Madhuri Pavamani's Blog, page 50

Pecan Pie

Full disclosure right off the bat: I am a HORRIBLE baker. Most everything I bake comes out  too hard or too dense or too crispy on the outside, raw on the inside. My biscuits could be used as weapons, my banana bread has its good moments, but mostly bad, and my cookies only taste right when pre-made by the good folks at Nestle.

But my pecan pie, now that is another story.

I do not play with pecan pie. And trust when I say, mine is a culinary masterpiece, legions above the rest.

I think the only other pie that can give me a run for my money is Momofuku Milk Bar’s Crack Pie. David Chang might disagree, but I’m willing to take him on, pie-to-pie.

Whenever Henry’s office has some sort of celebratory potluck, his coworkers all ask that he bring one of my pies. He says they’ve been known to randomly mention my pie in the middle of a conversation with him. My stepdaughter is addicted to it. And a friend just messaged me on Facebook, saying she woke up thinking of my pie.

It’s really that good.

I bring this up because a colleague at work reminded me yesterday that I still owe him a pie. I promised him one last year, then hurricane Sandy hit and the rest is history. So I’m going to fulfill last year’s promise this year and bake him a pie. I’m also going to bake pies for my assistant at work, two of my friends and for my neighbor’s Friendsgiving festivities next weekend.

I’m thinking right about now you wish we were good friends so I’d bake one for you, too.

“Uh huh, this is my shit. All the girls stomp your feet like this.” – Gwen Stefani

Happy

This week at work was brutal. My case has morphed into a monster with twenty arms, all moving at the same time, I have about 60 people working for me, three document productions running at the same time and meetings every time I turn around, all culminating in a request yesterday from a colleague that I improve certain aspects of my performance.

To call it a shit week would be an understatement of epic proportion.

Then yesterday around 4:45 I watched this video from Pharrell and no lie, I forgot everything, all the shit and stress and criticism and lost myself in the good vibes of “Happy”, so much so that I literally danced around my office.

At that moment, right then and there, I needed that song…badly.

I love me some little skateboard P.

First Interview

Today I was the featured author on Shonda Brock’s The Paranormal Blog for her post, Paranormal Wednesday. It was my first interview ever and to say I was psyched would be the understatement of the month.

 (this is my excited face)

It was so nice of Ms. Brock to include me in her blog and I can only hope to return the favor some time. In this field of indie authors, it’s crucial to have the support of your fellow writers so Ms. Brock’s gesture will not be forgotten.

Here’s a snippet of the interview:

If you could be any character in fiction, who would you be? Oh my goodness, this is incredibly difficult to answer as I have so many “favorite” books, so to make it a tad easier, I’m going to stick with the fantasy genre, which of course, leads to my favorite girl, Hermione Granger. She never needed a boy to explain anything to her.

You can read the full post and interview here: http://www.shondabrock.com/#/blog/4559736266/Author-Madhuri-Blaylock-on-Paranormal-Wednesday/7004044

Again, a big shout out to Shonda Brock and her blog, The Paranormal Blog. You can find her at http://www.shondabrock.com/#/blog/4559736266.

 

“Illest pit bull in a skirt.” – Eve

A Broken Girl with Haunted Eyes is the Only Hope

BOOK ONE: THE GIRL

As you might already know, I’ve been developing a fantasy/YA trilogy called The Sanctum for much of 2013 (I feel like these days, I come with laptop attached) and after tons of research and many chats with folks in the publishing industry, have decided to launch the first book in the trilogy, The Girl, on my own via Amazon, Nook and iBooks (if I can ever figure out Apple’s insane uploading steps!).

The advice I’ve gotten from people within publishing is that the current state of the market prefers that a new author come to a publishing house with a social media following, a fan base that is loyal and secure. Most new authors use Facebook, Twitter, their own blogs and sites like Goodreads to create and nurture this fan base and sell their books, making them quite attractive to a publishing house since they’ve already established their own social media footprint.

To that end, I’ve created this blog, a Facebook page, a Goodreads page, an Amazon Author’s page and a Twitter feed, along with launching book one and researching and writing book two.

In order to grow my social media network, I’m reaching out to all of my friends and family and asking that you spread the word about the trilogy and book one, The Girl.

