Tag: The Flow and the Journey

Poetry Night at the Writing Life, 23 August 2025: About word weaving and word weavers

photography of eyeglasses on top of book

Hi, everyone, subscribers and random readers alike. It’s Poetry Night, the night I drop some brand new selections of verse for your reading pleasure. The use of words and those who use words for a living are the themes of tonight’s offerings.

But first, a quick commercial break 😄.

If You’re Interested in the Poetry You See Here… You Might Want to Check Out Some More…

My first collection of poetry is out.

Since Substack doesn’t have the setup for this (that I’m aware of), I’ve set up something at my WordPress sister site, Liegois Media. I have my own Internet storefront page where you can order my chapbook for $6 per copy. The link is below.

The Flow and the Journey

Over the years I’ve spent writing in all forms and genres, there’s always been a balancing act between using mountains of words to paint vivid mental pictures or construct grand arguments and keeping what you write short and to the point. Combining this observation with Miles Davis’ statements about how the notes a musician doesn’t play have more significance than the ones they do play were inspiration for this piece.

what is this is all real text with yellow background
Photo by Aleksandar Pasaric on Pexels.com

Words and Spaces

Fort Madison, Iowa, 22 August 2025

Over time in the years I’ve worked and weaved with words

I’ve used ones which were impactful, obscure, theatrical, stylish, and elaborate.

At times they overcrowded my work

Weary football fans packing onto too-small benches for forgotten games and reasons.

But over years I’ve come to learn

The spaces between words

The things left unsaid and unattended for the reader to ponder

Make a meaningful effect.

Earlier this week was the ninth anniversary of The Tragically Hip’s final live show in their hometown of Windsor, Toronto, Canada. The legendary Canadian band was at the end of its final tour after vocalist and primary songwriter Gord Downie announced he had terminal brain cancer. He’d die a year later at just 53 years old.

I had been vaguely aware of the band during its growth into prominence during the early 90’s, but they were always more Canada’s band than other great Canadian musical acts that found cross-border appeal. Unfortunately, I didn’t get into them heavily until just before his death, so I’ve had to spend the time since sifting through three decades worth of fantastic music.

Tonight, I figured a dude who once wrote a song called “Poets” was probably a good subject for one.

Gord Downie

Words to Remember Gord (A Memorial)

Fort Madison, Iowa, 20 August 2025

I remember the sight of you in white

Jaunty white top hat

Knife-edge lean but a grin as wide as the Ontario prairies

Singing for your home and people with a ferocity born

Knowing it was the last time.

Knowing Death was gathering you up, preparing your space,

As you stood tall on the stage.

You sung of death long before it reached you,

But also of love, friendship, loss, home, and life

You were a poet even as you said not to tell you of them

And what I learned from you is

Life has no dress rehearsal

It is now.

Well, hope I gave you some enjoyment tonight. Hope the rest of August goes well for you. Take care, everyone.

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.

The Writing Life, 2 August 2025: The Yank Striker’s Journey is out, etc.

FEATURED PHOTO NOTE: My hometown of Muscatine, Iowa is known for its melons. The city leaders are leaning into this history it appears. 🙂

Hi, everyone. It is officially the start of August, which means people who have summer vacation are now thinking about returning to work in the next few weeks, myself included. However, I’ve gotten quite a bit of activity done in the time I’ve had off. I’ve gotten a new book published, gotten started on more than a few other projects, and met a lot of other people as well.

So, let’s talk writing and a couple other things.

What I’ve Been Writing

It’s nice getting some books written at a faster pace than I ever had to date. So, the fact The Yank Striker’s Journey is now officially released is no excuse for me not to get going on other projects. Such has been the case for me, thankfully, this past month.

Any guesses on the full title?
  1. The Yank Striker 3 (AKA YS3, AKA Working Title)1: For those just joining us here, The Yank Striker series follows the exploits of Daniel John “DJ” Ryan, a prospective American soccer player who leaves his family behind to try his fortune with an English Premier League team in the East End of London. I decided to ask myself years back, “What would the first American soccer superstar look like?” and it snowballed from there. Check this out if you want more information about the first book in the series, and the Journey link above if you want to know more about Book 2.
    YS3 continues DJ’s story as he attempts to progress as a footballer, despite new challenges and an unexpected event that could either be a setback or opportunity, depending on how he faces it.
    I’ve finished preliminary notes on the project and have already gotten more than 3,000 words into the rough draft. I have an ambitious goal of getting it published by next year, but I’m feeling good about trying to reach for it.
  2. Also on my list is the sequel to my debut novel, The Holy Fool. That was my journalism novel featuring Samuel “Sonny” Turner, a Chicago-based newspaper columnist who was tasked with helping his newspaper, the Chicago Journal from sale by its unscrupulous owner and breaking a major story on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars during the 2008 presidential election and the beginning of the Great Recession.
    The sequel, which will be set in around 2024-2026, is now over 7,000 words for the first draft. At most, I only want the story to be 70,000 words2 – a quick, lean bit of storytelling. I will get most of the writing done this year (I hope I hope I hope) but I want to see how a certain event next year plays out before I finalize the last scene.
Anyone want to guess the full name?

Also, no progress on:

  • Kayfabe Stories (Previously The Untitled Pro Wrestling Fiction Project): This is a story about a family of pro wrestlers from Texas and a young man’s determination to understand what it all means;
  • The Heart Project: The speculative/fantasy/soft sci-fi story I have in mind informed by our troubled times involving four one-time friends, a high school reunion, and a microcosm of a larger sense of chaos.
  • From a recently completed short story, I think I have the germ of an idea about a fantasy/horror novel set in Iowa, leaning on the environmental damage being done to my home state. Let’s give it the working title The Land, The River, and The Waste.

