The Writing Life, 3 May 2025
Putting together The Yank Striker's Journey as summer approaches.
Hey, everyone on the interwebs, good to be back. Summer is approaching and there’s a lot of cool things coming up, even though some of the deadlines and due dates are not set it stone.
Let’s talk writing1.
What I’ve Been Writing
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 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 my main character, Daniel John “DJ” Ryan 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.
Much has happened since last time. My third revision of the book is wrapped up and I’ve now sent it off to my good friend and fellow writer (and eastern Iowa resident) Misty Urban for a revising/proofreading session. I’m looking forward to working with her on the project. (Also, 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 also working with an outside artist on the cover art, and I’m hoping we can have a cover reveal sometime this month. (This will likely be a special post beyond my normal weekend posts - I’ll let everyone know in Substack Notes when it comes.)
We’re hoping to get this work wrapped up by the end of May. If all goes well, I am hoping for a June release, although I do not have an exact date yet. I’m going to start trying to put some appearances together for this as well, hopefully at some upcoming book fairs, indie book stores, and libraries.
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. This has been at the head of my creative interests for a while, with the exception of The Yank Striker’s Journey. Currently, I’m at more than 47,000 words on the project, which is more than 10,000 words than I was at last month.
I put together what will either be a prologue or a new Chapter 1 after I got feedback from two of my writer’s groups the beginning of the story seemed to be dragging and difficult to figure out where the plot was headed. After some brand new feedback on this section today, I’ve been reassured I’m on the right path.
The Heart Project: This is the name of the… let’s call it speculative/fantasy/soft sci-fi story I have in mind informed by our troubled time involving four one-time friends, a high school reunion, and a microcosm of a larger sense of chaos.
With The Yank Striker’s Journey on my radar, this has been put on the back burner, in all honesty. But I haven’t forgotten about it. I might have to start seriously getting some planning and notes on it this summer.In recent weeks, I’ve begun to wonder what Samuel “Sonny” Turner, the old Chicago-based newspaper columnist turned new era blogger who was the protagonist of my first novel, The Holy Fool, would be saying or doing if he was present during the current circumstances. When we last left him in this book, it was 2009 and Turner was celebrating the beginning of his new news site, The Fool, in Geneva, Switzerland. I’d like to think he was still at work, and he might have a more proactive journalistic mindset than his corporate media counterparts.
I’m not necessarily thinking there might be a sequel to The Holy Fool. But I’m thinking it might be a possibility.The Holy Fool
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Debut novels are tricky things. While I’ve not asked this question specifically of some of my fellow writers, the general impression I get is most writers consider their debut novels both with pride at their accomplishment and ruefulness at missed opportunities for improvement. And I’m no different.
My pure new writing output tanked this month while I was busy with revisions on The Yank Striker’s Journey. I was hoping to write at least 225,000 words for 2025, which would be a new yearly record. This month and this summer will be a great opportunity to pick up the pace.
What I’m Doing Having to do With Writing
There’s only a couple of events coming up for me this next few months, so I am planning on adding to this. But for now:
I will be at the the Badger Public Library book fair between around 8 a.m. until noon 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.
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 in June.
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:
The King, once again saying it the best:
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
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. 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 button below.
As far as this site goes, 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.
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
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.
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By the way, I would love to hear about what you, the readers, are writing yourselves. Please feel free to share what you are working on either in the comments or by direct message.