I’m not going to try and jinx myself, but it appears July might be a pretty productive month for me after two middling months of May and June. It’s giving me a little bit of confidence.
Before we get into the ins and outs of what I’m looking forward to, here’s the stats for last week:
Writing statistics for the week ending 19 July 2025: Words: 6,700 Days writing: 7 of 7. Days revising or planning: 0 of 7 for 0 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 6 of 7 days.
All in all, this was the best week I’ve had in three weeks, and if the next couple of weeks go as well as they have, I might have one of the best months of the year.
My intentions are to try and get projects continuing on a straight-ahead path on the next year. At this point, I don’t have the excuse that I have nothing to write about.
Unfortunately, some of the events I will be planning to promote my books will likely have to be pushed back into the incoming school year, so a lot of my weekends might be occupied by bopping around the region to various indie bookstores, libraries, and book fairs. Well, such is life, and at least I’ll have a way to keep busy on the weekends.
Now The Yank Striker’s Journeyis now available for purchase, I’ve decided to try and get moving on at least a couple of new books for next year because I want to start building up a good back catalogue. This includes the sequel to The Holy Fool, set in the present day, which I’ve gotten close to 8,000 words written so far. For a particular reason, I decided to hold off finishing the book until July 2026, although explaining the reason for this completion would be a bit spoilery to just reveal it here at this time.
Now that Journey is out, I’m out of excuses regarding getting started on the third book in the series. I need to do some serious outlining on this work. In a perfect world, I would have a rough draft set by the end of this year, start the beta reading and plans for release in May and the promotional stuff happening in June of next year. I just ended up holding things off until the last minute and that bit me in the rear well and good.
I know how I want to finish up what I’m calling The Yank Striker 3 for now. It’s only going to cover a single season in DJ’s career, his first full season in European football. I’m going to have to resolve the cliffhanger I left us at the end of Journey1. I’ve decided also to try a multiple point of view narrative for this next book in the series, although DJ will remain very much the main character of the book. I’ve fallen in love with the multiple POV format from my fan fiction, so I’m interested in turning it loose on my original fiction. I think it will work well.
There’s at least three other ideas I need to get going on, including continuing the Kayfabe Stories series and ideas for at least two other novels. At least some of these I might be looking to self-publish, and all of them have at least some Iowa connection and two of the novels will have a heavy Iowa influence. If Stephen King could make it as a regional writers of New England science fiction, I can do the same with Iowan sci-fi/dystopia/fantasy/speculative fiction.
Did you know you can buy ISBN numbers, which are how books are identified? That’s one way of determining or facing your mortality, trying to think of how many books you have left in you to write before you kick off.
Anyway, all you writers, if your not writing, get off your duffs and start pounding keys. Don’t wait forever like I did. And everyone keep safe.
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.
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.
Yeah, I’ve kind of spaced out for the past couple of weeks.
I was a bit stressed out about my book The Yank Striker’s Journey getting set for publication, but now that it’s finally happened, one more worry is off the table. And I had been struggling with finishing up a quick short story that took longer than I expected, but I’ve wrapped that up so I am feeling good.
So, did I get any writing done for the past couple of weeks? Actually, I had some decent numbers:
Writing statistics for the week ending 5 July 2025: Words: 4,952 Days writing: 7 of 7. Days revising or planning: 1 of 7 for 120 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 6 of 7 days.
Writing statistics for the week ending 12 July 2025: Words: 4,272 Days writing: 5 of 7. Days revising or planning: 0 of 7 for 0 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 5 of 7 days.
Looking back, I had one well above average week and a second one that was less than a hundred words away from the pace I’ve been trying to set. All in all, I can live with it. It always seems like the I’m halfway done with summer by the time I get a handle on having so much time on my hands1.
During the next few days, when I’m not doing chores around the house or doing on treks to new places and locations for bookstores and events2, I’m thinking of what I have to write next.
This includes the sequel to The Holy Fool, set in the present day, which I need to get restarted on. I have planning to work out for the next Yank Striker book which it in my head but not down on paper, which I need to do to properly process it and review it for when I start writing. I know I want it to be short, and since it should only cover a single season that is manageable.
I also want to restart my work on the Kayfabe Stories series. I think I was about to write the scene where the family patriarch steps into the ring for the first time. Heady stuff, and I want to try and think about some self-publishing options. Good readers, any thoughts regarding Ingram Sparks?
Anyway, much to contemplate. All you writers, if your not writing, get off your duffs and start pounding keys. Don’;’t wait forever like I did. And everyone keep safe.
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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.
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.
So, the past couple of days I’ve actually not been writing much of anything. I’ve been in kind of a waiting pattern for one of the biggest projects I’ve had going on, something I’ve been talking about for a while on this site.
