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.
While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. Just click the button below.
I’ve been writing a bit this past week, and a lot of it unexpected. We’ll get into it.
Home Front Stuff
Not too much at all to report here. I’ll be on the road with my wife to a wedding this weekend, so that’s a rare trip for us. She’s asked me to promise not to discuss soccer the entire trip up. Since the USMNT just lost to Panama this week, I think I can keep my pledge.
What I’ve Been Writing
With trying to keep up on the blog, getting things ready for the weekend (because I’ll be on the road for at least part of it), I haven’t had much time to get back to work on The Yank Striker 2. I have the feeling I will have to start not worrying about the boring scenes while writing the exciting ones, and that should help me get the story done faster than it has been.
If you recall last week, I mentioned that while I have been trekking around different places in Iowa promoting my work, I got the idea for a possible book series centered around professional wrestling. Not only have I been sketching out some notes regarding this (yet to be officially named) series, but I’ve also started writing what could be a short prologue or short story set in the world this takes place in.
I started to get really in-depth with describing how this project came about and a few tiny hints about its plot for the newsletter today. However, the description began to get a bit oversized for just one subject.
So, since I wanted to talk up the project anyway, I decided to break off the whole discussion about it and the creative process I went through into a separate post. It’ll post here at noon tomorrow (Sunday) and will be a free read for everyone. I hope everyone enjoys it.
What I’ve Been Doing Having to do With Writing
I just wanted to thank the Slowdown Coffee Co. for being my host last Sunday as part of the Northside Market festival there in the Highland Park district of Des Moines. It was a great experience, a great coffee shop, and I would absolutely love to go back sometime.
I’ll be at the monthly meeting of the Iowa Writers’ Corner today. If you’re a writer who’s interested in being part of a writing community and learning from other writers, definitely come on down. We meet every third Saturday of the month at Felix and Oscars (F&O’s) at 4050 Merle Hay Road in Des Moines starting at 9 a.m. You can check us out on Facebook.
Oh, and there’s a tiny event I’d love to see you at.
I’ll be having my first “Meet the Author” event at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 26, 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.). Heady stuff, for sure.
What I’ve Been Reading/General Recommendations
My inbox has been filling up with good stuff from Substack, but I’m going for a change of pace this week. I grew up with a guy at Muscatine High School named Juan Fourneau. While working in my hometown, he spent 20-plus years as a professional wrestler on the independent circuit. He’s written a memoir about those experiences and a whole mess of other subjects as well. I think he has a good eye for detail and description, among other things.
In the piece I’m going to be running tomorrow about my new project, I talk about those who do a considerable amount of planning for their fiction projects and those who are “pantsers” (another word for flying by the seat of their pants). I come down more on the side of the former group than the latter, although I have seen the benefits of just writing whatever comes to mind and seeing where it takes you.
However, if you are writing anything bigger than, say a novella (which the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Association says should be around 17,500 and 40,000 words), I believe some amount of world-building is going to be required.
To elaborate, exactly what type of organization you choose to use for your project should be up to you. Whenever I’ve taught writing at the high school or junior college level, I’ve always considered this to be part of the prewriting portion of the writing process. I try to expose my students to a variety of prewriting techniques, but the choice of which ones they use to create material I leave in their hands. “Use whatever works for you,” is a frequent instruction of mine.
For example, with this new project I’ll talk about tomorrow, I had an idea of using either a timeline (a list of events in chronological order) covering the events of the story or a family tree (which shows the relationships between a family’s members). In this case, I settled on the family tree, since the entire plot was centered around one particular family. I sketched out the family tree using Microsoft OneNote (which I think I need to review at some point on the blog) where I laid out the family members, their names, and nicknames. I also added the dates of their births and (if applicable) their deaths, and the dates of their marriages. I eventually ended up adding more than 20 characters to the list, so it was a prewriting activity that paid off for me.
There’s times when I feel awkward when I’m giving writing advice. I believe the reason is because when it comes to the craft of writing, there are more general, broad principles to how it works rather than a long checklist of rules1.
For example, it made sense for me to make a family tree for the new project because the main character had a sizable family which were the main participants in the story line. However, in another story where there is a smaller family or a main character’s family is not as sizable, such a tree might not make sense. In fact, if my story involves a large number of events, a number of events that coincide with real-life events (as in historical fiction), or a long time period, a timeline may be a better way of sketching out where your story is going.
Thanks for coming to the lecture, everyone. Let me know if there are other writing issues you’d like to discuss in the comments.
Writing Quote of the Week
Since I eventually want to write a fantasy series, I thought a Brandon Sanderson quote might be good for this week. I also find it applies to my own philosophy toward my work as well.