    What I’m Doing Having to do With Writing (Which in This Case Means Where I’m Making Appearances)

    I’ve got several events coming up, some that I have confirmed, some I have mostly confirmed, and others I’m hoping will happen. I’ll list them here however I have them.

    • At 6:30 p.m. 14 August (a Thursday), I’ll be over at the Fort Madison Public Library. I’ll be talking about the writing process, creating fiction, and my books, in particular The Yank Striker’s Journey. Any friends of mine in the eastern Iowa area, I would love to have you out here to celebrate the evening.\
    • At 4 p.m. (thereabouts) Thursday, Aug. 25, I am going to be back at Burlington By The Book, 301 Jefferson St., Burlington, for a Farmer’s Market appearance. Chris (the store’s owner) has been a massive support for me, so when he calls, I answer. It’s as simple as that.
    • I am going to be making an appearance at the Atlas Collective, 1801 5th Ave, Moline, Illinois, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, 27 August. This is this first book store event I’ve participated in outside Iowa, and I am hyped for it. Atlas is a fantastic bookstore, one I would recommend to anyone.

    Also hopefully on the schedule will be the Windsor Heights Book Fair on SUnday, October 5, in Windsor Heights, Iowa (outside Des Moines), and an appearance at the Iowa City Book Festival, from October 5-12.

    With The Yank Striker’s Journey having officially dropped, I am hoping for quite a few more appearances this year. Watch this space for new events. 🙂

    If any podcasters or bloggers are interested in new fiction, if you are interested in stories based in the world of soccer, or if you are interested in featuring writers from Iowa or the Midwest, I would absolutely be open for a feature or interview. Get in touch here or at jasonliegois@liegois.media.

    Writing Quote(s) of the Week:

    A lot of stuff I’m seeing on the interwebs seems to relate to me this month.

    With this first quote, replace “diary” with “manuscripts and notes” and it absolutely fits me.

    “This diary is my kief, hashish and opium pipe. This is my drug and my vice.”
    ― Anais Nin

    One from The King.

    Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.

    ― Stephen King

    On the good days it absolutely feels like this.

    Every few weeks she would shut herself up in her room, put on her scribbling suit, and fall into a vortex, as she expressed it, writing away at her novel with all her heart and soul, for till that was finished she could find no peace.

    ― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

    When I Post

    Check out this post for when and what I post on a regular basis.

    How to support me😊.

    As always, go to the links on the side if you are reading this on a desktop/laptop or the links on my profile on mobile. If you go follow the links above, you will be able to buy both the paperback and ebook versions of my books on Amazon. If you just put “Jason Liegois” in Google you’ll find them on the first page of search results.

    Ladies and gentlemen, I have quite a few places that now carry at least some of my books. Until the Iowa Indie Bookshop Tour got started a few years back, I wasn’t aware of many of these great and fantastic independent bookstores in Iowa and the Midwest. They’re still doing the tour through the end of September.
    These are the bookstores you’ll find at least some of my books2:

    • Bent Oak Books, 619 7th St. Fort Madison.
    • Burlington By The Book, 301 Jefferson St, Burlington.
    • [NEW] The Corner and More, 703 Main St., Mediapolis.
    • Green Point Mercantile, 217 E. 2nd St., Muscatine.
    • [NEW] The Brewed Book, 1524 Harrison St., Davenport.
    • [NEW] The Black Rose, 116 W. Main St., West Branch
    • Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave. # S1, Des Moines.
    • Pella Books, 824 Franklin St, Pella.
    • [NEW] The Atlas Collective, 1801 5th Ave, Moline, Illinois – my first out of Iowa bookstore, very proud of this.

    I’m always looking for some new places to place my books, so feel free to hit me up in the comments if you have a suggestion.

    For those who are budget conscious among all of you, my books are part of the collections of the Fort Madison, Burlington, and Musser (Muscatine) public libraries.

    My poetry book The Flow and the Journey is available at Bent Oak, Green Point, Burlington By the Book, and The Corner and More, but it is also available online but not on Amazon. I’ve set up a new online store for copies of my chapbook on my WordPress site, Liegois Media. If you want to get a physical copy, go ahead and click on the button below.

    The Flow and the Journey

    The Flow and the Journey

    The first collection of poetry from author Jason Liegois.

    $6.00
    Shop now

    If you don’t have the budget for a paid subscription, feel free to just send me a one-time payment of whatever you have the budget for.

    Buy me a cup of coffee, if you could 😊

    Final Thoughts

    Again, sorry this is slightly late, but better late than never and it’s still on the weekend. Take care, everyone.

    -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.
      1. Anyone want to guess the actual working title? I’m liking the one I came up with. ↩︎
      2. All Iowa locations unless otherwise noted. ↩︎

      Poetry Night at the Writing Life, 26 July 2025: About cool secluded places. And mushrooms lol.

      Hello, all subscribers and anyone happening upon my page this Saturday evening. Tonight is Poetry night once again. This is where I throw out some brand new, never before seen poetry out into the world and see if anyone digs them or not. How about I get started?

      If You’re Interested in the Poetry You See Here… You Might Want to Check Out Some More…

      My first collection of poetry is out.

      Since Substack doesn’t have the setup for this (that I’m aware of), I’ve set up something at my WordPress sister site, Liegois Media. I have my own Internet storefront page where you can order my chapbook for $6 per copy. The link is below.

      The Flow and the Journey

      You may have sensed this if you have followed me1, but I am not a fan of the hot weather. When some of my work colleagues in April were praying for sun and warmth, I was thinking of how July 2024 extended into November of the same year and thought to myself oh, don’t worry, you’ll get it soon enough and get it hard.