If you are on Facebook or via email, please share my page with your friends and the link to the book on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Book-One-The-Girl-Sanctum-ebook/dp/B00GLGOP2G/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1384229075&sr=8-3&keywords=madhuri+blaylock.

The book is only $0.99 so is a great bargain for anyone who likes to read. And seriously, what else can you buy these days for under a dollar?!

The following is some information on Book One: The Girl to read and share with your friends:

The Sanctum, an all-powerful governing body founded by ten families, entrusted to maintain the peace amongst Magicals and ensure the ignorance of humans, has been corrupted by greed and savagery for generations, but is all Wyatt Clayworth has ever known.

A descendant of one of the Founding Families and Class A Warrior, Wyatt has always believed in the ways of The Sanctum, having grown up in the system and thrived under their leadership. A golden boy, renowned for his prowess and skill in battle, Wyatt has never questioned a mission or kill order until the night he crosses paths with a brutally injured and mysterious girl.

Scouring Central Park with his best friend and fellow Class A Warrior, Ryker Morrison, for the hybrid demon prophesied to bring an end to The Sanctum and destroy the world for Magicals and humans alike, Wyatt instead finds Dev and his whole life turns upside down. Told he was hunting a killing machine, hellbent on wreaking havoc and destruction upon all it encounters, Wyatt instead sees nothing more than a broken girl with haunted eyes and a bit of a death wish.

All Dev wants is for Wyatt to either kill her or leave her alone. When he refuses to do either, she finds herself being pulled into his life while being hunted by warriors everywhere she turns. Drawn to one another for reasons they cannot begin to explain to themselves, much less anyone else, Wyatt is determined to protect Dev and help her realize her mission to avenge the deaths of her family at the hands of The Sanctum. His abdication of his duties and his outright rejection of his responsibilities to The Sanctum create a maelstrom of events beyond anyone’s imagination.

Below are the links for my blog, pages and Twitter feed:

madhuriblaylock@wordpress.com

Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/thesanctumtrilogy

Twitter at @madhuriblaylock

I would be so appreciative if you could share this information with your social network (via Facebook, email, Twitter, etc) and hopefully they’ll share it with their friends and so on and so forth. Liking the Facebook page and leaving reviews on Amazon is also super helpful.

Getting this thing off the ground is impossible without my friends so let me just say thanks so very much, even if all you do is read this message.

xxoo,

Madhuri

Five Stars!

Amazon five-star review for The Girl:

Ms. Blaylock’s “The Girl” proves itself to be an intriguing roller coaster ride into the inner workings of a distopic society governed by The Sanctum, a elite body willed by the gods to regulate all “magicals”. As prophetized by the gods, a savior of sorts shall come…. “The Girl”. With the coming of the Girl, The Sanctum’s inner workings are turned inside out, revealing an age old secret that could threaten those who have deceptively kept it, and push those who believe in the truth of the prophecy to rediscover their own personal convictions and join together for the sake of the Girl. Being not only a saga between good and evil, and “magicals” and man, “The Girl” is a story of young love, personal rediscovery, and acceptance of the unknown. With likable and some very dislikable characters that will have you rooting for sides, and a fluid writing style that keeps you pining for more, Ms. Blaylock’s first book in The Sanctum series is sure to keep you up all night reading. I am truly impressed with her style and story-telling, and cannot wait to see what she has in store for the next book!

Thank you so, so much, Arshalous Eich.

First Review

Just got my first review on Amazon and full disclosure, it’s from a close friend, but who cares?! I’m psyched.

Geeking out all over my office.

Here’s what “Honest Abe” had to say about Book One: The Girl:

Did you like the “Hunger Games” series? Are you a fan of YA literature and the fantasy genre? If so, check out this series, “The Sanctum,” developed by my talented and oh-so-cool friend, Madhuri Blaylock. I’m one of the lucky few to have been given an advance copy of Book 1, and let’s just say that I devoured it in three days flat. I cannot wait for Book 2! Check out her blog, http://madhuriblaylock.wordpress.com, follow along, read the excerpts, and wait for its official release. You will not be disappointed.

And so it begins…

Grammarly, I Kind of Love You

I found this site called Grammarly and have rather quickly developed a hard core crush.