By now, it is probably very late at night, and you have stayed up to read this book when you should have gone to sleep. If this is the case, then I commend you for falling into my trap. It is a writer’s greatest pleasure to hear that someone was kept up until the unholy hours of the morning reading one of his books. It goes back to authors being terrible people who delight in the suffering of others. Plus, we get a kickback from the caffeine industry…
Brandon Sanderson, Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
Final Thoughts
And that’s another week in the books. Make sure to check out my Substack at noon Central time tomorrow for my extra post on my newest project – and it’ll be free, too.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
Things are hopping here over at my place. I’m officially on summer vacation and there is a bit of a to-do list for me coming up. And one of those things concerns you, my readers and subscribers. Let’s get into it.
Big Announcement
It’s coming.
I’ve now finalized my publishing contract with Biblio Publishing for my latest book, The Yank Striker: A Footballer’s Beginning. It will soon be available for sale both in paperback and ebook format. And I cannot be more excited to share this story with the world. It’s a story that has been years in creation and development.
As readers of this blog, my friends, and my students are aware, I’m more than a little obsessed with the sport of soccer. It’s a fandom that has stretched throughout my life, but picked up speed ever since I became a devoted fan of the sport and the US Men’s National Team as I watched them play during the 1994 World Cup.
I wrote the first essay that post above refers to more than 10 years ago. I’d have to say that it’s been at least that long since I began to ask myself a simple question.
What would an American Diego Maradona look like? What would an American Lionel Messi look like?
There have been a lot of great American players now and in the past, although I can safely say none of them could have been ranked among the top 10 players in the world during their careers. But, what if?
I wrote the first essay that post above refers to more than 10 years ago. I’d have to say that it’s been at least that long since I began to ask myself a simple question.
What would an American Diego Maradona look like? What would an American Lionel Messi look like?
There have been a lot of great American players now and in the past, although I can safely say none of them could have been ranked among the top 10 players in the world during their careers. But, what if?
I turned that question over and over in my head for a long time, wondering what kind of person that player would be. Eventually, a character started to form in my head, the character of a young man by the name of Daniel John (DJ) Ryan.
Before this, I had written two (unpublished) novels and one published one (The Holy Fool: A Journalist’s Revolt). Looking back on the main characters in all of those books, I would have to say that all three of them were, if not copies of myself and my personality, at least a reflection of them. DJ Ryan, however, is something far more unique and different than me, of which I’m glad.
What’s it About, Again?
We meet DJ Ryan as a 17-year-old an 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?
So, When’s it Coming Out?
I am planning on having a proper launch party for The Yank Striker. I am currently searching for locations for that event, likely to be somewhere in the Des Moines area. There will probably be some other events as well, and I would love to put something together somewhere in my current town as well as my old hometown of Muscatine, among other locations.
The official launch of the book will be in July. I will have an exact date in the weeks to come. As always, watch this space, and subscribers here will hear about it before anyone else.
What I’ve Been Doing Having to do With Writing
I don’t remember if I mentioned this previously[1], but I undertook a quick refresh of this site’s look. I like the new options for Substack to alter the design of pages, so I decided to change the colors on The Writing Life to purple and gold, the colors of my former school, Muscatine High School. I’ve always had a soft spot for that color combination, and I honestly think it looks hip. So, there’s my explanation for that.\
On my WordPress page (Liegois Media, https://liegois.media), I decided to freshen up the look of that page as well. So, I changed it from the Penscratch 2 theme to Independent Publisher 2.
In both cases, leave me a comment on either site if you care about such things.
I had a great meeting today with the Iowa Writers’ Corner (IWC) in Des Moines. Roxanne Rustand was our guest speaker and gave a great presentation on book publishing and promotions. Her site has some very good resources for writers, as well, so I’d recommend checking them out. Between her and some of my other IWC members, I have a lot of homework and reading to get through beginning this following week.\
What I’ve Been Reading/General Recommendations
As I promised last week, I’m giving a couple of shout-outs for sites I’ve run into on my WordPress feed.
Robin Leeann was one of the first people I started following on WordPress, and I really admire her work. This piece is a great reminder to all the writers out there.
Literary Hub is one of the great online locations for writing about writing and writing in general. For example, there are some fine author interviews such as this one on Samantha Irby. Go ahead and check it out.
Writing Quote of the Week
This is the way you should approach writing. It takes a lot of mental energy, however.
You must write every single day of your life… You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads… may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.
Ray Bradbury
Final Thoughts
Again, I’m really excited to share not just The Yank Striker with you, but all of the later books in the series to come. I’m looking forward to the ride.
– 30 –
Footnote:
If I did, I’ll do it again. Heck with it.
While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. Just click the button below.
