Monday, February 29, 2016

Excerpt from L.A. Jefferson's Upcoming Book

An excerpt from my upcoming novel, Reconciliation to Hell




A jolting noise stirred Sandra out of her sleep. Unsure of where it came from she tried to pull herself out of the bed to find out, but failed. She couldn’t move her body. And the more she tried the more it hurt. From her head to the tips of her toes. The task of opening her eyes proved to be even more of an excruciating task. Damn, Sandra thought. What the hell did I get into last night? Had she pushed herself to her partying maximum last night? She’d been hanging out like wet clothes with her party girl sister-in-law, Yvette, for the last few months but at present she couldn’t recollect anything from the previous night. All she knew was that she had a splitting headache and an eerie feeling that something was terribly wrong. Still lying down Sandra was able to lift her hands to her head where she began massaging her temples, hoping a little clarity would find her. That’s when she realized that she was naked. Naked? What the…? An eerie realization broke into her head before she could finish the thought. Sandra was not in her own bed. She was not even in her house. Fear engulfed her instantly. Through immense pain, she sprang from the bed and forced a slither of an opening of her eyes. Darkness. She managed to swing her legs off of the bed toward the floor, but within one step she lost her footing on something slippery beneath her feet and fell down.


“Owww!” she cried out, the medal frame of the bed scraping the small of her back. Moments later the pain in her back would unequivocally be the least of her worries. On the floor was the culprit of her fall. Over two dozen photos scattered all across the floor. Photos of her in very compromising positions with men other than her husband. Her and Todd. Her and Devon. Her and Richard. Her and some random guys she couldn’t even name. Who took these? Sandra desperately wanted to know! More pointedly, Who the hell had been following her and why? She was afraid to even think the question that was really plaguing question her but the answer would find her soon enough.

Headache or not, Sandra needed to get out of there quick, fast, and in a hurry! Her clothes were sprawled crazily around the room: blouse squished between the pillows on the couch, left shoe in the kitchenette, right shoe in the bathroom, pants underneath the bed. Pure insanity! Still Sandra managed to dress quickly. As fast as she could, Sandra gathered up all the photos and mashed them deep into her large designer shoulder bag, wishing she could push them into nonexistence. No such luck.

Cautiously, she peered up and down the dingy hallway of the motel. Motel! This wasn’t even her type of place. She and the company she kept had entirely too much class to be laying up in somebody’s motel. More than ever she wanted to know how she’d gotten there. She couldn’t have been that drunk last night if she’d driven herself to the motel. Did she drive herself there? That answer became clear when closed the door to her Benz and couldn’t reach the pedals. Her mind was reeling now with that piece of this puzzle solved. But who had driven her? Who had she trusted enough? Or who had taken such advantage of her? Turning the ignition, seeing that it was nearly seven A.M., Sandra knew that her priority needed to be getting home! She was a wife, a mother, a respectable family woman—at least she had been until recently. Regardless of the day of the week it was—she wasn’t sure—her children needed her.

Sandra adjusted her mirrors, put the car in reverse, then headed out of the parking lot of only God knows where she was. Her phone began vibrating beneath the clutter of her purse but it was synced to her car so she didn’t need to fumble for it to answer. “Unknown” was displayed across dashboard. Afraid, she pushed the “phone” button conveniently located on the steering wheel to answer the call.

“Hello.” Sandra said.

“Hope you slept well dear.” A heavily disguised voice said.

“Who the hell is this?” Sandra snapped, unconsciously gripping the steering wheel taking a sharp left on the corner in the direction of the expressway that would take her home.

The mystery man or woman chuckled. “If I were you”, they sneered, “I’d be more concerned about those lovely pictures of you and your friends and what could happen if they fall into the wrong hands.” More sinister laughing followed.

Ohmigod, Sandra thought. She inhaled deeply, at a momentary total loss of words. “What do you want?” she finally said, dreading the answer before the question was fully out of her mouth. She was the wife of a political candidate, a member of a wealthy and influential family. Whoever this was on the other end of the phone could demand just about anything from her and she’d have to do it in order to not bring total embarrassment and shame to herself and her family.

“That’s a good question, Mrs.- Lester - Anderson. I know you’re on your way home to play the role of dutiful wife and mother. Keep your phone close and I’ll be in touch.” Click.

Sandra could hardly see straight she was so dazed by the life threatening phone call. When she finally noticed where she was, the exit towards her home was two miles behind her. As she exited the freeway to go in the opposite direction, she fought back the tears blurring her eyes as she wondered how in God’s name she’d become the threat to the life, the marriage she couldn’t imagine being without.