Since the project I’ve been talking about is set in the world of soccer, my thoughts immediately went to something from that world. There is an Italian football journalist by the name of Fabrizio Romano who specializes in covering football transfers. Whenever he announces a deal is finalized, he uses the phrase “Here we go!”
Well, everyone … Here we go!
Cover art and design by Joe Boardman.
I am delighted to announce that The Yank Striker’s Journey, my third novel and the second book in The Yank Striker series, is now available for purchase in paperback on Amazon. I had hoped to get the book out and online by last month, but the final steps of editing and proofing took slightly longer than I had expected. From now on, I’m going to assume anything having to do with publishing is going to take double the amount of time I originally assume it’s going to take.
Currently, the book will only be out in paperback. At a later (as yet undetermined) date, it should also be out on ebook format. I will let you know when that happens, but that will be some months down the road.
I plan to put together an introductory post for the book such as I did for my other books, including The Yank Striker. That should be coming out very soon – tomorrow, I’m thinking. [SLIGHT SPOILERS FOR The Yank Striker AHEAD.]
To be brief, however, The Yank Striker series follows the exploits of Daniel John “DJ” Ryan, the son of a college football championship-winning coach from Liberty Rock Park, Texas (somewhere around Dallas, let’s say). He grew up catching the passes of his brother, Trey, both at home and on their high school football team. DJ sees joining his brother on their father’s team, the Hamilton State University Copperheads, as his best chance at an eventual NFL career.
However, DJ also shows talent at soccer, and he has a talent for scoring goals for both his high school team and a local semipro outfit. It’s while playing for the former in the state championship tournament that he’s noticed by a scout for an English Premier League team in the East End of London, Donford FC. He’s soon torn between staying around home and trying for the NFL, or taking a big gamble on himself in the high pressure world of English soccer in an unfamiliar place. In addition, he’s keeping a secret about his personal life involving his sexual orientation that could be a major complication for him, whatever decision he makes.
The Yank Striker’s Journey focuses on what DJ has to face now he is trying to establish himself as a footballer in England. He’s dealing with many complications: His development and growth as a player, the intensive demands of Premier League football, the extra scrutiny paid to him as an American and his sexual orientation, al while thousands of miles away from his old home.
What’s Next?
Other than the links I provided here, you can also go to the links for The Yank Striker’s Journey on the sidebar of this Substack and in my author profile. You’ll also find links to my other books there, too.
My stomping ground is Iowa and surrounding areas, so I’m planning on getting my books out to some of the independent bookstores around here. Among the places that currently have my books are:
Bent Oak Books, 619 7th St. Fort Madison.
Burlington By The Book, 301 Jefferson St, Burlington.
Green Point Mercantile, 217 E. 2nd St., Muscatine.
Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave. # S1, Des Moines.
Pella Books, 824 Franklin St, Pella.
I’m hoping to add some more names to the list soon.
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.
I’ll keep you in the loop with other new changes and updates for in-person events coming up. I hope you come along with me on this writing journey.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Poetry work (except for the pieces I post here on Substack and the odd unpublished poem or two.
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.
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 first collection of poetry from author Jason Liegois.
Again, sorry this is slightly late, but better late than never and it’s still on the weekend. Take care, everyone.
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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.
I was relieved when I crunched the numbers a couple of days ago.
I set myself ambitious writing goals for this year. Among other goals, I wanted to write at least 225,000 words of fiction, nonfiction, and/or poetry this year, more than I have ever written in any year to date, and make my daily writing quota (see below for the explanation for “Daily Writing Goals Met”) at least 80 percent of the time.
How well did I manage to do with these goals? I’m by no means well free and clear regarding those goals, especially since only half the year is gone, but I am on pace to meet them.
Before that, lets talk last week’s numbers and the month of June 2025:
Writing statistics for the week ending 28 June 2025: Words: 6,990 Days writing: 7 of 7. Days revising or planning: 0 of 7 for 0 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 6 of 7 days.
Writing statistics for June 2025: Words: 17,272. Revising/Planning: 1,620 minutes. DWGM: 86%
So, one of the better writing weeks I’ve had (the highest total in the year to date), but only the fourth best out of six months I’ve had during the year. I’m truly surprised at how productive I’ve been this week, especially since I’ve been stressing about when my book The Yank Striker’s Journey is coming out (I’d thought it was going to be ready at the end of June but it’s looking more likely to be after the Fourth of July at this point.)
