I’ll keep posting the upcoming ones on Substack Notes, Instagram, and other locations, and I’ll have an updated list coming up

I did want to mention something for those who like to go to actual bookstores to find and buy books. You can actually do that in the state of Iowa if you are so inclined. There’s three places carrying them:

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

All three of them are great places for a day of book shopping.

If you are not sure where my links are for not only my Facebook and Instagram pages, but my links for The Yank Striker, either go to my author’s page on Substack or the Link in Bio Page on my WordPress. You’ll find it all there.

What I’ve Been Reading/General Recommendations

I’ll keep this one brief.

With the passing of the late great Grant Wahl,

Grace Robertson is the best writer on the sport of soccer I’ve yet encountered on Substack. This week she has a great rundown on the very active transfer market of this past week, which includes a certain Argentine headed for Miami that’s getting everyone’s attention and a reminder Florida might be as tricky of a sporting stop as Saudi Arabia nowadays.

Parker Molloy has the type of smart media criticism Howard Kurtz used to do before he went to Fox and went off the rails. This post has a not-so-mournful farewell for Chuck Todd, a prediction that CNN’s head would soon be out the door, (a correct one), and calls out the Washington Post for false equivalency when discussing the whack-job “Democratic” presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Writing Quote(s) of the Week

Tim O’Brien was one of the first authors I ever got the chance to interview, back in 1996 or so. This was a great commentary on what fiction can do.

That’s what fiction is for. It’s for getting at the truth when the truth isn’t sufficient for the truth.

  • Tim O’Brien

Final Thoughts

That’s it for this week. Take care, everyone.

– 30 –

Footnotes:

  1. I always get irritated when my Premier League team, Liverpool FC, gets beat out for the league title or the Champions League by Man City. #LFC #YNWA.

While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.
Subscribe to my Substack here.

A Week in the Writing Life, 3 June 2023

I’m glad it’s summer or I think I’d never get to all of the things I’ve been trying to get to get to. At least some of that involves writing, so let’s talk about it.

Home Front Stuff

Heat becomes a bit of an issue in the summer. If you didn’t hear this from me before, I am not a hot-weather person. If I end up doing any type of chores outside, I do believe I’m going to save them for the morning if I’m going to do it if I don’t want to sweat to death. There’s days living in Iowa where I start thinking that Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iceland, or the Shetland Islands sounds like a good place to stay.

I also finally broke down and bought a new office chair. While my current desk and home office setup is pretty nice, my current chair is on the last legs of its usefulness. Over time, office chairs tend to wear out, especially the adjustable height ones. I didn’t realize that you could select office chairs on the basis of durability.

I’m a bit embarrassed I didn’t know about such things. I come from Muscatine, which happens to be the home and headquarters of the HON company, a very famous manufacturer of office furniture. I’ve used HON furniture during all phases of my professional life (journalism and teaching), and I’ve always rated their products.

While what I’ve bought is not HON, I’m looking forward to its arrival and putting it together. As a writer who needs a good writing space, you also need a good chair that works well for your posture and supports your back and spine. Unfortunately, I’m having to pay good mind to that issue more than I did as a younger man. Anyway, I’m looking forward to it.

What I’m Writing

Actually, a lot of the writing I’ve been putting out has been on my blogs. I’m happy with that.

In years past, whenever my word count for a particular week or month had a high percentage of writing on my blogs, it usually meant I had a slow week or month of writing. Back a couple of years ago, I might have some weeks where I’d manage to put out one blog post a week, where I would detail how many words I’d written and how much time I had spent on revising my work. I’d also talk a little bit about what I’d been busy with, what I was doing, and some other odds and ends.

I still post those weekly journals on my WordPress blog, Liegois Media. This is not because I think word counts and weekly reports are particularly traffic-worthy (which is why I don’t post them on Substack as well). Their purpose is to make myself publicly accountable for when I either am very productive or when I slack off.

It’s a lot more difficult to just ignore sitting on my butt and not writing anything when the numbers are there, staring at you, on the computer screen. It’s doubly more difficult to do so when you put those numbers out on the Internet for anyone to see and judge. There were times earlier in my life where I went weeks, months, and even years without writing anything connected to my day jobs as a journalist or educator, or as a student myself. By counting my words and seeing how productive I am over periods of time, I’ve been able to measure my work and my progress. If I go more than a day without writing or revising anything now, it’s an aberration. And last year, I had my most productive writing year on record.

