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.

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.

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...

Holiday Reading Fun with L.A.

Christmas time already?

Absolutely!

Besides the season of gift giving, for me, it's also a time for holiday themed reading. My little tradition of sorts began on a trip to visit my boyfriend in Chicago about 5 years ago. This was by far not my first time in Chicago, but it was by far my most memorable Chicago trip--perhaps 'cause I was all happy and in love. 

Anyway, knowing my love of books, stopping at the mega bookstore on Michigan Avenue was a must! Being all happy and in love, I promised not to take too long. Believe me, that was challenging!  

Like any time I visit a bookstore, I wasn't looking for anything in particular--certainly not a Christmas book! Who does that?

Me. My eyes fell upon a shiny covered, festively adorned Mary Higgins Clark book and I knew I had to have it. 

A Christmas mystery by the worlds most beloved mystery and suspense author!

I was sold immediately. And ever since at this time I my reading eyes crave CHRISTMAS! 

I invite you to have some holiday reading fun with me! From now until Christmas  I'm going to post a holiday themed book for your consideration.

And it's okay if you don't finish it by Christmas Day. You won't get in trouble, I promise.😉

The Shoebox & the Essence of Motown Literary Jam & Writer Conference

Who knew that a shoe box would have anything to do with a writer's conference?

At the Essence of Motown Literary Jam & Writers Conference this past weekend I started learning stuff before the workshops even began. I was sharing a vendor table with fellow author Tenita Johnson and the fact that she was still working on her setup when I was finished in under 5 minutes was the first sign that I was about to be schooled. On her side of the table was a lollipop-filled mug, strips of words of encouragement, colorful magnets highlighting her book's message, along with the standard business card and promotional items. Sure, those things were awesome in and of themselves but when she slid a shoebox under the tablecloth, elevating her book above everyone else's--hot damn! I marveled at the ingenious!



Notice the extra decor on the other side of the table.

 Lucky for me the trunk of my car is like traveling storage container and there was a box--not a shoe box but a box nonetheless-- inside that I can use for the occasion. Worked like a charm. Don't get me wrong. I didn't sell any books, but that's not why writers attend writer conferences. We go to learn how to sell and write books better.

And learn I did!

This post would be endless if I tried to list everything I learned at the conference. Instead I'll direct you to my Twitter account. Look for tweets with hashtag #eom2012, #mwn.

Til my next post. Happy reading!

Sincerely,
L.A.

Celebrating National Author Day

What does an author do on National Author's Day? Celebrate themselves? Celebrate the authors who inspired them? Celebrate local authors by giving them a shout out? Write?

I'm happy to say I did a little of all that. Gave Melissa Love, author of Holy Suspicion, a shout on Twitter for being Motown Writers Network National Author's Day spotlight author. I'm reading one of my favorite authors, Mary Higgins Clark. And I made a little bit--literally--of progress on my current work in progress.

While all of this was gratifying, nothing tops culminating my evening with one of my all time favorite authors, Terry McMillan! Ain't God good? I saw the advertisement early on but I neglected to buy a ticket. Why? Because that's the kind of thing I do. Wait until the last minute. Sad, I know. So the day comes and I honestly wasn't thinking anything about it until, that is, I hit up Twitter. Gotta love Twitter. First, I learned that it was National Author Day. Then I was reminded that Terry was coming today! I shouted out that I wanted to go and my writing buddy shot me the link for tickets. $35! I love Terry but I couldn't fork over the $35 to see her as I consider everything on my financial to-do list. So I dropped it.

Then lo and behold my writing mentor Sylvia Hubbard texts me that she's got a ticket for me! She is so awesome!


The way I see it, God set this all up. I've been stressed the last couple of weeks. Need to get my writing mojo back.

An evening with Terry McMillan and my Motown Writers Network buddies was an easy fix!


Me and Sylvia!



Terry has taken the stage!

Writing buds Kai Kaiology Mann & Phette Ogburn

"Living the Sweet Life" was the name of the event and creating your own happiness was the theme. I already choose happiness so, for me, this event was all about being in the presence of literary greatness. Terry McMillan is such an inspiration. I definitely got my writing mojo back!

Happy National Author Day!

When to Move On--A Literary Lesson

The numbers recorded on my word log for my upcoming novel over the last few weeks have been pretty dismal: 85, 288, 27, 280, 91, 41, 21--to give a few examples. And these don't even reflect the days when I didn't write anything!

As if that's not enough to be down in the dumps about, do I dare share with my literary friends that this minuscule effort has been on one friggin' scene!

