The Writing Life, 16 March 2024
More life on the road and feeling stretched out - but getting some writing done.
Hello, humanoids, as the great American philosopher and professional manager/announcer/wrestler Bobby “The Brain” Heenan once might have said1. It’s all in the game, yo2.
Today I talked to one of my work colleagues and said something to the effect of “if I knew what the game plan for me was on a day to day basis, much less a week to week one, I’d be less out of sorts.”
It’s been one of those weeks (or couple of weeks), but things are perhaps going better than I had hoped for, both on the personal and writing fronts. Anyway, let’s talk about the writing life and the other chaos happening around me at the moment.
The Home Front
My kid is now out of the ICU and in a regular hospital bed, but not for long, it appears.
Jacob (23), who had a fall at work two weeks previously, has been slowly making the road back to recovery. Right now, we are awaiting word on him getting into a rehab facility near his place in Des Moines. While he’s there, I might save some cash by spending some time at his apartment during the week.
I always thought it would be fun to live in the center of a city like Des Moines as my son has been doing for the past few years, but this was not the way I wanted it to happen. It will require me to have a two-hour round trip to work, which is not ideal, but it’s going to be for a couple months at the absolute most, I’ll save on hotels, and be closer to Jake while he continues to recover. I am thankful, however, we are facing this situation rather than something even more dire affecting his health or even life. We still have our kid.
Speaking of kids, I’m so excited for my daughter Maddie’s (22 this month) situation. She is two months away from graduating from the University of Iowa with her chemical engineering degree. She has a job waiting for her in our hometown of Muscatine this June with the same engineering firm her grandfather worked at for 40 or so years. She’s going to have plenty of professional adventures coming up, and I’ll be happy to hear all about them.
What I’ve Been Writing
It seems like I’ve been writing a lot of short odds and ends, short pieces, poetry, etc. I’m trying to finish a short story I’m contributing to a collection of dark fantasy romance (fantasy I’ve long been interested in, dark romance is new territory for me). Once this project is a bit further along, I’ll post the links for it.
I found out I didn’t get any honors at this year’s Iron Pen competition sponsored by the Midwest Writing Center. The concept of the short story I submitted for the competition was sound - essentially a fresh excerpt from the pro wrestling project I’ve discussed here previously.
However, the more I’ve read through it, the more I’m feeling a little uneasy with it. I struggled with the 2,000-word limitation on the short story, because (holding back spoilers), the scene I featured was a major part of the growth of my main character and his journey to understanding both his family and himself. My instinct right now is to let it sit for about a couple weeks and then make a brand new attempt at the scene. I think I can make it happen better the second time around. If I make it work, I’ll post the results here.
Still struggling to get more progress done on The Yank Striker 2 with all the bopping around the state I’ve been doing. My concern is I’ve started to think of the project as “Work” writing rather than “Fun” writing, and I’ve just got to force myself out of this mindset. This world I’ve built, around one of the most fascinating main characters I’ve yet created - an aspiring American soccer superstar - is just too intriguing to just drop after one book. I’ve got to at least get this most recent scene in the book done this month, at least.
"Work" Writing Vs. "Fun" Writing
Thanks for reading Liegois Media! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. I've probably started and stopped at writing this for a while. I had to think about it a bit. Anyway. When I was a kid, I was thinking the endgame of my writing would be something like this: I write some books, and then I try to get …
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?
What I’ve Been Doing Having to do With Writing
I’ve been scouring some different locations to try and find opportunities to meet with writers and workshop some of my stuff ever since my last writing group ceased operations and I moved away from the area. I might try to sit in with the Midwest Writing Center, a group of poets up in Burlington, or maybe I could even consider getting back in touch with my old compatriots with Writers on the Avenue, in my hometown of Muscatine. Some of these I can start right away, while some others may have to wait until things with Jake and Maddie sort themselves out and I’m finished up with my contract at my current school district in South Central Iowa. I’ll have to see, and I’ll at least start putting in their regular meetings into my Google Calendar.
I’m also trying to update things on this page. I’m not sure whether I’ll keep all articles on this page for free for one month or three months; I’m still pondering this. It’s going to be a month.
There will be some articles on this page I will keep free and open for everyone, and I’m leaning toward doing this for my newsletter posts and some promotional stuff. I’m glad Substack gives authors the option of overriding the archiving if you want to do so. During the next few weeks, I’ll be updating and revising the status of some of those articles to reflect this (All lies, I finished this up tonight). Just remember, if you have a paid subscription to my site, you have access to all of my writings, archived or otherwise.