      Some people want to vacation in Cancun or Florida, I would prefer to go to Iceland or the Faroe and Shetland Islands. Some people want to go on cruises to the Caribbean; I would prefer a tour of the Rhine/Main/Danube rivers or a voyage of the Great Loop2.

      With all that being said, if I had to go outside, I’d feel a lot more comfortable in a dense, cool, moist forest with plenty of shade rather than a tropical jungle, beach, desert, or other biome3. This, plus a bevy of mushrooms popping up in my yard4, inspired this poem.

      Mushroom Hunt in the Forest

      Fort Madison, Iowa, 26 July 2025

      Crisp breeze

      Wet air

      Cloudy days

      Now is my time.

      Sneaking under the pine and oak canopy

      On my own

      Burlap bag over my shoulder

      Mushroom knife in my true right hand

      Well-thumbed mushroom guide in

      My left.

      I wander around the trunks

      In the cool shade

      On the lookout for

      Cauliflower

      Chanterelle

      Hawks Wing

      Honey Mushroom

      Lobster

      The Prince

      And the Truffles.

      I put them in my sack

      Converse with nature

      And get some satisfaction

      That I can be resourceful

      As my electric-deficient ancestors were.

      To be honest, however, the deepest darkest place I tend to hang out in (if I have one) during the depths of the overheated Iowa summers has been a basement. My childhood home in Muscatine had a great basement where I spent most of my waking moments. It was my lair. In the first three homes I owned, they all had basements but were not quite set up for lounging, so I had to come up with alternative locations. My new home here in Fort Madison has a proper basement, with enough space for not only my home office, but a recliner and love seat, breakfast nook table, a utility room/storage area/work bench, more storage, bath and shower, refrigerator, and microwave. I need to be appreciative of the nice stuff I have. 🙂

      Man Cave

      Fort Madison, Iowa, 25 July 2025

      Back when

      Homo Sapiens Sapiens

      Was just Homo Sapiens

      Before they built castles

      Long houses

      Daub and wattle huts

      And lean-tos

      They gathered inside the natural caverns

      In their irregular water and wind-carved

      Empty spaces

      To make them their own.

      They liked the solid cool spaces

      Sheltered from the elements

      Secure from danger

      With a dollop of safety.

      I live in different times.

      My caves are not rounded and irregular

      But squared and measured.

      My caves are not wet and living

      But dry and dead.

      However,

      It is a good home for me

      Not in tune with the natural world

      A concrete, steel, and wood sanctuary

      For a civilized boy like me.

      That’s it for tonight. Hope you all don’t sweat to death the next couple (or few) of months56.

      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.
      1. And how. ↩︎
      2. Here’s some info in case you didn’t know what I was talking about. ↩︎
      3. I am not an outdoorsy person, as you will see. ↩︎
      4. Told you the photos would have some relevance. ↩︎
      5. Iowa only has maybe two perfect months of weather during the year. I have told my wife I do not wish to live anywhere between North and 40° South latitude. Currently, I live at 40°38’05” North. ↩︎
      6. Honestly, I would love to retire and live somewhere around 45° North or South, which would suggest somewhere in Minnesota, the Upper Peninsula, or Alaska. Or maybe southern Patagonia in Argentina. I like cold places, all right? In my final days, I don’t want to sweat to death, even in our climate change world. ↩︎

      The Writing Life, 6 July 2025: Any day now for The Yank Striker’s Journey

      aerial view of bridge over blue sea

      Hey, everyone out there in the online and offline worlds, it’s good to talk again. I’ve got more updates on my upcoming book, The Yank Striker’s Journey, my other writing projects, what I’ve been up to, and more.

      Let’s talk about writing.

      What I’ve Been Writing

      Cover art and design by Joe Boardman.
      1. The Yank Striker’s Journey (Previously referred to as The Yank Striker 2): the sequel to my book The Yank Striker: A Footballer’s Beginning. The Yank Striker series follows the exploits of Daniel John “DJ” Ryan, a prospective American soccer player who leaves his family behind to try his fortune with an English Premier League team in the East End of London. The Yank Striker’s Journey focuses on what DJ has to face now he is trying to establish himself as a footballer in England, both as an American in a strange land and someone whose sexual orientation brings extra scrutiny.
        Sadly, I was not able to meet my ambitious schedule of having Journey ready to go for June. I am now hoping it becomes available now sometime this month.
        The minute this is ready for release, I will make an announcement post here as well as a separate post introducing you, the readers, to the story, such as I have done for my other novels and collections.
      2. The next book in The Yank Striker Series (to be referred to for now as The Yank Striker 3). It will cover another season in the life of DJ Ryan as his football journey continues. I plan to begin writing this book the minute Journey is available for sale. It would be crazy if I had this ready by next year, but I want to be ambitious.
      3. Last month, I talked about wondering what the protagonist of my first novel, Samuel “Sonny” Turner, the old Chicago-based newspaper columnist turned new era blogger, might think of the current news scene. In my first novel, the journalistic thriller The Holy Fool, we saw Sonny saving the fictional Chicago Journal from sale by its unscrupulous owner and breaking a major story on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars during the 2008 presidential election and the beginning of the Great Recession.
        I have now written over 7,000 words on a first draft for the project, which was a bit of a surprise it came that fast. At most, I only want the story to be 70,000 words – a quick, lean bit of storytelling. I was thinking it would be finished by the end of this year, but with everything going on and the ghost of an ending scene already in my head, I’m thinking it will be more second half of next year. Anything else regarding the scene would be a bit of a spoiler, so I’ll keep it to myself for now.
      4. Also, no progress on1:

      How Much I’ve Been Writing: Mid-year check

      I don’t usually get into writing productivity and my ongoing word count, but now that I’m in the middle of the year, I thought it might be cool to take a quick look at what I’ve done over the course of the first part of the year.