I know. I know. Stop yelling at me! In my five plus years as an author I know better than to have spent this considerable amount of time on the same scene. I should have moved on days ago against the pull of the literary devil to stay lost in a scene that obviously wasn't working or isn't meant to be--at least not right now.

Make sure you don't fall into this form of writers block by, first, planning your scene thoroughly before you begin writing, and, second, don't be afraid to leave a scene unfinished. Perfect time to use the bookmark feature of Microsoft Word. When you're ready you don't even have to search for the page where the scene is housed--just search your bookmark and click. Its also convenient if you decide to delete the scene all together.

Finally, at the start of this week, I've moved on to something else and the writing has been going well, although that unfinished scene is not far from my mind. Lol.

How do you handle these types of moments in your writing? Do you fight with the scene like I was doing until you get it right? Or do you ditch it immediately?

Respond below.

Writing Distractions: Making Them Work for You!

> I was off to a great start this morning. Had an awesome night with my honey. Was up and attem' this morning, looking forward to the day ahead. Of course that included hitting my writing objective of 250 words in my current novel in progress.
>
> My butt hadn't even gotten settled in my chair, let alone my coffee cooled down enough for me to drink before my daughter called.
>
> "Mom!" She whined. "I'm tired of people around eating other peoples stuff!" she said referencing her stepdad and stepsister who have just as much rudeness in common as they do DNA.
>
> I diffused that fire only to have my honey call me complaining about something my son did to his daughter. A heated argument ensued which led to nowhere but an unproductive writing day.
>
> Almost.
>
> After wasting quite a few hours stewing over anger, being totally lost on the novel I was supposed to be writing, it finally dawned on me to let the subject of my anger fuel something productive rather than unproductive.
>
> An article/essay idea was born! I took a deep breath, brought up a blank document and began typing the intro on the subject matter of blended families.
>
> Of course I don't know when I'll finish the article/essay--I'm still working on a description essay about my first cruise vacation that I started a month ago. Still it was better to have started something productive, something that could produce income in the future rather than stressing over life's challenges.
>
> Next time life gets in the way of your creative flow, I encourage you to try writing about it simply for the sake of continuing the craft of WRITING!
>
> LaCharmine (L.A.) Jefferson
> Author, Writer, Blogger
>
> Website: www.lajefferson.blogspot.com
>
> Blogs by me:
>
> L.A.'s Literary Love Life@ http://lajefferson.blogspot.com
>
> A Day in the Life of L.A. Jefferson @ http://lajefferson.blogspot.com
>
> All Things Love @ http://all-things-love.blogspot.com
>
> Naturally L.A. @ http://naturallyla.wordpress.com
>
> Surviving Work @ http://survivingmydayjob.wordpress.com
>
> Follow me on Twitter @lajefferson
>

Cookies & Milk--My Writing Weekend Reward

Considering I'm participating in two weight loss challenges, cookies and milk was not the best way to reward myself but they were yummy! If you're wondering why I'm rewarding myself, let me tell you. I had a fantastic writing weekend! It all began with the Motown Writers Network monthly meeting. First meeting I've been able to get to all year. Of course, I knew exactly what I'd been missing. Networking! Knowledge! Camaraderie!

We begin every meeting with introductions. Ironically it was because of this that I attended this meeting in particular. After 3 years of being a published author I should be better at this than I am but I'm still a bit withdrawn at times. In the days before the meeting I was admonishing myself to DO BETTER! Honestly, I have more opportunity than I care to admit to telling people about myself and my work that I don't take advantage of. I knew that I couldn't get out of it if attended the meeting because Sylvia Hubbard would have none of that. I absolutely love her!

At this months meeting, there was a presentation by Stephanie Lewis on graphic design and social media for authors. Overwhelming information! I'd be typing forever if I tried to regurgitate the information this young lady provided. Let's just say, I, along with every other author needs to step up our game. Our websites need to be formatted like that of world-renowned best selling authors! We must use social media to our advantage, Tweet and Facebook the RIGHT way to find SUCCESS.

I was so amped up by the discussions with my writing peers, I skipped the trip to the mall that I planned for after the meeting and headed to the coffee shop to finish a chapter I'd been struggling with and get started on the next one! You see, that's a great purpose for belonging to a writer's group! I always leave my buds motivated to step up my game! Can't wait until next month!