So, I’m trying to keep up with the blog and everything else. As far as The Yank Striker Part 2 goes, I’ve begun toying with it and trying to figure out where to go with it. I have a brief outline for that next book and I’m ready to dig into it more. What I have in mind is I need to have the new book ready to go, all revised and proofread, by this same time in June 2024.

Whether I actually make it to that deadline is another matter. I’m going to be honest with everyone: this would be the shortest turnaround for a book I’ve ever had. The two books I’ve had published (and those I have not) have been the product of multiple years of thought, writing, revisions, and editing.

I can do this, however. I have the capability to write things pretty fast. I once wrote 50,000 words in a single month when I participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)[1]. I’ve already put together 16,000 words in a rough draft. I just need to be ambitious and daring.

What I’ve Been Doing Having to do With Writing

Not much to mention here. I’m going to be running around to different places to promote The Yank Striker. I will have a post on Sunday detailing any updated appearances and book talks.

I’ll also be promoting those appearances on Substack Notes, Facebook, and Instagram. Hope you check me out at those locations, as well.

If you are not sure where my links are for not only my Facebook and Instagram pages, but my links for The Yank Striker, either go to my author’s page on Substack or the Link in Bio Page on my WordPress. You’ll find it all there.

What I’ve Been Reading/General Recommendations

There’s plenty of people I’d recommend you to read, but I’m hard up on time to get this done, so I’ll restrict myself to one recommendation.

Quadcities.com is a great website for information on the Quad Cities area (Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline, Ill.). Sean Leary is their director of digital media and a great columnist and writer in his own right. They were kind enough to publish the first media story on The Yank Striker to date.

The story is here, but I’d urge you to check out their other coverage of the Quad Cities, especially in the arts and entertainment arena. It’s good stuff.

Writing Quote(s) of the Week

The more I hear from Neil Gaiman, the more I get the impression writing’s not that easy for him.

Being a writer is a very peculiar sort of a job: it’s always you versus a blank sheet of paper (or a blank screen) and quite often the blank piece of paper wins.

This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It’s that easy, and that hard.

Neil Gaiman

Final Thoughts

That’s it for this week. All you writers and creators, keep doing what you are doing, and everyone keep safe.

– 30 –

Footnotes:

  1. The secret to accomplishing that? What you write doesn’t have to be good.

While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.
Subscribe to my Substack here.

A Week in the Writing Life, 27 May 2023

This might be one of my shorter weekly newsletter posts, since I’ve written some supplemental posts just about that new book I’ve got coming out.

So, I’ll get on with the newsletter and keep the promoting to a minimum. Promise.

Home Front Stuff

Other than me being on the phone and emailing a good number of people, my first full week of summer vacation has been quietly uneventful, which I’m glad for. As I was already on vacation, my only bit of awareness of Memorial Day weekend approaching was the fact that I was trying to send out my queries to various locations and people before Friday was done, after which nobody would be checking their emails or messages for at least three days.

My wife pointed out to me that this will be the first time since at least 2001 that we have celebrated Memorial Day on our own. Both our son and daughter have their own school or work plans this weekend, which is not that much of a surprise considering they are now 22 and 21, respectively. Time flew for all of us, but I think I at least did appreciate having our kids with us when they were here. I’m just happy that they’re beginning their own journeys through life and finding some success.

What I’m Writing

Not that I’m going to bang on about word count here in detail (if you’re really interested in such things, check out my writing journals here), but I’ve not been too happy with my productivity over the past couple weeks. In years past, I might write less than 3,000 words a week and not be too upset about it, but now I look at that and think I’ve had an off week if I didn’t get above 4,000.

Now, however, I need to just kick butt and start writing stuff. I’ve started to sort through what I’ve put together already on my newest “pro” fiction project, The Yank Striker 2 (working title). I’ve pretty much put together how I want to structure the book, but I haven’t gotten around to actually adding more than a small amount to the manuscript. I have to get going on it if I want to be done with a rough draft by the end of the year, and have a finished product ready for next summer. That would be a fast turnaround time for me, but I want to try and see if I could put it together that fast. Since I’m dealing with a series, the books absolutely don’t have to be 100,000 words or even 80,000 words, so that is a plus.

Along with all of the above, I’m still interested in moving forward with a possible fantasy series, a memoir, and perhaps a poetry collection at some point. I’m very possibly messed up in the head, but at the very least, I don’t have any excuses anymore that I don’t have anything to write about. And that doesn’t even take into account the amount of writing I’m putting together for my blogs, which is probably the only reason why my word count numbers aren’t fully in the latrine.

