Liar, Liar! Book on Fire!

Unintentionally, I was almost a liar. The penalty would have been for Hampton University graduates everywhere to set my book on fire and call me a lazy, fraudulent author. Oh, the shame!

Let me explain: at the conclusion of my last post, I included an excerpt from the beginning of Chapter 5 that introduced us to the final main character: Psycholoogist, Dr Jillian Atford. The paragraph I quoted did not specifically acknowledge that she was a ‘shrink,’ but I had mentioned it in the past, and fully trusted that my royal followers studied every word I said as if they were preparing for their SAT’s. However, for those that might be new to JJE (and I welcome you with open online arms), I had planned on also including the next paragraph, which delves into the details of Dr Atford’s education and career up until that point. You’re probably wondering what happened to that mysterious paragraph. Calm down, I’m getting there. Geez…

What happened was this: I had written that Jillian received her Bachelor’s in Psychology at Hampton University, then returned there later to complete her Master’s and Doctorate in the same subject. Small problem: Hampton doesn’t have a graduate or doctorate program in Psych. Oops!

My only guess is the same Universal power that helped me name a character last week (see this previous post to learn of my recent working relationship with the Universe), also provided me with a hunch that encouraged me to visit Hampton’s list of degree programs. So now I have to rewrite a small chunk of Jillian’s life. No biggie.

So, before I scurry off and fix that inconvenient snafu (and add the dialogue to the chapter I’m currently working on), here’s a bulleted summary of events from Chapters 1-5!

• Lyla Kyle, an accomplished artist, goes on a date…and lures him to her “studio,” a self-storage unit. She kills him with a shot of succinyl choline to the nape of his neck. She also extracts a syringe-full of his blood.
• Overly zealous Officer Jason Brighthouse and his cynical partner, Byron Blakely, are called to the scene where Lyla’s victim has been dumped. The Medical Examiner can find no obvious cause of death.
• Lyla awakens from a terrifying nightmare about the day she discovered her mother’s dead body ten years prior. She then mixes her victim’s blood into a cannister of red paint, and completes her latest “trophy” painting. Later, she visits her “studio” at the self storage facility and stores the painting in a trunk with the others.
• Lyla heads to her appointment with psychologist, Jillian Atford (who apparantly did NOT get her master’s and doctorate degrees from Hampton University, Grrr).
• Lyla has only had a few previous sessions with Jillian, and she had always remained standoffish. This time Jillian presses her with more personal questions and Lyla storms out mid-session. Jillian is bewildered, not only by Lyla’s odd behavior, but also because she seems extremely familiar to and Jillian can’t place her finger on it.

Engrossing? I hope so.