      At the beginning of the year, I’d laid out a few writing goals for 2025. Essentially, these were:

      • Match a goal of 225,000 words this calendar year. I was less than a thousand or so words away from this last year, and I thought it was doable.
      • Make my daily writing goal or quota (DWGM) at least 80 percent of the time.
      • Complete The Yank Striker’s Journey by this June.
      • Make more progress on the Kayfabe Stories project.

      So, where am I at with all of these? First, here’s my numbers for the first part of the year.

      Writing statistics for the first half of 2025:

      Words (total): 113,755.
      Words (monthly avg.): 18,959.
      Revise/Plan (Total): 6,825 minutes.
      Revise/Plan (monthly avg.): 1,365 minutes.
      DWGM: 89%

      Half of 225,000 is 112,500, so I am more than 1,000 words ahead of pace – not a massive amount, but I’m glad I’m at least a little ahead of the game. Also, I’m doing quite well on my daily quotas, so I feel good about that.

      As I mentioned above, I didn’t get Journey finished in June, but that is forthcoming, so I don’t feel like a massive failure there. And I’ve doubled the amount of material I’ve written for the Kafabe Stories and have done some considerable planning, so I’m ahead there.

      In short, so far so good. But I’m not taking a rest anytime soon.

      What I’m Doing Having to do With Writing

      Me at the new Page, Print, & Pint independent bookstore in Keokuk, Iowa, this past Saturday.

      It was a fantastic afternoon this past Saturday (5 July) when I attended the grand opening of Page, Print, & Pint, located in the heart of downtown Keokuk at 401 Main Street, Suite 1. Co-owners Willow Carrington and Katarina Page were fantastic hosts to me and seven other regional authors there for the event. They are just getting their business set up at the moment, but I’m hoping they’ll be carrying some of my books in the near future.

      • From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 12, I’ll be returning to Burlington By The Book, 301 Jefferson St., Suite 3, Burlington, IA, for an appearance and book signing. Owner Christopher Murphy has been a great supporter in recent years, and I am excited to be returning to one of the best and longest running indie bookstores in southeastern Iowa. This will be going on at the same time as the city’s well-known Snake Ally Film Festival, so maybe I’ll be seeing some film enthusiasts that day.

      It’s been tough to get some new events set up, since I am still waiting on the The Yank Striker’s Journey to officially drop so I have some new stuff to offer at these events. I am hoping for quite a few more appearances this year, including the Windsor Heights Book Fair this October 5 and hopefully the Iowa City Book Festival in October of this year. Watch this space for new events. 🙂

      If any podcasters or bloggers are interested in new fiction, if you are interested in stories based in the world of soccer, or if you are interested in featuring writers from Iowa or the Midwest, I would absolutely be open for a feature or interview. Get in touch here or at jasonliegois@liegois.media.

      Writing Quote(s) of the Week:

      It’s funny that I can relate equally to two different quotes with such separate points of view and think they are equally valid.

      Writing is something that you don’t know how to do. You sit down and it’s something that happens, or it may not happen. So, how can you teach anybody how to write? It’s beyond me, because you yourself don’t even know if you’re going to be able to. I’m always worried, well, you know, every time I go upstairs with my wine bottle. Sometimes I’ll sit at that typewriter for fifteen minutes, you know. I don’t go up there to write. The typewriter’s up there. If it doesn’t start moving, I say, well this could be the night that I hit the dust.
      ― Charles Bukowski

      Don’t get it right – get it WRITTEN!
      ― Lee Child

      When I Post

      Check out this post for when and what I post on a regular basis.

      How to support me😊.

      As always, go to the links on the side if you are reading this on a desktop/laptop or the links on my profile. There’s where you can find out about my first book, the journalism thriller The Holy Fool: A Journalist’s Revolt, as well as the first book in my The Yank Striker series, The Yank Striker: a Footballer’s Beginning.

      If you go follow the links above, you will be able to buy both the paperback and ebook versions of my books on Amazon. If you just put “Jason Liegois” in Google you’ll probably find them on the first page of search results.

      If you happen to visit these fine independent book stores in Iowa, you can find my books there:

      • Bent Oak Books, 619 7th St. Fort Madison.
      • Green Point Mercantile, 214 Chestnut St., Muscatine.
      • Burlington By The Book, 301 Jefferson St, Burlington.
      • Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave. # S1, Des Moines.
      • Pella Books, 824 Franklin St, Pella.

      I’m always looking for some new places to place my books, so feel free to hit me up in the comments if you have a suggestion.

      My poetry book The Flow and the Journey is available at Bent Oak, Green Point and Burlington By the Book, but it is also available online but not on Amazon. I’ve set up a new online store for copies of my chapbook on my WordPress site, Liegois Media. If you want to get a physical copy, go ahead and click on the link below.

      The Flow and the Journey

      The Flow and the Journey

      The first collection of poetry from author Jason Liegois.

      $6.00
      Shop now

      If you don’t have the budget for a paid subscription, feel free to just send me a one-time payment of whatever you have the budget for.

      Buy me a cup of coffee, if you could 😊

      Final Thoughts

      Again, sorry this is slightly late, but better late than never and it’s still on the weekend. Take care, everyone.

      -30-

      Advertisements

      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.
      1. I likely won’t repost these next month unless I see significant progress here. ↩︎

      Poetry Night at the Writing Life, 28 June 2025: About what we keep and what we remember

      a room with a chair and a desk in it

      Hi, it’s Poetry Night once again. I’ve been busy this month with the imminent release of my book The Yank Striker’s Journey, so poetry hasn’t been on the front-burner of my brain1. But I I do have a couple of offerings for you tonight.

      If You’re Interested in my Poetry Here… You Might Want to Check Out Some More

      My first collection of poetry is out now.