What I’ve Been Doing Having to do With Writing

I decided to break down and and make some more use of Instagram, because I refuse to engage with Twitter for reasons I laid out before.

So, I decided to set up a new Instagram page dedicated to my writing and writing activities. I’m still attempting to get the hang of it. You can check it out here if you want a laugh.

I’m planning on making a bunch of personal appearances and book signings all through Iowa this summer and beyond. I just posted a new list of some of those appearances I’ve confirmed here; I’ll be updating that list on a regular basis.

As of this writing, I don’t have a final location set for the “official” book launch for The Yank Striker. I do know that I want it to be sometime either in late June or early July. You’ll hear about it on these pages first.

As for the rest of it… I’m continuing to update pages, etc. etc.

What I’ve Been Reading/General Recommendations

One good thing to read disregard all that because I haven’t had time to put a list of links together. I’ll try to do better next week. Or, maybe I should just restrict that to my Substack Notes? Let me know what you think.

Writing Quote of the Week

Needed some inspiration this week. I hope this will do it.

This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It’s that easy, and that hard.

  • Neil Gaiman

Final Thoughts

It feels like there’s a lot happening with me, the blogs, and everything else. There’s some exciting times ahead. See you next week.

– 30 –

While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. Just click the button below.

Subscribe to my Substack here.
Subscribe to my Substack here.

The Yank Striker is Coming in July [Actually, it’s here now]

I’m really excited for my new book, The Yank Striker: A Footballer’s Beginning, to be coming out this July. I’m in the process of putting together a official launch date for the book in July, although I am still in the process of determining the exact date for the launch party.

However, the contracts are signed with my publisher, Biblio Publishing, and we’re going to be releasing this book in both paperback and ebook formats. In addition to the formal launch party, I’m also planning on making other appearances before and after that launch party this summer around Iowa to help promote The Yank Striker, which is the first in what I will be calling The Yank Striker series.

This series started out with a simple question: what might an American version of Lionel Messi look like? Over a long period of several years, I began to play with some different ideas until the character of Daniel John (DJ) Ryan formed on the page. And after all this time, I’m excited to share the first part of his story with you.

A Quick Reminder of What the Book is About

We meet DJ Ryan as a 17-year-old All-American wide receiver about to graduate high school. Most people know him as the son of John Daniel “Junior” Ryan, former legendary college and NFL linebacker turned college football national championship winning coach at Hamilton State University, just outside Dallas. They might also know him as the younger brother of Junior Ryan’s star quarterback and son, John Daniel “Trey” Ryan, who is now a college All-American and dark horse Heisman Trophy candidate.

It would seem natural for DJ to join his dad and brother at HSU for glory and a title, with an eye toward a future NFL career and financial security. However, DJ’s relationship with his dad is complicated, especially considering Junior Ryan’s divorce from DJ’s mom Jenny, driven first by Junior’s womanizing and neglect and later by Jenny falling in love with another woman. DJ himself is attracted to people regardless of what sex they are or aren’t, but he knows that the world of football is a hostile place to people like him, so he tries to keep that part of himself private.

Then there’s DJ’s love for the other sport known as football – soccer. He’s a talented striker for both his high school and semipro teams. However, he sees that as just a hobby or private passion… that is, until he is spotted by a scout from the Premier League club Donford FC, and he offers to have him come to London for a tryout.

DJ faces two choices – what sport will be part of his future? And will he continue to live in secrecy, or out in the open?

This book appeals to both those fans of the sport of soccer as well as those interested in LGBTQ fiction. Although this book is not aimed at kids, and I don’t consider myself a young adult author, I’d say the subject material in my book is not really explicit. By that, I would mean it would be rated R if it was a movie, not NC-17.

How can you get Your Hands on the Book Now?

You can get a paperback copy of my book right now on Amazon or at the website of my publisher, Biblio Publishing. I’ll drop the links to both locations below. The paperback version retails for $14.95.

The ebook version will be out sometime in late June or July. I’ll make an announcement of it here when the links drop.

Order The Yank Striker in paperback from Biblio Publishing.
Order The Yank Striker in paperback from Amazon.
Order The Yank Striker on Kindle from Amazon.
Order The Yank Striker in paperback from Biblio Publishing.