I wound up having decent numbers this week. Would I have preferred to have an extra hundred words over what I made it to, or maybe an extra hour or so of revisions? Maybe, but I am appreciating how I am keeping consistent week by week. The more I get those weeks under my belt, the better writing year I’m going to have.
I wanted to take a second to let you know about me making a public appearance you may or may not know about. Anyway, you can find out about it below.
Shameless Plug for my Public Appearance Starts Here
Usually, I don’t want to use this blog just to promote something that I’m doing. However, there is an event that I’ll be at this weekend I wanted more people to come to, even though I have discussed this here on the page before.
I’ll be participating in the Local Author Fair at the Johnston Public Library, Saturday, February 25. I’ll be one of many other area authors there waiting to meet people from 2 to 4 p.m. that day. I’ll bring myself and copies of The Holy Fool for purchase, and I’ll also be there to talk about my upcoming series The Yank Striker.
Once again, thanks to the Johnston Public Library for the invitation, and I look forward to meeting old friends and new acquaintances there.
Plug’s Over, Let’s Get to the Numbers
Here’s the stats for last week.
Writing statistics for the week ending 18 February 2023: +4,003 words written. Days writing: 7 of 7. Days revising/planning: 3 of 7 for 210 total minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 7 of 7 days.
Again, I could have used an extra hundred words, but I’d never be mad at those numbers if I get them again.
As usual, what follows is my plug to sign up for my Substack page and thus join my email list. The more I build my list, the more I’m building up a little online community and share my writing as well.
While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. Just click the button below.
I’m doing… all right with the writing, I guess? I’m well into March, which is one of those “extra week” months where I can get five weeks of writing sorted out rather than just four weeks. Last week’s totals (I’ll spell that out in a moment) were the best I’ve had all year, bar none, and by the time that this post goes online, I might already have achieved my writing goal for this month, to keep on pace with this not-so-crazy 200,000 words in a single year goal for 2022.
But, I’m getting the feeling that I’m beginning to separate my writing into the “serious commercial or semi-commercial writing” and the “totally frivolous and fun writing.” Two different areas, and categories that represent two different emotions for me. I have been associating the first category with success, accomplishment, “being a serious writer,” and procrastination on a very measurable level. The second category is filled with slight embarrassment because most of the writing is “frivolous,” “not serious,” “fan fiction,” “not intended for commercial success or even intended to appeal to a wider audience” and it’s supposedly not something I should invest a lot of time and creativity.
But I’ve had more fun doing that latter sort of writing than any other type of writing during the past few weeks. So, since I’ve been thinking on this subject for more than a little bit, maybe it’s time to take a step backward and see if my behavior makes any sense. Many people have complimented me, both in past times and present times, that I have a good self-analysis of my behavior, my reasoning, and my emotional reactions. Maybe it’s time to apply that to my current writing status.
(I usually post writing journals that either just say “here’s my totals for the week” and hello, or go into a deep dive about what I am thinking, writing-wise, about what is going on. I get the feeling, as I am putting this together, that this entry is one of the latter kind.
So, buckle in.
Some dude found it on Facebook, then posted it on Reddit. I saw it there and thought it was a good visual representation of the weirdness that I was considering regarding the writing output I had recently. Now, it’s on WordPress. You’re welcome.
So, we have the “serious writing” and the “fun writing” categories that I came up with for myself because I need to write about something and I might as well get it out here. My other experience is that once I talk something out with myself, once I analyze it and try and explain it to myself, I usually am able to work my way for it. I often times have eventually found myself repeating behavioral patterns, but it almost always keeps me from repeating not so good behaviors in the short term because once I figure out what is actually going on inside my head, I am able to correct things. So, I think it is good to talk about that here, especially since it concerns itself with my writing and what I am doing with it.
Essentially, what is happening is that I’m doing well at the latter writing but not the former. So, I’m going to make a brief effort to see why that is the case, and also if this classification into good and bad writing actually makes sense or is just some arbitrary malarkey that I decided on.
I’m going to try to, anyway. Or, at least summarize it.
As of right now, I’m seeing the “serious” work as something that I have to do but have to really motivate myself to do. There’s plenty of stakes in it, such as getting better known and possibly making this pay off. While my “fun” writing has no chance of doing any of that, but I enjoy myself when I do it and find the process a breeze to put out new material – new material, that is, that is not even intended to be commercial or be exploited commercially.
This is an interesting conversation… but I think I need to think on it a bit further before I tease out the implications and see the reasoning, whether accurate or false, behind this thinking. For now, just know I had a very productive week and looking forward to many more. After some of the weeks I’ve had last year and early this week, that is a nice change.
All you writers keep writing, and everyone keep safe.
Writing statistics for the week ending 3.19.2022: +6,787 words written. Days writing: 6 of 7. Days revising/planning: 2 of 7 for 120 total minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 7 of 7 days.
