The Writing Life, 1 February 2025
February's already here, and I'm keeping busy both in front of and away from the writing desk.
Welcome to everyone wandering over to this part of the Internet.
Been working on at least a couple projects in various stages of production. I’ll talk about those things and some updated information about where I’ll be during the next few months. I’ll either keep it interesting or to the point - whichever one works lol.
The Home Front
We are done with January, which seemed to last forever last year. Then again, last year was when I was between homes, driving around between homes and hotel rooms and apartments in between the move to Fort Madison and looking out for my kid in Des Moines. In short, January 2024 dragged for me and my family, and I prefer this alternative.
We haven’t had much in the way of massive snow storms around Iowa this year. My own school district has had only one snow day this year (technically a weather day, since it was severe cold rather than snow shutting us down). Many of my co-workers are hoping for sun and warmth, but honestly I am glad it still can get as cold as it has. I thought there was no way Iowa was going to cool down around last October. I will take 28 degree weather rather than 98 degree weather. I’m the freak who prefers the Azores, Shetland, and Faeroe Islands to someplace in the Caribbean.
So far, kids and my wife Laura are doing all right. Not much else to say otherwise.
What I’ve Been Writing
The Yank Striker 2: the sequel to my book The Yank Striker: A Footballer’s Beginning. The Yank Striker series follows the exploits of 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. Book two starts examining what my main character, Daniel John “DJ” Ryan has to face now he is trying to establish himself as a footballer in England.
The Yank Striker: A Footballer's Beginning
What would an American soccer superstar look like? Not just someone who was a good player, but an actual legendary, world-class player, someone on the level of a Lionel Messi, a Diego Maradona, a Pele? Where would he come from? What would he be like as a person? And what would his path to soccer superstardom look like?
A Brief History of Donford Football Club
Worldbuilding, as I have mentioned previously here, is never an easy process. It’s not likely that you have the entire world your fiction will reside totally sketched out before you begin writing. It’s usually in the revision part of your writing process - or, if you are writing a series, maybe not until you get the first one or few books under your belt before you start seeing the entire iceberg rather than just what’s visible above the waves.
I am looking at Saturday of next week as the continuation of the writing process. I wanted to make sure I let the rough draft of the new book sit for at least a few weeks. I set 8 February 2025 as the time to restart my work on the book. As of this moment, this will be the schedule for The Yank Striker 2:
Second draft - begun by 8 February and completed by the end of the month at the latest.
Beta reads - begun at the start of March and completed by the end of March.
Two more rounds of revisions in April.
Final editing and proofreading in May and concluding by the end of May.
This might be the most ambitious release date for any book I’ve ever done. I’m confident in making this work, however, and I’m starting to put things into motion for all of this to happen. I’ll keep you updated on how it’s going, and I think I’ll have to have some big announcement regarding what the official title of the story will be.
This is the thing, however. Even though I will be reaching out to friends and family about this issue, I am looking for beta readers for The Yank Striker 2. If anyone out there on the Internets or in Substack land will be interested in becoming beta readers for this project and completing your work in a timely fashion, I would be willing to reward you for your hard work.
Anyone interested in serving as beta readers for the project will get a complimentary paid subscription for this site lasting at least one year. I will sort it out for you. If you are interested, chirp back to me in the comments of this post or in DMs. Thank you for your service ahead of time.
The Untitled Pro Wrestling Fiction Project: While waiting for my plans on The Yank Striker 2, this has been dominating my thoughts more and more. Over the past year and a half, this story about a family of pro wrestlers from Texas and a young man’s determination to understand what it all means has been dominating my thoughts for a while. My poor students have had to endure my using wrestling terminology with them regardless of whether they understand it our not. (For example, for those who keep on joking or not taking anything seriously, I occasionally say “I can’t tell if everything you do is a shoot or not.”
For just screwing around with a rough draft with no set schedule, building up a rough draft to more than 26,000 words is a bit of an accomplishment. It’s going to be the first of a trilogy, though. I’ll keep you up to date on what is going on.Poetry: I managed to self-publish my own chapbook of poetry at the end of 2024. I had a lot of fun with the process, and I can finally call myself a published poet. I don’t have any plans to do a second collection, but I’m not opposed to going forward with it either. Based on the feedback from my poets’ group, I might not even have to choose a theme for it. Or, maybe I will.
I have another idea for a book - one aimed at the strangeness and uncertainty we see in this country now. Call it part sci-fi, part fantasy. It might be classified as either, for sure. It has not evolved into more than an abstract idea for now, but I want it to be more. It will not cover the present players and unpleasantness. In all honesty, they are not interesting subjects for fiction, for they are not unique in history.
In short, the unfairness and oppression many face in my country have tempted me to write something. I have the idea of compassion and empathy spreading among the population. (Enough spoilers there). We’ll see if I make progress with it.
What I’m Doing Having to do With Writing
I have more than a few plans for book fair appearances in the coming months. Recently, I have managed to confirm these, so I will list them here.
I will be appearing from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, 22 February at the Johnstown Public Library, 6700 Merle Hay Rd, Johnston, IA. I had a great time at this event two years ago and I am honored to be returning there.
From 1-2:30 p.m. Saturday, 22 March, I will be attending the DSM Book Festival at the Franklin Event Center, 4801 Franklin Ave, Des Moines. This will be the first year of this festival co-sponsored by one of my favorite independent bookstores in Des Moines, Beaverdale Books. Can’t wait to be part of this.
Finally, I will be at the the Badger Public Library book fair (Time TBD) on Saturday, 17 May, at the Badger Public Library, 211 1st Ave SE, Badger, Iowa. They were one of the first places ever to participate in a book fair and I absolutely enjoyed the experience.
If there are other events coming up, I’ll let you know. Hopefully, I’ll have one or a few launch parties for my new book to come.
Writing Quote(s) of the Week:
Some things can be both true and not quite true all at once. This statement is one of them.
You can't blame a writer for what the characters say.
Truman Capote
I think Miles Davis said something similar when it comes to music. And I agree with both of them.
A successful book is not made of what is in it, but what is left out of it.
Mark Twain
How to support me😊.
Go to the links on the side if you are reading this on a desktop/laptop or the links on my profile. 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. Honestly, 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.
The Book Vault, 105 S Market St, Oskaloosa.
I’m always looking for some new places to place my books, so feel free to hit me up in the comments if you have a suggestion.
My poetry book The Flow and the Journey is available at 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 button below.
On the subject of Substack, it’s fantastic if you are signed up for my free subscription, but I would love it if you signed up for a paid one. The monthly rate is the lowest I can put it ($5 per month) but my yearly rate of $35 is a steal at less than three/fifths the monthly rate.
Now, if you want to support me but can’t quite afford a full subscription, I am now on Venmo. You can just send whatever you can afford. Just click the button below; anything you can provide helps me keep things going.
Final Thoughts
Hope your week went well, and for you writers, I hope you got something down on paper or on screen. And for everyone else - keep safe out there, things are getting weird.