The Writing Life, 20 January 2024
Bemoaning a cold snap in my writing productivity as a cold snap hits Iowa, and thoughts about moving.
Apologies in advance if this newsletter is more about not writing than writing itself. It’s been those kind of weeks. Shall we begin?
The Home Front
I believe with all the snow days we’ve had, my own school district has only been in session for seven days this month. Hopefully we manage to wrap up our school year before Memorial Day at this rate.
In all seriousness, I’ve been feeling out of sorts in my current situation. This is the second time in my life I stayed behind to finish up the current academic year while my wife went on to a new job opportunity. The first time I did it, I was in my hometown in Muscatine. I had my daughter and dogs living with me, and I also had my parents and in-laws right nearby as well. That went on for nearly a year, and I have to say Covid bringing everything to a stop halfway through the whole process might have helped put the zap on my head as well.
This time, I’m only going to be doing it for about four months. But this time might be tougher. I’m here in our old house, alone, in the middle of south central Iowa, with not even the dog for company. My kids are off in Des Moines and Iowa City. My family is on the other side of the state. I’m starting to feel the isolation a bit more.
I used to joke about my wife being on the phone all the time with friends and family for a couple hours at a time, but I can understand why she often does it now, and I’m glad our move has gotten her closer to her family and many of our old friends. I also have a better appreciation and admiration for my son with how he has done well living on his own in Des Moines and working hard to progress in his given career (heating and air conditioning maintenance and installation). I find myself on the phone with him and a few other people close to me.
One good bit of news is there is a chance we may already have a buyer for our home in Chariton. This might require me to find some temporary lodging in the area for a couple months, but I would prefer to have that as a problem rather than it be July and we’re still trying to find a buyer for an empty home1.
What I’m Writing Now (🤣🤣🤣)
Soooo… it should not be much of a surprise all of this is fooling with my writing2. It’s not like I don’t have projects on tap other than this newsletter. There’s The Yank Striker 2, the second book in my series about a LGBTQ American college football player turned prospective English Premier League soccer player.
Then there’s the continued work I’ve been putting in on my as-yet not officially entitled pro wrestling fiction project.
But honestly, I’ve been having so many distractions it’s been throwing me off. Part of it is my wife is in another place, as well as the fact half my stuff is in a certain place and my old writing space is a bit isolated from the rest of the house, which inspired a small little post on the location of writing spaces.
Of course, I had the bright idea of putting some notes in one of my notebooks so I could refer to it while I was writing some of my recent projects. Of course, I manage to leave my notebook at my school and then we have a snow day, so I’m separated from my notes for a four-day weekend. As Arsenal FC fans tend to say, I was a bit Spursy3.
What I’m Doing Having to do With Writing
I haven’t fully set up some appearances for the spring and summer of this year. I need to do that and start setting up a schedule for appearances. I have to say I did a better job regarding this for my second book than my first book. Of course, I’m sure I have plenty to learn about the dark arts of marketing4.
By the way, if anyone has a suggestion for a genre including a soccer drama and a multi-generational professional wrestling story, I’d be open to hearing about it. Apparently Amazon doesn’t have a genre for such a thing.
Writing Quote(s) of the Week
Decided to go with two of them this week. The first one from Papa Ernest seems to fit my current mood.
The hard part about writing a novel is finishing it.
Ernest Hemingway
While the second one from this man with the amusingly black gold heart gets something of the reason why I feel at home writing.
A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it
Roald Dahl
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
It’s been tough trying to write anything this week, so I’m a bit impressed and willing to give myself a single pat on the back for putting this thing together this week.
Next week will be Poetry Night, so I’ll try to put together a couple of poems, or maybe one new one and one classic one. I’ll have to see, and I’ll see you then.
-30-
For a writing blog, you are getting oodles of personal info and material this week. Sorry? That’s pretty much all I had to write about this week, so sorry if it’s not your bag.
Not to mention my emotional equilibrium, but such is life in Moscow. With all the snow, it does look like Moscow, except when the weather gets ultra cold, the kids tend to stay inside and play on the Internet and with their gaming systems, and not wander outside to play hockey on homemade ice rinks like they did in Moscow during the old Soviet days.
Look up the North London derby and you might figure it out. And it’s not a reference to the San Antonio Spurs.
I would be open to some advice on this. But not the random dudes and ladies DM’ing me on Instagram. Usually, those are scams.