I needed to have written at least 112,500 words to keep on pace for that 225,000 number. So, drum roll for the numbers1:
Writing statistics for the first half of 2025: Words (total): 113,755. Words (avg.): 18,959. Revise/Plan (Total): 6,825 minutes. Revise/Plan (avg.): 1,365 minutes. DWGM: 89%
Fun fact, since I’ve been keeping solid track of word count back in 2018, this is the third best numbers I’ve had for the first part of a year and my fifth-best six month period overall. However, I can now say my total word count from July 2024 to June 2025 now stands at 232,553 words, my highest ever 12-month period of writing. Amazing.
So, I am about 1,200 words over pace to meet my goals, and I’m above my average for getting my daily writing quotas done. All good news. As for what I am writing2: Thankfully, I have several items I can work on now to get productive. There’s:
The sequel to The Holy Fool, set in the present day. I’m at 7,000 words into the rough draft. I want to keep this no bigger than 70,000 words, I think.
A short story that might wind up in a collection… I’ll let you know about it when something gets published. It’s close to being done, hopefully in the next week.
Some more work on the Kayfabe Stories series, even though I don’t have a solid deadline or or even a hint of a schedule of when I’ll be working on this issue.
The minute Journey gets published, I’ll start planning and writing The Yank Striker 3 . I’m hoping to have it ready to go next year.
Good news, but I’m not getting complacent. Hope everyone is doing all right.
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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.
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.
If I was going to classify how thing went last week as far as productivity went, I would call it acceptable as far as an individual week goes but barely acceptable given the past six weeks.
Anyway, the good/passable news.
Writing statistics for the week ending 21 June 2025: Words: 4,374 Days writing: 7 of 7. Days revising or planning: 3 of 7 for 5400 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 7 of 7 days.
All of these numbers, obviously, are better than the past couple of weeks. I did some review of my proof for The Yank Striker’s Journey and that pumped up my revision numbers.
However, this was only the third week out of the past seven where I wrote more than 4,000 words in a week. That’s honestly not good enough, especially when I’m trying to write at least 225,000 words this year and I need to write at a pace of a little over 4,000 words per week to reach the goal.
Thankfully, I have several items I can work on now to get productive. There’s:
The sequel to The Holy Fool, set in the present day. I’m surprised I’m already 7,000 words into the rough draft. I want to keep this hard and fast, no bigger than 70,000 words, I think.
A short story that might wind up in a collection… I’ll let you know about it when something gets published.
Some more work on the Kayfabe Stories series, even though I don’t have a solid deadline or or even a hint of a schedule of when I’ll be working on this issue.
Perhaps some fanfic if I’m really stuck for ideas.
Probably by next month, I’ll start planning out The Yank Striker 3 and beginning to lay down the first draft. I’m hoping to have it ready to go next year. Very ambitious, but if I’m not ambitious about my writing, what’s the point?
I’m a bit nervous about the end of this month to see if I’m keeping on track with my goal. One superb week might turn it all around for me.
That’s it for now. Best wishes for everyone.
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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.
Last week was a disaster as far as writing productivity goes. There are weeks where the whole point of this journal is to publicly flagellate myself to get back on track.
This journal is one of those events. The reason or reasons for this rubbish I’ll get into later here.
For now, let’s just talk numbers.
Writing statistics for the week ending 14 June 2025: Words: 2,238 Days writing: 4 of 7. Days revising or planning: 0 of 7 for 0 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 4 of 7 days.
I could tell you I’ve been waiting for the proof of The Yank Striker’s Journey to arrive from my publisher and that’s been throwing me off. This would be an accurate statement.
I could say I was trying to figure out where to go regarding my sequel to my first book, the journalism thriller The Holy Fool, set in the present day. But, I already have a really good idea what to write next, because I’ve already outlined what I want to do with the story, which I’m keeping short.
I could talk about how I’m not going to get started on the next Yank Striker book, and that would be accurate. But would it really explain why I haven’t written as much as I should have? If I just wanted to juice the numbers, I could get back to some of this fan fiction that’s been sitting dormant for a while.
But in all honesty, I’ve been sitting on the couch, the chair, staring at the big screens or the pocket screens of my phone, trying to distract myself from anything except for the need to write. In all honesty, I’ve been living the life of a functional derelict, bumming around my house and my town while blanking on what I need to do. If there is a way to avoid work and other similar problems, I probably tried it during the past two weeks. 😅
In the end, I just need a good kick in the rear at this point from my disappointments and embarrassments from not getting the job done the way I can do, the way I know I’m capable of. I’ve wasted enough time in my life, even recognizing I’ll waste some more time before I shuffle off the mortal coil.