      Since Substack doesn’t quite have the setup for this, I’ve set up something here at Liegois Media. I set up my own Internet storefront page where you can order my chapbook for $6 per copy. This is the link, as is the one below.

      The Flow and the Journey

      As far as poetic inspiration goes, I ended up doing a bit of picking up and rearranging some things I’ve stored for a long time. I mean, some of these items have traveled with me for about twenty years at least and between maybe four different houses. The process inspired at least one poem, which I’ll share with you below2.

      crates with potatoes
      Photo by Carlos Moura on Pexels.com

      Memory Memorials

      Fort Madison, Iowa, 28 June 2025

      Black plastic mausoleums

      Sit ready to entomb

      Talismans of memory.

      Older resting places

      Tearing carboard boxes and dirt-smeared tubs

      Disposed for secure memorials.

      Letters, trinkets, tickets, and keepsakes

      Keys to memories faded or misplaced

      Like forgotten jars in the back pantry

      And older clothes tucked into the sides of closets.

      Talismans tucked away

      In hermetically sealed plastic bags and acid-free paper

      Then into the black mausoleums stowed on steel shelves

      The external hard drives of human memory.

      All the thinking about memories, the ones you have and the ones you had, led me to write this related poem below.

      bunch of photo print
      Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

      Memories Lost

      Fort Madison, Iowa, 28 June 2025

      Why do memories fade

      Other than short circuits and worn wires in the brain

      Other than the subconsciousness

      Protecting the front of the brain?

      Do they get misplaced

      Shoved into the back corners of the skull?

      Do some memories have shorter life spans than others?

      Or does the human hard drive have limited storage

      Forced to overwrite older memories for higher priority ones?

      It would be good to know

      Because finding lost memories

      Isn’t as straightforward as finding your phone or house keys.

      That’s it for tonight. Hope you’ve had a great June and Pride Month.

      Advertisements

      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.
      1. And I’m sorry I blew through my usual deadline for releasing something today (5 p.m. Central). ↩︎
      2. There have been more than a few poems I’ve written not intended for publication (at least not immediately). That’s allowed me to be a bit more free with my experimentation and subject matter than the stuff I write with the express intention to share publicly. ↩︎

      The Writing Life, 7 June 2025: It’s cover reveal day for The Yank Striker’s Journey

      Hey, everyone out there in the online world and other places, it’s good to get in touch with you again. There’s big news and updates regarding my upcoming book, The Yank Striker’s Journey, and some more news about my writing projects, what’s upcoming for me, and a lot more.

      Let’s talk writing.

      What I’ve Been Writing/
      Official Cover Reveal (Drumroll)…

      I’ve been waiting so long to reveal the new cover … hope you like it. Cover art and design by Joe Boardman.
      1. The Yank Striker’s Journey (Previously referred to as The Yank Striker 2): the sequel to my book The Yank Striker: A Footballer’s Beginning. The Yank Striker series follows the exploits of Daniel John “DJ” Ryan, a prospective American soccer player who leaves his family behind to try his fortune with an English Premier League team in the East End of London. The Yank Striker’s Journey focuses on what DJ has to face now he is trying to establish himself as a footballer in England, both as an American in a strange land and someone whose sexual orientation brings extra scrutiny.
        So, thanks to my editor, good friend, fellow writer (and eastern Iowa resident) Misty Urban, I’ve now sent the revised manuscript of Journey to my publishers, Biblio Publishing. (By the way, if you are interested in historical romances (or romances in general), I think Misty can hook you up with some good stories. And if someone’s looking for some writing services, she’ll have you covered, too.

        I’m hoping to get a publisher’s proof of the book next week and then expedite its publication in mid to late June. Honestly, one of the reasons I decided to release this during Pride Month (as I wound up doing for The Yank Striker) is because I thought it was appropriate given the LGBTQ themes it and the series explores. Although I try not to make this page excessively political, I consider myself to be an LGBTQ ally. They are my family, friends, and sometimes my students.

        Also, as you can see above, I’ve shipped the new cover art for Journey to my publishers as well. This was the first time I used an outside artist, Joe Boardman of the Des Moines-based Boardman Group, for one of my books. The results went beyond my expectations, and I’m very interested in working with him again on future projects.

        (If you’re interested in his design work, and I highly recommend it to you, go ahead and email him at JoeTheAdGuy@Gmail.com.)
      2. I have already gotten approval from my publishers to move forward on the next book in The Yank Striker Series (to be referred to for now as The Yank Striker 3). I have an excellent idea of where the story will go and how it will develop over the course of another season in the life of DJ Ryan as his football journey continues.
      3. I think I might take a quick break from putting together a rough draft, but I want to get started on this by the start of July. If I had this ready to go for this same time next year, that would be the fastest turnaround for any project I’ve yet done. I didn’t get my last draft for Journey done exactly when I wanted it to, so I’m going to try and temper my expectations. However, if I’m not trying to shoot for the moon, what the heck am I doing with my time?
      4. Last month, I talked about wondering what the protagonist of my first novel, Samuel “Sonny” Turner, the old Chicago-based newspaper columnist turned new era blogger, might think of the current news scene. In my first novel, the journalistic thriller The Holy Fool, we saw Sonny helping the fictional Chicago Journal from being sold by its unscrupulous owner and breaking a major story on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars during the 2008 presidential election and the beginning of the Great Recession. We last saw Turner in 2009, celebrating the founding of his nonprofit news site, The Fool, in Geneva, Switzerland.
        Well, I now have more than 5,500 words of a rough draft beginning on Election Night, November 2024, so I think we can officially call this The Fool Part 2 no longer just an idea but a new writing project. Right now, I am not anticipating this to be as large of a book as the first one (somewhere under 100,000 words when it was originally around 150,000. I was super wordy when I started writing.
        My guess is I finish this book sometime next year. Somehow I’m thinking this book is going to be as quick and abrupt as a right cross. If it goes over 75,000 words, I’ll be surprised. I get the feeling I’ll be surprised regardless, lol.
      5. Kayfabe Stories (Previously The Untitled Pro Wrestling Fiction Project): This is a story about a family of pro wrestlers from Texas and a young man’s determination to understand what it all means. I’ve been obsessed with the idea of this story for at least a year and a half, and by story I mean this is going to become a trilogy at least1. Currently, I’m at more than 51,000 words on the project, which is more than 14,000 words in two months.I’ve started to think I might want to write all three books before releasing them. At the moment, I’m not sure what format I’m going to release them in, so this might be a way to give me some more time to think about
      6. The Heart Project: This is the name of the speculative/fantasy/soft sci-fi story I have in mind informed by our troubled times involving four one-time friends, a high school reunion, and a microcosm of a larger sense of chaos.
        No progress on this. I need to start putting together some more notes and planning on this project now my current round of revisions on the Yank Striker’s Journey is finished.
      7. No new poetry except the handful of examples I put out for Poetry Night at the end of the month and one or two unpublished pieces. Right now trying to submit poetry to publications is totally foreign to me, and not a high priority. However, I do want to get back to it.

