Madhuri Pavamani's Blog, page 37

Wyatt Clayworth: A Character Interview with Long And Short Reviews

Today THE BOY blog tour makes a stop at the blog Long and Short Reviews so they can sit down with Wyatt Clayworth and chat a bit.

 

This should be interesting since Wyatt is anything but chatty; I wish them well in their endeavors.

Here’s a snippet of how things went down:

Full name: WYATT FINN CLAYWORTH

Age: 20

Occupation: Ramyan Warrior

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Protecting those I love from harm

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

I’m no longer certain there is a state of perfection, but if there is, it somehow involves Dev

What is your current state of mind?

Conflicted. I’m happier than I ever thought possible, on so many different levels, but there is a constant undercurrent of anxiety running through my entire life, a concern for everyone I love.

What is your favorite occupation?

I’ve only ever known the life of a warrior

What is your most treasured possession?

My blade, Odara

What or who is the greatest love of your life?

Dev

What is your favorite journey?

Crossing the plains of death to return to Dev. It was absolutely brutal and so very worth it.

What is your most marked characteristic?

My “new” eyes

When and where were you the happiest?

The day at the lake with Dev. That’s all I’m going to say.

What is it that you most dislike?

This will sound strange coming from a trained killer, but I hate violence. Abhor it.

What is your greatest fear?

Losing love.

What is your greatest extravagance?

Lying in bed with Dev, pretending we have no cares or concerns

Which living person do you most despise?

The so-called head of The Sanctum, Carter Breslin, with his wife, Ava, a close second.

What is your greatest regret?

I think at one point in time, I would say not disarming Max that night in the park, but that’s no longer my answer. My greatest regret is the years I spent blindly fighting for The Sanctum.

Which talent would you most like to have?

I would love to be able to paint like the Human masters Picasso and Van Gogh

Where would you like to live?

Wherever Dev wants to live. And where I can keep her safe, but do NOT tell her I said that. It will totally piss her off and I’ll never hear the end of it.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

Loss of love and affection. Trust me, there is nothing worse.

 

To read the rest of Wyatt’s interview, and to peek at an excerpt from THE BOY and enter to win a $25 Amazon giftcard, click here

or here

or even here.

Just click already…

HOLLA!

Thursday Thoughts

What’s In A Nickname?

When we first moved to Georgia, my parents enrolled me in a private preschool. Immediately upon hearing my name, the director turned to my mom and asked whether she could call me Robin instead.

With a withering glance, my mom shot that shit down fast, but it was a forewarning of sorts. Folks would do their best to change my name and I would do my best to make sure they didn’t. But somewhere along the line, one name stuck and even though I despised it, I wasn’t able to shake it until college.

Mod.

God, I hated that name. With a fucking passion.

It still makes my skin crawl when I hear it.

I have a very distinct memory of being on the playground in fifth grade, doing flips on the metal bars with Alison, and Rich teasing us with a laugh, “Mod, Al wants your bod” or maybe it was “Al, Mod wants your bod”. The fine details are irrelevant – what counts is that stupid name.

I’m not saying Rich gave me that nickname – I honestly don’t think he did – but that’s my first memory of it.

And I couldn’t tell you if Rich and I ever spoke to one another again after fifth grade (I don’t think we did – he was popular, I so was not) but holy shit, did that name stick. By high school, I think all of my close friends – Noelle, Mikki, Stephanie, Joe, Chris, Debbie, Rebecca, Angie, Mike, Dave, Chris C, Cindy, Jenny – used it.

Every single one of them.

Ugh.

One of the great things about college is getting to reinvent yourself, finding a truer version of yourself.

And escaping a nickname you hate.

Which is exactly what I managed to do during my four years at Barnard. By the end of college, I think the only person who called me Mod was my dad. And you know you can’t tell your dad to cut it out.

Today, there are only three people who still use Mod: my dad, my girlfriend, Priya, and my brother-in-law. Three is much better than damn near everyone you know.