LaCharmine (L.A.) Jefferson
Author, Writer, Blogger

Website: www.lajefferson.com
Blogs by me:
L.A.'s Literary Love Life@ http://lajefferson.blogspot.com
A Day in the Life of L.A. Jefferson @ http://lajefferson.blogspot.com
All Things Love @ http://all-things-love.blogspot.com
Naturally L.A. @ http://naturallyla.wordpress.com
Surviving Work @ http://survivingmydayjob.wordpress.com
Follow me on Twitter @lajefferson

2011 Essence of Motown Literary Jam & Conf

Awesome! Energizing! Electrifying! Educational! Phonomenal! Fun! Long. Exhausting. Irreplaceable.

Above are only some of the words that come to mind when I reflect on the day spent at the 8th Annual Essence of Motown Literary Jam & Conference hosted by the Michigan Literary Network and Motown Writers Network. Founder of the conference and the network, Sylvia Hubbard, pulled it off again, with a host of volunteers, sponsors, vendors, workshop presenters, and panel discussion participants.

A few of my personal favorite presenters today included author and motivational speaker Monica Marie Jones, who was also having a book release party for her latest book Monday Motivations, Versandra Kennebrew, author, speaker, holistic teacher, and life coach, as well as national bestselling author of 13 books, Vincent Alexandria.

Now that I'm done with my literary shout outs, let's get to the literary lessons learned. Disclosure: A literary sistah could only spread herself so thin during the course of one day. There were lots of workshops to choose from. Below are few of my takeaways from the two workshops I participated in as well as a new activity added to the conference itinerary--60 minuted write-in (i.e. lock-in, but for writers).

Motivating Yourself to Market Your Book--Workshop 1 Facilitated by Monica Marie Jones

Perfect ones 30 minute elevator speech. Make your audience want to know more about you.

Fan the fire of your project. Get a buzz going about your book BEFORE its even finished. Easily achievable by having your book cover designed early and releasing it to the public. Blog regularly about yourself, your book, or subjects related to your book. Keep yourself on folks' minds.

Don't keep your deadline to yourself. Tell your readers when you plan to have your book completed. They will keep you on target by always asking, "How's the book coming? You almost done?"

Social Media for Authors--Workshop 2 Facilitated by Versandra Kennebrew

Utilize group lists on Facebook. Suggested groups for authors may include: fans, book club members, writers, PR professionals, virtual mentors (see description below)

Have Facebook Fan Pages targeted for each area you work in (i.e. fiction, nonfiction, motivation). In the case of our presenters, Versandra Kennebrew,  who is not only an author, but also a massage therapist, life coach, and holistic teacher, she has a Facebook fan page for each of these subjects to better engage her fans of those particular endeavors. The same should be for all authors. Create a fan page for each book you publish, every service you offer. Social media is all about connecting to as many people as possible!


Develop virtual mentors. Thanks to the power of the Internet you don't have to personally know people to learn from them. You can easily Google successful authors you admire and learn by watching. A good number of virtual mentors is 10 but you can have as many as you'd like.

Be a resource to others. It's to your advantage to help others. While you're helping them, in essence you're helping yourself. The more people who know you is greater exposure to the people in THEIR network. See how that works.

Have a target number of  Facebook fans and/or friends, Twitter followers, Blog subscribers. Without goals of where you want to go, you have no sense of growth for your business (your authors, hip, your blog, etc) or no sense of how well you're doing.

Write-In--Hosted by Venus Mason-Theus As much as I loved the workshops I participated in, this event was THE ONE I anticipated the most. It was simply a one hour free write session. Participants could start on a fresh piece or work on a project in progress. Considering I hadn't written anything on my upcoming novel the previous week, I NEEDED this hour. The goal was to write non-stop (no backspacing, no deleting, no minor editing). And what a benefit it was! In that hour, I added nearly 700 words to my novel. Plus, the exercise got my creative juices flowing for the rest of the day.

Needless to say, I had a great time! And I had company. My wonderful daughter was kind enough to man my vendor table while I was bouncing around in and out of workshops and networking, soaking up all of this knowledge! Isn't she adorable???

Yours in Literary Love,

L.A. Jefferson :)

Be True to Yourself

Let me the first to say, there are some extraordinary literary movers and shakers on the scene! They're writing. They're blogging. They're hosting blogtalk radio shows. They seem to make every literary event! They're hosting their own literary events!They've got  fans and followers up the yin yang! And on top of all of that, they still manage to produce a book!!! It's enough to make you do a triple take! For the longest time I have set back, purely awestricken, trying to decipher how these folks were able to do all of this. And more importantly, why wasn't I doing the same thing? Obviously there was something wrong with me. There was no question about it. I had all of the same desires as these other writers and authors. But from the outside looking in, I wasn't putting forth nearly the effort to really make my literary dreams come true.