      The Home Front

      The Mississippi River at Fort Madison, Iowa, 31 May 2025. (As always, I’m the photographer unless otherwise noted.)

      I’ll keep this quick.

      This week has been the start of my summer vacation from teaching, and it couldn’t come soon enough. Teaching even during the best times is comparable to running a triathlon with your brain, and in May you are running on fumes.

      We managed to get some improvements done to some of the buildings on our property, so that’s a good thing. We have this out building which the previous owner used as a auto-repair garage but which I think we will use as storage and an outdoor hangout. My wife was so desperate to have an outdoor place to hang out in, you all have no idea.

      As for me, I’m looking forward to a summer of mental relaxation, writing, and travel around Iowa and nearby areas.

      What I’m Doing Having to do With Writing

      I’ve just managed to add some new events to my personal appearances schedule, and I’m hoping to add several more before we’re done. Let’s talk about them.

      • I will be at the 10th anniversary celebration of the Indie Author Book Expo from 12 to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 21, at the Valley Junction Activity Center, 217 Fifth St., West Des Moines. I did this show a couple of times these past few years and it didn’t run last year, but I’ll be back at it this year.
      • I will be part of the grand opening beginning at 11:30 a.m. and lasting most of the afternoon of July 5, of a lovely new independent book store, Page, Print, & Pint, to be located at 401 Main St., Suite 1, Keokuk, Iowa. I plan to be doing a reading and appearance along with other area authors in celebration of this great new local business. You can check them out on Facebook.
      • From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., I’ll be returning to Burlington By The Book, 301 Jefferson St., Suite 3, Burlington, IA, for an appearance and book signing. Owner Christopher Murphy has been a great supporter in recent years, and I am excited to be returning to one of the best and longest running indie bookstores in southeastern Iowa. This will be going on at the same time as the city’s well-known Snake Ally Film Festival, so maybe I’ll be seeing some film enthusiasts that day.
      • I am hoping for quite a few more appearances this year, including hopefully the Iowa City Book Festival in October of this year. Watch this space for new events. 🙂

      If any podcasters or bloggers are interested in new fiction, if you are interested in stories based in the world of soccer, or if you are interested in featuring writers from Iowa or the Midwest, I would absolutely be open for a feature or interview. Get in touch here or at jasonliegois@liegois.media.

      Writing Quote of the Week:

      George Orwell wrote more than a century before Chat GPT but right in the midst of 20th century totalitarianism. This quote seems applicable to both circumstances.

      If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.

      • George Orwell

      When I Post

      Check out this post for when and what I post on a regular basis.

      How to support me😊.

      As always, go to the links on the side if you are reading this on a desktop/laptop or the links on my profile. There’s where you can find out about my first book, the journalism thriller The Holy Fool: A Journalist’s Revolt, as well as the first book in my The Yank Striker series, The Yank Striker: a Footballer’s Beginning.

      If you go follow the links above, you will be able to buy both the paperback and ebook versions of my books on Amazon. If you just put “Jason Liegois” in Google you’ll probably find them on the first page of search results.

      If you happen to visit these fine independent book stores in Iowa, you can find my books there:

      • Bent Oak Books, 619 7th St. Fort Madison.
      • Green Point Mercantile, 214 Chestnut St., Muscatine.
      • Burlington By The Book, 301 Jefferson St, Burlington.
      • Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave. # S1, Des Moines.
      • Pella Books, 824 Franklin St, Pella.

      I’m always looking for some new places to place my books, so feel free to hit me up in the comments if you have a suggestion.

      My poetry book The Flow and the Journey is available at Bent Oak, Green Point and Burlington By the Book, but it is also available online but not on Amazon. I’ve set up a new online store for copies of my chapbook on my WordPress site, Liegois Media. If you want to get a physical copy, go ahead and click on the link below.

      The Flow and the Journey

      The Flow and the Journey

      The first collection of poetry from author Jason Liegois.

      $6.00
      Shop now

      If you want to support me but can’t quite afford a full subscription, I am now on Venmo. You can just send whatever you can afford. Just click the button below; anything you can provide helps me keep things going.

      Buy me a cup of coffee, if you could 😊

      Final Thoughts

      I’m looking forward to a busy summer, and I hope to see some of you readers during my time out and about.

      All you writers keep writing and everyone keep safe.

      -30-

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      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.
      1. Literally today, however, I got the idea for at least one more book set in the Kayfabe Stories world just today. There might be opportunities for others. ↩︎

      Poetry Night at the Writing Life, 24 May 2025: Inspiration from different places

      Hi, everyone, it’s Poetry Night.