Interestingly enough, earlier this year my friend, Tim, started calling me Madge. He said I just seem like a Madge.

Then on The Vineyard, everyone we vacationed with started calling me Madge, so much so that the name seems to have stuck.

And you know what? I kind of love it.

It sounds a little badass.

I was never a Mod, but damn if I don’t feel 100% a Madge.

Holla, bitches.

 

THE BOY – An Interview With Lisa Haselton

Today’s THE BOY blog tour stop is an interview with blogger and author Lisa Haselton.

Here’s a teaser:

Welcome, Madhuri. 

What inspired you to write [THE BOY]?

Since this is the second book in a trilogy, and I’m determined to complete the trilogy, one inspiration was my sheer stubborness. But aside from that, I wanted to get Wyatt’s story down on paper. The Girl, which is the first book in the trilogy, was all about my queen of badassery, Dev. She, and The Sanctum Trilogy, sprang from my desire to meet a girl that was hardcore and going to save the world, but also knew it. She didn’t need a boy telling her how great she was or to explain her powers – she knew them already. With The Boy, I really wanted Wyatt to get a chance to jump off the paper and explore his evolution as Dev’s partner a bit more, perhaps making people to love him as much as I do.

What exciting story are you working on next?

Currently, I’m wrapped up in writing Book III, the finale of The Sanctum. It’s both amazing and bittersweet, as I will be so sad to say so long to these characters. I’m going to have to think of a good Sanctum tattoo so I can keep them with me forever.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I’m just now getting there. My head is starting to wrap itself around the idea that I’m actually kind of good at this writing schtick and everyday, a little bit of the lawyer in me is shed. It’s quite liberating and inspiring.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When? Ha! Here’s the timeline I remember: zoologist, marine biologist, large animal veterinarian, horse ranch owner, writer, actress, lounge singer, actress, writer.

To read the rest of the interview, check out an excerpt from THE BOY and enter the giveaway to win a $25 Amazon gift card, visit Lisa’s blog by clicking here or here.

HOLLA.

THE BOY Blog Tour Stop at Blood Red Shadows

Today I’m making a tour stop for THE BOY at the blog Blood Red Shadows. Here’s a bit of my tour stop below, but for the full post, make sure to stop by Blood Red Shadows and give a holler.

 

Madhuri Blaylock’s The Boy

July 6, 2014 authors, marketing, people, poetry, Publishing, science fiction / fantasy,WritingInner Sanctum, Madhuri Blaylock, Night to Dawn, The Boy, The Girl

Where did you get your ideas for The  Sanctum : The Boy?  Is there a 3rd book coming?

Let’s start by answering the easy stuff first. Yes, there is a third and final book in The Sanctum Trilogy currently in the works. I published The Boy in mid May of this year and afterwards, took off a couple of weeks to read some other people’s work, blog and just kind of take a deep breath and exhale for a second. The Boy was emotionally taxing for me to write – so much of it makes me sad – so it was good to take a little time for myself and unwind a bit. But now I am back at it and hope to have the trilogy complete by the end of this year.

Now to tackle how I came up with the idea for The Sanctum Trilogy.

I started thinking about The Sanctum a few years ago.

I had been reading a lot of fantasy and paranormal fiction and although I loved every minute of it, I found myself oftentimes getting quite frustrated with the female characters. They possessed amazing powers and were many times expected to save the world, but consistently lacked self-awareness. Frustratingly, these same badass girls often had to learn of their capabilities from someone else, that someone else most often being a boy.

So I set about to create a girl who knew quite a lot about herself, at least when it came to her capabilities, and out came Dev.

Then Wyatt, and the rest is history.

I knew I wanted The Sanctum to be a trilogy as it seemed an ideal way to develop and explore the world I created. Book I would tell Dev’s story, Book II would tell Wyatt’s story and Book III would tell their story together.