It appeals to all of my nerdy, wordy tendencies as it spews out rules of grammar and punctuation while reviewing my manuscript word-for-word. It also appeals to my Type A tendencies (which admittedly, there are not tons of them) as I watch it methodically pick through my writing with precision and perfection, finding the most mundane mistakes and correcting them.

It’s the perfect proofreader: fast and impersonal and reasonably priced, which is key when you’re getting something off the ground on your own.

I love it.

If I could marry it, I probably would.

The Football Quandary

To play or not to play, that is the question. And if Dash was older, this would probably be a serious argument in our house, with me coming down on the side of not playing. I’m pretty sure H would agree with me. But even if he didn’t, I would just argue the issue so loudly that he would give in just to get me to shut up. Either way, little Dash with the killer arm is not playing football. Baseball, football, lacrosse? Sure. Football? Uh-uh. Not happening.

Which leads to another discussion we’ve been having since hearing the news of Tony Dorsett’s CTE diagnosis: how much longer is the NFL going to be around?

H seems to think it’s functioning on borrowed time, and that’s coming from a diehard fan. He believes people are smart and are going to start walking away from the game, based on a multitude of factors including the felonies, the bullying, the depression. He also thinks kids will stop playing, destroying the level of competition and the quality of the game. I disagree. I don’t think the fans really care about the off-the-field issues so long as the game is good. And the kids will keep playing so long as folks need money and the potential to snag a pro contract is dangled out there.

Simply stated, I don’t think the league is going anywhere any time soon. People love their football. I’m from down south–trust me when I say, this game runs deep for folks. I’ve never understood the passion for it, but it’s out there and I don’t think it’s going away any time soon, no matter the countless DUIs, domestic violence disputes, suicides or diagnoses of CTE.

Putting it another way, H is wrong and I’m right.

Two lawyers on opposing sides of a debate? This could seriously go on forever in our house. I’m not kidding. We lawyers are verbose and righteous folk, and we hate being wrong about anything.

 

“They took my rings, they took my rolex, I looked at the brotha said “Damn, what’s next?” – Warren G

Sneak Peek: Jools Clayworth

Jools Clayworth is Wyatt’s younger sister, a renowned warrior in her own right, but forever caught in her brother’s shadow. Gorgeous and badass with some enfant terrible moments thrown in for good measure, Jools is a force of nature unto herself.

Jools Clayworth was seventeen, tough as nails and drop dead gorgeous. The spitting image of her brother, she was all dark hair and green eyes, tall, lean and one hundred percent muscle. Unlike her brother, she was outspoken, difficult and needed to be the center of attention at all times. She went into every situation believing guys only wanted to get into her pants and girls only wanted to get rid of her. To say she walked around with a chip on her shoulder was a bit of an understatement.

 

Sneak Peek: Wyatt Clayworth

This week I’ve decided to share snippets about each of the main characters in The Sanctum trilogy, leading up to the release of Book One: The Girl.

I’m going to start with Wyatt Clayworth, one of the main characters in the trilogy, a Class A Warrior for The Sanctum and a descendant of one its Founding Families. His whole life, he has know nothing but The Sanctum and over the years, the reality of that life has taken its toll:

“Do not be fooled by Wyatt’s stoicism, Dev,” Josiah finally spoke. “He is absolutely tortured by what he’s had to do over the years, but he loves Ryker like nothing else and has done what needed to be done to protect his friend. Since they met, Ryker has always come first for Wyatt and he would rather burden himself than allow Ryker to suffer the consequences of disobeying or ignoring an order.

“Ryker would like to leave The Sanctum and but for Wyatt, he would have done so a while ago, via death squad,” Josiah explained with a shudder.

“I had no idea,” Dev whispered.

“Of course you didn’t,” Josiah smiled kindly at her, “how could you? We all have our crosses to bear and pain to carry. Some of us, like Ryker, do it loudly and others, like Wyatt, carry on in silence. Neither way is better although given my druthers, I rather like Ryker’s method.

“My son goes through his life with a tremendous weight on his heart and I ache for him each and every day,” Josiah stated sadly. “He is so very serious. There was a time he was full of laughter and light, but I fear that’s been killed out of him.