      As I’ve mentioned in this space previously, the final steps to bring my latest book, The Yank Striker’s Journey, have occupied much of my mental capacity that hasn’t been drained off by the end of the school year. It’s a bit difficult to write poetry during these times.

      If You’re Interested in my Poetry Here… You Might Want to Check Out Some More

      My first collection of poetry is out now.

      Since Substack doesn’t quite have the setup for this, I’ve set up something here at Liegois Media. I set up my own Internet storefront page where you can order my chapbook for $6 per copy. This is the link, as is the one below.

      The Flow and the Journey

      The first poem tonight was inspired by a conversation I heard the main character of one of my new projects have with his son. I ended up feeding into the themes of recent poems I’ve written, so I decided to go with it.

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

      What Your River Was Like

      Fort Madison, Iowa, 23 May 2025

      The boy asked me

      What My River was like

      I had to think

      Because I’d not seen it in years.

      There’s a river where we live

      We’ve guided our boat down with the flow

      But it’s not like My River.

      This river is open, framed by surrounding mountains

      And the cityscape

      My River ambled through the wetlands,

      Absorbed the throbbing summer heat

      Muddy waters hiding, teeming with life.

      I love to take my boy out on the river

      But when we glide across the waters

      I keep thinking about My River

      Where I’ll never return

      I wonder if My River would give me as much peace

      As it does in my memories.

      The second poem was inspired by a recent loss. Shortly after my most recent Poetry Night post, I learned that a close writing acquaintance of mine, Rodney Reeves, passed away after dealing with some health issues. He was a fellow member of the Burlington, Iowa, Society of Great River Poets, which I recently joined. He was a published poet, and at the time of his death was an officer with the Iowa Poetry Association. I can’t claim to have known him as well as many of his friends – we only got to know each other during the past few years of his life. But he was a welcoming presence at Great River Poets meetings who encouraged my initial fumbling with working in verse. I will miss him.

      Thanks for the Words (Verse for Rodney)

      Fort Madison, Iowa, 23 May 2025

      I’ll always remember you sitting there

      With a halo of gray hair and a warm smile

      Always glad to see me and all the others

      Who came to share their words.

      You always had a joke,

      Or an old music story

      I remember how delighted you were

      To see the new film about Dylan.

      I knew about writing, about words,

      I didn’t know how to play with them

      Like the poets do

      But you invited me and everyone else to the table anyway.

      You wrote in the last poem I read of yours before the end

      “Be bold never afraid to fail,”

      So I’ll keep doing that

      Whenever I play with words.

      That’s it for tonight. Have a great Memorial Day weekend.

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      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.

      Poetry Night at the Writing Life, 27 April 2025: Spring has sprung

      Hi, everyone, welcome to Poetry Night.

      I have to admit the poetry wasn’t as free flowing as it has been recently. There’s a good explanation for that – I’ve been in the midst of revising my upcoming novel The Yank Striker’s Journey. It’s a bit difficult to write words when you’re trying to trim down words you’ve written, among other skills. It’s especially true when you are trying to write in something approaching verse but revising in prose. But, those are the breaks, and I am dedicating myself to try and actually write poetry rather than just brag I write it every once in a while1. So, as usual, I decided to follow what was going around me as inspiration for today’s offerings.

      If You’re Interested in my Poetry Here…

      My first collection of poetry is out now.

      Since Substack doesn’t quite have the setup for this, I’ve set up something here at Liegois Media. I set up my own Internet storefront page where you can order my chapbook for $6 per copy. This is the link, as is the one below.

      The Flow and the Journey

      Onto the new words. The first poem is inspired by the arrival of the shortest season in the state of Iowa – Spring.

      Spring is Sprung

      26 April 2025, Fort Madison, Iowa

      It’s a fantastic feeling

      Driving with the windows open

      No sweat on your brow

      Shirtsleeve comfort

      Bright sun direct and above

      No cloud in the sky

      Enjoying the first soft-serve ice cream cone

      Of Spring.

      There’s a regret wrapped in the joy

      Because this is Iowa

      And in a few weeks

      Summer and corn sweat will fill the air.

      I couldn’t get revising off my mind this weekend, so it ended up in a poem.

      Disappearing Words

      26 April 2025, Fort Madison, Iowa

      It’s a wonderful sensation

      Just like creation

      Of the words and worlds from your mind.

      You feel accomplished again

      When you read words then

      Start making them disappear.

      The aim is for

      You to say less and not more

      While allowing the reader to fill the empty spaces.

      You hammer the words

      Like the smith beat the swords

      And leave yourself something strong and true.

      That’s it for tonight. See you poetry fans back here in May.

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      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.
      1. 1I’m even writing several poems I’m not planning on publishing right away, which I never used to do. I like having the freedom of writing something without having the pressure of wanting to publish it right away. ↩︎

      Poetry Night at the Writing Life, 22 March 2025: Poetry all over the place

      Hi, everyone, welcome to Poetry Night.

      The poetry has been coming fast and loose for me. There’s times where I have no idea what I’m going to write about, and other times when the words flow for me.

      You might know I am a teacher, but did you know there is no requirement in the state curriculum of Iowa (where I live and teach) for us to teach about poetry? It’s a fact. But maybe it’s for the best. Poetry is one of those things you can’t force down someone’s throat. They have to be drawn to it, like I was later in life.

      I never want to say I’ve got a handle on it, but during the past several months it feels to me I have a better handle on how to be creative in the poetry genre. But I’ve been writing either pro or semi-pro for nearly 30 years now, and there’s no way I will ever say I know everything there is to know about writing. To paraphrase the Russian chess champion Alexander Alekhine, an entire lifetime is not long enough to learn everything there is to know about writing. And I definitely don’t have enough time to learn everything there is to learn about poetry. So, I always have to keep in mind I’m always learning no matter what.