The Girl introduced readers to the world of The Sanctum and Dev and I was hopeful it would transition smoothly into The Boy, which focuses more on Wyatt’s journey. At the time, I did not know all the details of his journey, but I knew the key aspect around which his life would evolve: The Ramyan.

The Ramyan are a mysterious sect of Magicals who traverse the worlds of both the living and the dead, remaining aloof and beholden to nothing but their own will and desire. They were briefly mentioned in Book I but knew they would play a significant role in Book II and Wyatt’s journey.

I tend to write from a very loose outline, and when I say loose, I mean loose. For book II, I basically noted how the book would begin, end, a few key points I wanted to cover in the story, and then just started writing. It’s not very organized but offers my imagination much freedom to run wild and create characters like Jedda and Pius, neither who were planned, but who play major roles in the plot line.

So I guess this is all a very long way of saying that my ideas for Book II: The Boy initially arose from a desire to create a very self-aware, badass girl and have blossomed, and exploded, from there.

Dev is the inspiration for it all and honestly, I find her to be so very worthy of the honor.

 

The Vineyard 2014 – A Vacation In Pictures

 We drove hours

 

 We Bourne-Bridged it

 We ferried it

  And selfied for joy as the boat left the dock

Our feet returned to familiar ground

 We stopped at Nancy’s for a Dirty Banana and some grub

 We showed our Yankee pride in Red Sox Nation

  We lost ourselves

We ate

And ate some more

And some more

We hit the beach

 We hit the pool

 We jumped for joy

 We smiled

 We laughed

 And looked gangsta (not!)

 

We drank…a lot

 Except for that nasty Cosmo some clown ordered

 We worked but it was all good because look at our desk – it was freaking awesome

 We accepted the fact that certain New Englanders know their way around a biscuit. And then proceeded to indulge in said biscuits each and every morning.

 We balled out. Hard.

We celebrated 44 years – “Obama style”

 We missed Syd the Kid

We got a little old school 

And Bluffed it out 

We played in the sand

 And got some happy, brown feet

We laughed in Hurricane Arthur’s face 

By hitting the Arcade 

 We agonized over the heartbreaking US World Cup defeat

And learned (again) that Tim Howard is a G

We had a resident Skunk Hunter, the one and only, Caroline Grandinetti

 We looked cool as shit

 We scootered

 And biked…er, we intended to bike

We exhausted ourselves with loads of fun and laughter

 And then passed the eff out

We walked 

 

We chilled

And chilled some more 

 We took flight

And deuced it out 

 We were totally cute

 And totally grumpy as the time neared…

To say au revoir to our favorite island

Until next year…

Book II: THE BOY — Blog Tour Kicks Off July 7th

I’m about to kick off my first blog tour to promote Book II: THE BOY and cannot be more excited.

For one, THE BOY is fantastic, if I might say so myself, and I’m excited to introduce it and The Sanctum in to a wider audience. Two, there are loads of interesting interviews. And three, here and there I’m guest blogging on a whole host of topics.

So please stop by and check out the tour, say hello and let me know what you think. I’ll be checking in everyday, answering questions, chatting and the like. It should be loads of fun.

And if you have no interest in the interviews or the guest posts or chatting with me, there is the added incentive of the chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card being offered throughout the tour. Who doesn’t love free money?

Here are the dates – hope you stop in and check out THE BOY.

July 7: Blood Moons and Nightscapes and Blood Red Shadow

July 7 SECOND STOP Tina Donahue Presents

July 8: Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews

July 9: Bunny’s Review

July 9 SECOND STOP Queen of All She Reads PROMO

July 10: Long and Short Reviews

July 11: Diane’s Book Blog

July 14: Room With Books

July 15: Dawn’s Reading Nook

July 16: Writer’s Club of Whittier

July 17: Two Ends of the Pen

July 18: The Cerebral Writer

July 21: Hope. Dreams. Life… Love

July 21 SECOND STOP Books and Other Spells

July 22: Straight from the Library

July 23: Deal Sharing Aunt

July 24: Sexy Adventures Passionate Tales

July 25: Book Suburbia PROMO

July 28: Mismatched Bookends

July 29: It’s Raining Books

July 30: Welcome to My World of Dreams

July 31: Paranormal Romance and Authors That Rock

August 1: Writer Wonderland

Book III: A Snippet

I’m getting ready to kick off a blog tour on Monday with Goddess Fish Promotions, so haven’t been able to do much of my own blogging since I’m so behind on interviews and guest posts.