I was idly thinking of different things recently and it came to mind if I purchased something around the neighborhood of 20 ISBN numbers, I would have enough numbers to cover all of the books I would write for the remainder of my life. Whenever you get to a certain point of your life and calculate you will only do something for a finite number of times is a clear acknowledgement of your mortality, and it’s the honest truth.
That’s it, everyone. Everyone take care of yourselves, and all you writers keep writing and all you creatives keep creating.
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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.
Last week wasn’t a disaster as far as writing productivity. I don’t want to repeat it this week, because I have to make positive progress.
Anyways, I’ll explain after giving you the totals:
Writing statistics for the week ending 7 June 2025: Words: 3,670 Days writing: 3 of 7. Days revising or planning: 6 of 7 for 1,080 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 7 of 7 days.
Not a low word count for me, but not up to my expectations. A big reason for the heavier revision week is I wanted to give a look over to my manuscript for The Yank Striker’s Journey before I sent it off to my publisher, and it is now in their hands. I am hopeful to get the publisher’s proof in my hands this week, and then have the book published in mid or late June.
There’s more than a few possibilities for trying to pick up my writing production. First, there is the sequel to my first book, the journalism thriller The Holy Fool. The sequel will take place in the present day. This is a good overview of the first book, which is set in 2008. I might post an excerpt of what I’ve started to write for this manuscript on the site soon. I’m planning on this being a short book, so the turnaround on this might be shorter than any I have written up to this point.
There is a plan for the new Yank Striker book, but honestly I need to give my brain a break from this world before I take another dive into this world. I have already set up a file for the story and I have a working title, although I will refer to the book as The Yank Striker 3 until I get closer to publication. If I could get this released next year, that would be fantastic.
Can you tell I’m a bit desperate to build up a back catalogue?
I also plan to continue work for the other series of books I have in mind, the pro wrestling family drama I’m calling Kayfabe Stories. I don’t have any deadline on this series, partially because I have the idea of writing it all at once, or at least the main trilogy1.
At this point, even if I have to get back into some fan fiction, I’m going to get productive. Summer is here and the excuses are over, although I had to take a day last Sunday where I didn’t do anything because I needed to reset my head. But I think I’m ready to go, now.
That’s it, everyone. Take care of yourselves.
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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.
This week, I got an idea for another book in the Kayfabe Stories world not tied to or necessary to tell the “main sequence” story, so to speak. Without trying to reveal too much, it would involve twins who are the cousins of the main character of the Kayfabe Stories trilogy and how they became third generation professional wrestlers. I’m actually psyched about the idea, because these two have intrigued me ever since I added them to the wrestlers’ family tree. ↩︎
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.
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.)
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.
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?
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.
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
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.
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 first collection of poetry from author Jason Liegois.
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.
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.
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. ↩︎
I had a big writing week last week. There was a bit of planning for new projects and writing for something that just came to me and is dying to get out of my head. I always have something to work on in addition to the new book which is coming out this month, guaranteed.
My totals for last week:
Writing statistics for the week ending 31 May 2025 Words: 5,900 Days writing: 6 of 7. Days revising or planning: 3 of 7 for 390 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 7 of 7 days.
Writing statistics for May 2025: Words: 16,518 Revising/Planning: 1,200 minutes. DWGM: 93%
So, not quite the lowest productivity month I’ve had this year, but in all fairness my revising/planning work for this month was nearly tenfold more than the month in question (March 2025). Considering I am pushing myself toward a far more ambitious writing target this year (225,000 words), I am impressed that I am a couple of thousand words ahead of my expected pace so far, although I will wait until the end of this month to do a half-year in review look at my work so far. I’m feeling good about what I have worked on.
As I type this, I am reviewing final edits for The Yank Striker’s Journey and final edits on the cover design before I send it off to my publisher. I am now all but certain this will be published this month, but the exact day is up in the air at the moment.
Part of the writing for this week has gone into the sequel to my first book, the journalism thriller The Holy Fool. The sequel will take place in the present day. This is a good overview of the first book, which is set in 2008. At the end of the book, my main character, former newspaper columnist Sonny Turner, has turned his back on traditional journalism. I’ve begun to wonder whether he and his colleagues might be better equipped to handle the current hostile journalism environment. I’m also interested to see how sixteen years away from Chicago and his home state of Iowa have affected him. I’ve already written 5,500 words-plus of the rough draft for this book.
In addition, I plan to finalize an outline/timeline for The Yank Striker book and further progress on The Holy Fool sequel. I also plan to make progress on plans and rough drafts for the other series of books I have in mind, the pro wrestling family drama I’m calling Kayfabe Stories.
My goal is to I will be busy with one thing or another and have plenty to work on during my spare time.
That’s it for now. Take care of yourselves, everyone.
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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.