      Hi, everyone, welcome to Poetry Night. I’ve got an interesting couple of poems to share with you, about both the digital world and the analog world. Hope you enjoy them.

      I’ve been writing poetry with more regularity in recent months. For the year 2025 I have written six of them. At least two of them were not for publication in the short term or maybe even in the long term. It’s been therapeutic to express myself like that and not worry about other people’s opinions.

      If You’re Interested in my Poetry Here…

      My first collection of poetry is out now.

      Since Substack doesn’t quite have the setup for this, I’ve set up something here at Liegois Media. I set up my own Internet storefront page where you can order my chapbook for $6 per copy. This is the link, as is the one below.

      The Flow and the Journey

      Now, on to the poetry.

      This weekend I found myself again (slightly to my surprise) on the road and away from my expected places. I spent a lot of time in between places to stay due to circumstances beyond my control last year around this time, and it ended up inspiring quite a bit of poetry. To me, it’s not a surprise tonight inspired at least one more poem, as well. This was influenced not just by my own situation, but the circumstances of a group of people I have been looking into for research regarding another fiction project I have going on.

      gray concrete road under gray sky
      Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

      350 Days

      22 March 2025, Des Moines, Iowa

      As I hang out

      In an overly equipped hotel room

      I realize I’ve gone back

      To life on the road.

      I have to admit I’ve whined

      About not knowing the rules of where I’ve traveled

      Or the procedures

      Or the routines

      Or how to pack up and pack out

      When I get on the road.

      But as I try to accentuate the positive

      And eliminate the negative in my life

      I learn about how pro wrestlers

      Who are people I admire in my life

      Had to spend 350 days out of 365

      On the road

      At their craft

      Making money to support themselves and others

      On at least two different continents.

      I wonder

      I speculate

      How much change and discombobulation

      They had to go through

      While getting their bodies and brains beaten in.

      I submitted an earlier version of this poem to the Midwest Writing Center’s Iron Pen contest for the poetry category, I thought I did well, but the Society of Great River poets from Burlington, Iowa, had a few good suggestions for me. Those results and my own combine to the poem you will see below.

      photo of two native americans playing woodwind instruments
      This is what I got when I searched for “Our Tribe.” Photo by Gabriela Custódio da Silva on Pexels.com

      Our People, Our Tribe

      28 February 2025, Fort Madison, Iowa

      I spent years gathering electronic friends through screens large and small

      Only to find them as elusive as electrons

      And just as invisible.

      People who purported to be what they showed me in pictures and videos

      But whose existences were no more permanent

      Than flashes of static.

      Once I traveled the electronic highways and byways to find my own people,

      But the bots and electronic beings clogged the wires and waves

      With no places for humans.

      So I left those places.

      I traveled longer in the analog world, epic treks compared to electronic laps

      True humans and potential friends were sparse in the expanse

      I found them.

      People with whom I shared their homes, cooked their meals,

      Whom I lived with, not observed and judged

      And came to grok.

      In the end, I found my modest tribe, insignificant to the electronic hordes,

      We built our own world, we few and true

      With love for each other.

      That’s it for tonight. We’ll see what April brings.

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      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.

      Poetry Night at the Writing Life, 21 February 2025: Digital and analog life

      close up photo of matrix background

      Hi, everyone, welcome to Poetry Night. I’ve got an interesting couple of poems to share with you, about both the digital world and the analog world. Hope you enjoy them.

      I’ve been writing poetry with more regularity in recent months. For the year 2025 I have written six of them. At least two of them were not for publication in the short term or maybe even in the long term. It’s been therapeutic to express myself like that and not worry about other people’s opinions.

      If You’re Interested in my Poetry Here…

      My first collection of poetry1 is out now.

      Since Substack doesn’t quite have the setup for this, I’ve set up something here at Liegois Media. I set up my own Internet storefront page where you can order my chapbook for $6 per copy. This is the link, as is the one below.

      The Flow and the Journey

      As I might have mentioned, I’ve become a bit wary of people acting like friends online but eventually seeing me as an opportunity to make some money. That likely prompted the following poem.

      close up photography of smartphone icons
      Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

      Screening

      19 February 2025/Fort Madison, Iowa

      Stuck at home

      Huddled by yourself

      Looking for human relations

      You turn to the screen.

      The screen is fast

      The screen can take you anywhere

      The screen sets up the relationship

      But you wonder if a relationship can be trusted

      As much as a flickering screen

      Can a voice and picture on the screen be trusted

      If a bot can recreate it

      And can a vibe be checked

      Through that colorful screen

      Even if it covers your living room wall?

      The second poem is something of a recollection of how wonderful some analog interaction between people can be. It’s something I increasingly treasure.

      family celebrating christmas while holding burning sparklers
      Photo by Nicole Michalou on Pexels.com

      Greetings

      19 February 2025, Fort Madison, Iowa

      When you go out of your house

      To shake a new person’s hand

      To hear a trusted voice say, “I’d like you to meet…”

      And words dance through the air

      As you find out more about them

      Their lives

      Their hobbies and interests

      How you watched the same movies

      Knew about the same types of sports

      And you remember how you used to meet and greet

      In the days before The Screen and The WiFi.

      You take in the panorama of your scene

      As the food and drink and laughs flow

      And what strikes you is how biological the meeting is

      Rather than digital.

      That’s it for tonight. I thought I was running out of topics for poetry, but new themes keep popping up in my work. We’ll see what March brings.

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      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.
      1. By the way, feel free to skip over this if you saw it before and move on to the actual poetry. ↩︎