Procrastination is a bitch, folks.

But it’s my own fault – if I didn’t wait until the last minute to do everything, I might have time to do it all.

[I highly doubt this, but when you procrastinate the way I do, like I'm making it an art form, you have to tell yourself such things.]

To make up for this bad behavior, I’m posting a snippet from what I’ve been working on in Book III – the one thing in my life that doesn’t fall victim to my bad habit.

Enjoy.

Her entire life had been the pursuit of one goal: fulfilling the true prophecy. Even when she did not know the details of her purpose, the full nature of her being, she sensed she fulfilled an ideal, a dream deferred. Dev had always been acutely aware her existence was something shrouded in fear and danger, violence and dread. It was why she learned to wield a blade before she could formulate a complete sentence, and could kill a grown man long before she could outrun him. It was in the hushed glances exchanged between her parents or the sad silences shared with Qi.

The violence of her existence was all she knew.

Until Wyatt.

Of course, she knew love for her parents had loved her dearly. But she also knew their affection was tainted by an ever-present undercurrent of fear and anxiety, a need to constantly look over their shoulders and stay ten steps ahead of The Sanctum.

And the reason she knew this was Wyatt.

Because although she and Wyatt fought and killed side-by-side, fought each other tooth-and-nail during their Ramyan training, and would fight and kill together again sometime soon, there was something so very peaceful and still about him.

He was not scared.

He never looked over his shoulder.

He simply was.

And his love expressed itself in kind.

Fearless.

Calm.

Complete.

It amazed her and brought her to her knees and made her so very thankful to belong to him. For that was the essence of it. She was his, and had been since that night in the park when he came upon her, broken and scared, and he smiled and persisted until she, too, smiled, and relented.

And in that moment, when she relinquished control and gave into him, she experienced it.

The tranquility of his love.

It felt safer than anything her parents and their hundreds of wards and spells had ever provided.

 

Tim Howard Is The Man

But you and all of your friends already know this after watching his epic string of saves from Tuesday’s painful loss.

He. Is. Badass.

And I’m sure you’ve seen all the Tim Howards Saves memes by now, but I couldn’t resist posting this one, as it features two of my favorites: Tim Howard and Ned Stark.

SNORT.

Do Not Fall in Love

mblaylock4:

For those of you who know me well, poetry and I are not friends. Never have been, never will be. However, I read this poem late last night on Christa’s blog and fell in love.

Hard.

Not with poetry itself, but with this one stunning work of wonder, of lyrical majesty, of captivating glory.

It stirs.

It moves me just as wondrously as Maya Angelou’s Phenomenal Woman and is another testament to our beauty, power, and allure.

I could not resist reblogging it – it is simply that beautiful.

Originally posted on My Sweet Delirium:

No te enamores.

Do not fall in love with a woman who reads,

a woman who feels too much,

a woman who writes …

Do not fall in love with a

cultured,

magical,

delusional,

crazy woman.

Do not fall in love with a woman who thinks,

who knows what she knows and also knows how to fly;

a woman confident in herself.

Do not fall for a woman who laughs or cries while making love,

who knows how to convert her flesh into spirit;

much less one that loves poetry (these are the most dangerous),

or who would stay half an hour contemplating a painting

and who doesn’t know how to live without music.

Do not fall in love with a woman who is interested in politics

and who is rebellious and feels immense horror at injustice.

One who likes ball games and soccer

and does not like to…

View original 358 more words