Friday, March 06, 2015

National Reading Month


If you didn't know that March is National Reading Month, then you haven't been following my blog. Arrgh! Nevertheless, now you know. So what are you going to do with this newfound knowledge or reminder, if you already knew?

Read, I hope. If you've got free time and like to give back to the community, get out and read to a group of children or seniors.

"What are YOU doing, L.A.?" You may be inclined to ask while I'm all telling you what to do. Of course, I'm READING. In celebration of FINALLY finishing my second manuscript, I started reading back in February but my chalkenge for March is to actually finish as many books as I can!

Why? Mainly because I'm tired of starting books and not finishing them in a timely manner--not that it's a race or anything but finishing is important.

Here are two of the books I'm working on now:


Feel free to share what you're reading. Subscribe for updates and Happy Reading!

Yours Truly, 
L.A.

Friday, February 20, 2015

Literary Accomplishment

We're at the tail end of the second month of the new year and guess what??? I finally finished the first draft of my second novel! "It's about time, right?" That's okay. If you're not saying it to me, I'm saying it to myself. Though completing this one wasn't anywhere near the length of time it took me to finish the first, I'm still a bit discouraged about how long it took me to finish this one. However, when I consider everything that I've done over the course of this four years (got married, took in a step-child, became a member of a sorority, joined a ministry at church), maybe it's not so bad after all. My life is pretty busy to be trying to be a novelist at the same time. Considering the writing time did decrease from 10 to 4 years, I should be down to a solid 2 for the third book!

Yes, there is a third book on the horizon but I don't plan to start writing it immediately. Maybe in  the summer. Right now I'm taking a little time out to do something that I never get tired of: READING!

What do you do when you finish a major project?


Friday, December 19, 2014

L.A's Christmas Reading Traditions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhmo5wdKRYo


LaCharmine (L.A.) Jefferson
Author, Blogger

Website: www.lajefferson.com

My Blogs:

All Things Love @ http://all-things-love.blogspot.com

Naturally L.A. @ http://naturallyla.wordpress.com

Follow me on Twitter @lajefferson

Happy Holidays

Your author friend, L.A. Jefferson, wishes you and your family a happy holiday season!

Friday, July 11, 2014

Summer, Summer, Summer Time

                                         

Summer began about two weeks ago for some folks but it wasn't until July 9th that my youngest child celebrated his last day of school and I honestly don't know which one of us is happier! Seriously, it's been a overwhelming school year. Sleeping through my alarm clock nearly every morning, battling the worst winter weather the Midwest has experienced in over thirty years, scrambling to get my son to school on time every day, and nearly exhausting my flextime allowances on my job! On top of all of this, I've been fervently working to complete my second novel by the onset of fall. That shall come to pass!

While working towards that goal, I still plan to have a fantastic summer! Spending quality time with my family and friends--bike riding, badminton, golfing (trying to, at least), sitting by the poolside, visiting water parks/amusement parks, and of course, READING & WRITING! What fun would summer be without those two???  

Enjoy your summer and stay tuned for that book release notification :)

Til next time,

LA




 


Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Happy Mother's Day


Mother's Day weekend was far too busy to get any writing done. Saturday was a whirlwind of activities: sorority meeting, shopping for myself and my mom--I bought my mom a Belgian waffle maker and added two more charms to my Pandora bracelet I got for an early Mother's Day present--took my son to his friend's birthday party, and then attended my cousin's college graduation party.

 Sunday was early service at church with a couple of extra children (my niece & 2 nephews, along with my son).


Lunch at Red Lobster  with mom and family:

    Me, my sister, my niecey pooh, and 
    My mom.

    Me and my two children

    My son and my two nephews 

Lastly there was grocery shopping! Yep. Mother's don't stop being mothers just because it's Mother's Day. Like I tell my children often, life goes on after this holiday--I'm usually speaking of expectation of excessive spending for the Christmas holiday-- but the message is just as applicable for this holiday.

All the running around I did between those two days wore me out. I actually had to take a nap on Sunday just so that I could watch the season finale of Revenge. 

     Sleeping Beauty 😄

Nevertheless, writing was not far from my mind. At the close of my writing session on Friday, the romantic words I had been looking for on a scene I was working on finally appeared in my head. I held on to them all weekend until Monday morning until I could get back to my document.  Let me tell you, opening that document was like watching the sun breakthrough a sea of dark clouds--refreshing.

Now that I've honored my mom and been honored as a mom, it's time to get back to business...

L.A.

Wednesday, April 09, 2014

LA and the Spring Literary Cafe



What better way to kick off the long awaited for spring season with a literary cafe!

It'd been awhile since I had a speaking engagement but it was good practice for the promotions I'll be doing for the new novel slated for release this fall. Now I'm even more anxious about all that I have lined up for Reconciliation to Hell.

Stay tuned...