The Writing Life, 5 October 2024

Still waiting for a proper autumn as October in Iowa begins.

And I’m still going to be posting pictures of autumn until we finally get something approaching autumn in Iowa. Photo by Christopher Osten on Unsplash

We are officially into the start of autumn since the equinox happened, but despite a cruel tease of such weather, we here in eastern Iowa have not been getting consistent fall weather. I am going to insist on decorating my blogs with autumn imagery until it actually looks and feels like these pictures in the outside. That’s just the way it has to be for a while, folks.

But we’ve got writing and new events to talk about, so let’s get into it.

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The Home Front

The transition between old residence and new residence for Laura (my wife) and myself continues.

Painting in our home had been completed, and the removal of our carpet is all but done. We also did some trimming up on the tree in our front yard that was a bit overdue. Now will come the process of treating the hardwood floors, moving all the items now in storage into the storage of our new house, installing new lighting and ceiling fans, and carting away some of the resulting detritus. Soon enough, our modest apartment will have to be packed up and ready for shipping, either by us or the movers.

Thankfully, unlike our last move, this is a move within our current city and will not need to be finished immediately. I am somewhat selfishly looking forward to my new writing space and how I will eventually get it set up.

Of course, not even this move will be the end of moving and changes for us. My son is moving closer to buying his own home, and we will be happy to provide any assistance for his own move in Des Moines. Thankfully, he does not have as much possessions as we do and his is also a move within a city.

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What I’m Writing

I’ve been quite busy this week and last with my ongoing projects.

• The Yank Striker 2, the sequel for The Yank Striker: I am now at 52,000 words for the first draft of the book. I am currently shooting for 75,000 words as a new target for the end of the year. If I average about 250 words on it for the remainder of the year, I should be able to get to 75,000 by 31 December 2024.
  At this point, I think it is doable. I will concentrate on this for my short-term goal, and then work toward getting it publication-ready for summer 2025.

• The Untitled Pro Wrestling Family Drama project: Made a big jump in progress on this project. As of this writing, I’m beginning to wrap up the critical scene where my main character makes the fateful decision to look into his family’s history of professional wrestling although he has been at least on a surface level avoiding this world for all his life.

  I’m going to write just what I consider to be the essential scenes until I get to something approaching a full rough draft. This will be interesting because the story will eventually bounce between the late 2010’s and 1954-1974. It’s the first time I’ve dealt with different time periods in one of my stories, and I’m looking forward to the challenge.

• The Untitled Liegois Poetry Chapbook: I have actually made more progress on this project this week. I’ve finished revisions on the poems, and finished arranging them in order in the chapbook. Again, I think my revisions have significantly tightened up those poems and given them more impact.

  I am not sure when I will have this ready for sale when I’m out and about, so to speak. I have to add in some author’s notes and acknowledgements, consider whether some more photos might be called for, and some other design issues. Plus, I have to start figuring out how to print the thing. However, I’m inching closer to being a self-published poet.

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What I’m Doing Having to Do With Writing

(AKA personal appearances)

I (also sometimes known as The Dude In Purple) have a few events coming up very soon for this fall and some others I’m tentatively adding to the schedule. All these events will be me appearing live and with my books, The Holy Fool and The Yank Striker.

Here are my current events¹:

• I’m headed back to the Des Moines area from 12-6 p.m. Sunday, 6 October [THAT’S TOMORROW], for the Windsor Heights Book Fair. This will take place at the Agora Events Center, 7692 Hickman Road, Des Moines. This will be the second year I’ll have participated in this event, and I’m eager to return.

• I’ll be participating in the Local Writers’ Book Fair, which will be part of the 2024 Iowa City Book Festival. It will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, at MERGE, 136 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City. This is again my second year of participating, and I am looking forward to being back in Iowa City.

• I’m planning to attend the Fort Madison Area Art Association’s Meet the Author Book Signing event from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, November 30, at the FMAAA’s center at 825 Avenue G, Fort Madison. This would be my first author’s event in my new home of Fort Madison, and I am overjoyed to be part of this gathering.

• I’m hoping to be part of the DSM Book Festival at the at Franklin Junior High Event Center, 4801 Franklin Ave., Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday, 22 March 2025. This is being sponsored by one of my favorite independent book stores in Des Moines, Beaverdale Books. I’ll provide more information, hopefully, as the event approaches.

I’ll be looking to add some more dates on the appearance calendar as time goes on. Hope to see you at one of those places.

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Writing Quote of the Week:

I agree with Eudora’s words here, although I’m more certain of the sentiments.

Indeed, learning to write may be part of learning to read. For all I know, writing comes out of a superior devotion to reading.

• Eudora Welty, On Writing

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A Few Links About My Books and Where to Find Them

(Feel free to ignore this bit if you’ve read it before)

Currently, I have the mighty total of TWO novels which make up my official backlist².

My first book is a journalism thriller set in Chicago during the turbulent days of the 2008 election and the start of the Great Recession. Check out more about it here.

You can get the paperback version of this book on Amazon here and the ebook version of it here.

A fellow Iowa writer and organizer of the Windsor Heights Book Fair, Tyler Granger, recently did a review of my book: you can find it here³.

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My second book, the first in the The Yank Striker series, is a soccer drama telling the story of the beginning of a young American’s career as a player. There’s more about it here.

The paperback version of this book can be found on Amazon and the site of my publisher, Biblio Publishing. It is also available in ebook format on Amazon here.

John Buzbee of The Culture Buzz radio show in Des Moines (KFMG FM) interviewed me about the Yank Striker. You can catch it here.

For full links to these and other helpful places having to do with me and my writing, you can go to this page on my Wordpress site, Liegois Media.

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You can also get my books in person at these fine Iowa bookstores:

• 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.

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Final Thoughts

All the writers keep writing and everyone keep safe, especially those who are continuing to deal with the effects of Hurricane Helene passing through the southeastern US over the past week. Best wishes.

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1. All promotional images courtesy of their respective organizations.

2. Don’t worry, I won’t include this bit in the next regular newsletter in two weeks to give you a break, lol 👍🏻.

3. If anyone does any reviews of my work, I’d love to post some links to them. Send it to me in the DM’s or comments.