Writing Advice
Again, I decided to take a look at someone else’s writing advice rather than try to come up with a piece of writing advice on my own3. As it turns out, I found something from John Steinbeck (The Grapes of Wrath, etc.) which caught my eye:
If you’re using dialogue, say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.
To me, this is one of the few bits of writing advice I would unreservedly endorse in nearly any writing situation. You process information differently by reading words than you do by hearing them. If you are writing dialogue, you want it to be as realistic as possible, which means it needs to sound like naturally flowing conversations actual human beings would use.
My supplemental piece of writing advice related to this is, read everything written by Elmore Leonard you can get your hands on. He was an author who knew how dialogue truly worked and its storytelling potential.
Writing Quote(s) of the Week:
Two quotes on writing this week, one from ancient Greece, and another from 20th century America. Both of them are good advice for, respectively, reaching your audience as a writer and developing your voice.
To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man.
Aristotle
Concentrate on what you want to say to yourself and your friends. Follow your inner moonlight; don't hide the madness. You say what you want to say when you don't care who's listening.
Allen Ginsberg
Where I’ll Be Appearing
In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been checking in with different events and book fairs to see where I might be making some personal appearances and sell some books. So far, some of the dates, times, and locations are tentative, but I want to let you know about them as soon as possible if you want to meet me out there in person. Google Calendar has been my friend in this regard.
I possibly might be at the Ankeny Book Fair at the Ankeny public library from 1-4 p.m. April 20. I have applied to be at the event, but the organizers of the event should let us know by March 20 if we’ve made the cut. As soon as I know, you’ll know.
I am confirmed to be at the Authors on the Riverwalk event from 12-4 p.m. May 25 at the Des Moines Marriot Downtown, 700 Grand Ave., Des Moines. It was a fantastic event last year, and I’m hoping for an even better experience this year.
Things start picking up in June. I’ll be at the Valley West Mall, 1551 Valley West Drive, West Des Moines, for the 9th Annual Indie Author Book Expo. I’ll be there with many other area and regional authors from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, June 7, and at the same time Saturday, June 8.
Two weeks later, I’ll be at another IABE event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 22 at the Peoria Civic Center, 201 SW Jefferson Ave, Peoria. This might be the first year for this event, but I do know it will be the first time I’ll be doing an event in Peoria.Sadly, this event has been cancelled due to the venue cancelling on the event organizers (IABE). However, they are hoping to do the event next year, at least.I’m not sure I will be there both days, but I believe I am on the guest list for the Badger Book Fair at the public library in Badger, Iowa, running Saturday and Sunday, 14-15 September. I’ll add more details when I get them.
I’ll be there for the Windsor Heights Book Fair in Windsor Heights, Iowa, from 12-6 p.m. Sunday, 6 October. More information when I get it.
Finally, I’ll be part of the local author book fair sponsored by the Iowa City Book Festival. Not sure about the exact day or time, but it should occur sometime during this year’s festival, which will be 14-20 October in Iowa City.
I am actively looking for other events and venues to appear between now and Fall 2024. If you’d like to invite me to a book event, just hit me up in the comments, by direct message (you can find that in Substack Chat or at the button below). You can also email me at jasonliegois@liegois.media, but with the influx of emails I’m getting from my subscriptions to Substack sites, it will be more likely I see the DM’s or comments.
Where You Can Find my Books
For direct links to purchase my books in paperback and ebook form, including The Yank Striker: A Footballer’s Beginning and The Holy Fool, click on the links in the Substack sidebar or the links on my Substack author page. Or, you can go to this page on my Wordpress site, Liegois Media.
You can also get them in person at these fine Iowa bookstores:
Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave # S1, Des Moines
Pella Books, 824 Franklin St, Pella.
The Book Vault, 105 S Market St, Oskaloosa.
All these are great independent bookstores, but I’m always looking for some new places to place my books (especially now in eastern Iowa), so feel free to hit me up in the comments if anyone has a suggestion.
Final Thoughts
That’ll be it for now. I’ll have Poetry Night at the Writing Life posted next weekend, and I’m planning to have some brand new material for you. However, the last weekend of March 2024 will also coincide with my birthday, so I’ll be taking it off from writing (for this site, at least). See you around the Interwebs.
-30-
If you follow my page, you’re just going to have to get used to some pro wrestling terms and terminology.
All right, that was a reference from The Wire. Better get used to those references, as well.
Being creative with writing advice is hard, if you didn’t know.
Glad to hear the kid updates!
Great writing advice!
I love your advice about dialogue—I've heard it a million times but it still rings true every time. Nothing helps more than saying it out loud. I'll be sure to read some Elmore Leonard!