Did that or does that mean that I don't want it bad enough? Am I just playing writer/author?

Absolutely not!

And neither are you, if you've ever felt that way!

Here's the thing. We're all individuals, with unique talents,personalities, and lives. What one person is strong in, another is weak, and vice versa. We go wrong when we try to immulate others especially when you don't know the ins and outs of how folks are doing what they're doing. For example, that author who is at every literary event may not have any children with evening or weekend activities. Perhaps, their children are older, less needy. Maybe that person who wrote their book in six months spent a year structuring their story from start to finish, which makes the writing part easy. You see, people often don't share with you (until you ask in some cases) how they're accomplishing what they're managing to accomplish. Some people like you to look at them in blind fascination. I say, ASK! Remember, the only stupid question is the one not asked. But I'll be the first to tell you that you will run yourself stark raving mad trying to be what someone else is. Even worse, you NEVER will be anyway! As a writer, aspiring author, or novice author you have to carve out your own path, you own way, on your own terms. In the end, you'll be more the wiser and more successful!

Internet Marketing Lesson

Yesterday I was listening to the Michigan Literary Network Blogtalk radio. Admittedly, I don't do this often enough considering the show airs every Wednesday. Anyway, yesterday was a great day to tune in because the topic of discussion is my WEAKEST LINK--marketing & promotion. Penny Sansivieri was one of the guest. She's the author of Red Hot Internet Marketing which I'd never heard of but after hearing how this is a must have for EVERY writer/author I quickly ordered it off the Internet. I should have it in a couple of days and I can't wait!

As far as marketing goes I'm going in the right direction just at a snails pace. I blog, as you can see. I have a website that I hope you've visited :) I'm on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. I'm a member of a gazillion Yahoo groups. All of this stuff is what I've learned that writers need to grow their readership and keep them engaged. Well I have them but I've been kind of laxed with putting them to work so here's what I've done in the last couple of weeks:

1. Created a fanpage on Facebook for my book Unfinished Business.
2. Created an author page for Facebook.
3. Creating a reader & writer newsletter. I actually created one a few years ago but I dropped the ball with keeping it going and pushing it towards my audience.

Coming up next will be the book trailer of Unfinished Business. Stay tuned!

Martini's and Manuscripts: The After Glow

Martini's and Manuscripts was a success! The Renaissance Club was the perfect spot for the event, allowing for a night filled with intimate networking opportunity. While I didn't make any sales, I learned a lot. Here's a few things that I took from the experience:

1.) Networking is not chatting with the people you already are acquainted with. It's okay to mingle with familiar faces, but the whole purpose is to meet and expose yourself to people you don't know and, most importantly, people you want to know you.

2.) Be prepared for the unexpected. The featured author at the event had two meetings prior to the event. At no time was it said that there would be opportunity to introduce ourselves and read a selected passage from our books. Perhaps I should have expected this or at least been prepared, but like I said, this was my first event as a featured author. So when the time came, I hate to say I choked. Since publishing, I haven't read any parts of my book aloud and I was nervous about fumbling and getting choked up with a coughing episode. I won't harp over spilled milk, but needless to say until my next event I'll be practicing and I'll never let that kind of opportunity pass me by again.

3) Follow up with all contacts. Luckily this is one of my strong points. One aspiring writer and I engaged in an intriguing conversation about an upcoming project of mine on marriage and divorce. He's putting together an online critique group so I signed up. Well, this morning I confirmed him as a friend on Facebook. I also invited another writer friend of mine to complete our group. I made another contact with a woman, not interested in writing, but is an avid reader. She loves reading and offered her services of critiquing my work. Not sure if she charges a fee, but that gives me a reason to get in touch with her and tell her how great it was meeting her. I'll be touching base with her this evening. It's important not to wait too long, so people don't forget about you :)

4) Always take pictures. In this social networking & visual society we're operating in, pictures speak volumes to anything you're involved in. If you want people to get to know you, posting pictures is a great way. Not to mention the memories they create. I didn't have my own camera, but I was in quite a few pictures, which I'm sure will be on Facebook soon and I'll be sure to tag myself. But at the next event, I'll be sure to have my own camera.

With all this said, I'm eagerly awaiting the next networking opportunity. Details below:

What: Motown Writers Network Annual Literary Meet & Greet
When:Saturday, August 8 11:00AM- 2:00PM
Where: Barnes & Nobles Bookstore on E. Warren, Detroit, MI

Hope to see you there.

Til Later,

L.A. Jefferson