Madhuri Pavamani's Blog

I’m sure you know what a 777 Challenge is because you’ve probably read a ton of them. Go to the 7th page of your current work-in-progress and post the first seven sentences.

I was tagged to do this one ages ago by my friend Kayti Nika Raet, author of the fabulous Outsider Chronicles, and promised myself to do it but it was April and April is National Poetry Month and I was posting a poem a day for thirty days and the rest is history.

So almost thirty days later, my 777 is from my current WIP, book one of The Keeper Series, DUTCH. And for those of y’all who don’t know, The Keeper Series is a dark erotic romance being published by SWERVE, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press, in 2017.

The quick and dirty on DUTCH:

Dutch Mathew is a lethal killer for The Gate.

Juma Landry has nine lives.

He is tasked with ending each and every one of them.

She isn’t going to make that easy.

And now the 777 on DUTCH:

“Also, no kissing. I know my lips look like they’re made for kissing, but that isn’t going to happen. My lips will not meet yours, now or ever, so push that idea out of your head. Nothing about ‘I am going to fuck you’ implies I’m also going to kiss you. Nothing. Not one fucking thing. So stop gazing longingly at my mouth, gorgeous, because there is no way in hell my tongue is going down your throat. None whatsoever.”

GAH.

Dutch is a motherfucking bastard and I love him.

Madly.

Get ready, folks – The Keepers are coming…

Wanted white-girl thighs

vomited up my teen-worth

yet thin eluded

Cigarette skinny

no hips no thighs but still strove

for that model look

Curves with a booty

forties and sexy with smiles

finally self love

My #WednesdayFreeWrite series is based on what I write during the 10 minutes allotted my writing group’s Wednesday Prompt. As always, these pieces are works of fiction, erupting from my incredibly over-active imagination. They are unedited and unscripted, super loose and probably my favorite ten minutes of the week. They are perfect in their imperfections and I hope you enjoy.

The twine that joins us

is taut tense

fraught with cruel impossibility

as if Fate became bored

with her daily fuckery

and cast us in her crosshairs

what was once calm

cool and collected

is now anything but

I know not what to do

with the reality of you

unattainable and yet

you are my perfection

to surely become

my life’s greatest irony

my one brutal heartbreak

If that is to be our truth

then break me lover

carve your initials on my soul

burn your name into my skin

kiss me into oblivion

shatter my everything

as I shall rise again

battered

bruised

and so fucking alive

The #Poesia pieces on this blog and Write Bitches are works of fiction, erupting from my incredibly over-active imagination. They are slightly edited, totally unscripted, spontaneous, super loose, and probably some of my favorite works. They are perfect in their imperfections and I hope you enjoy.

she sucked in her belly

and wished her thighs

were smaller

breasts a little perkier

arms more shapely

he studied her

in quiet stupefaction

awed by her curves

her hollows

her everything

You are a work of art

he kissed into her skin

she smiled

relaxed and

felt beautiful

The #Poesia pieces on this blog and Write Bitches are works of fiction, erupting from my incredibly over-active imagination. They are slightly edited, totally unscripted, spontaneous, super loose, and probably some of my favorite works. They are perfect in their imperfections and I hope you enjoy.

*thanks for this gem, Shannon – xx

If you’ve been following my blog, then you know I don’t write to music, and not because I don’t love music but because I love it a little too much.

It seeps into my bones, moves through my blood, and gets my booty shaking without me even realizing I’m in motion. And even though I once wrote a death scene to some Mozart, and I’ve been known to indulge in some bhangra here and there, for the most part, while writing I keep the speakers turned low.

[An interesting writing quirk – I can write entire novels with the television on, but you put on some music and shit, you’re lucky to get a paragraph out of me.]

That does not mean music doesn’t play a part in my books and characters – of course, it does – I just wrote about Rihanna and her ANTI album and how it is so JUMA. Every last word of it. And how it inspired me to get back to my words and stories and oh god, I need to stop now lest I devolve into another love letter to Rihanna, because like I mentioned in the original love letter, I kind of have a Rihanna problem.

Instead let me get chatty about some other music. Music that for one reason or another, feels so very Dutch and Juma – dark, sexy, lust-filled gorgeousness – a playlist of sorts, organized in no particular order besides a little pleasure for your ear drums. When I hear these songs, I have to stop and listen and let them move through me, really groove me, slow and seductive-like, just as D+J demand.

Take a peek, maybe have a listen, and get ready – The Keepers Are Coming Spring 2017

In A Sentimental Mood, John Coltrane

Moorni “Balle Balle”, Panjabi MC

Way Down We Go, Kaleo

Electric Relaxation, Tribe Called Quest

Tennessee Whiskey, Chris Stapleton

I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl, Nina Simone

Tearing Me Up, Bob Moses

Wet Dreamz, J Cole

Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene, Hozier

Paper Planes, MIA

Really Love, D’Angelo

Push and Shove, No Doubt

Sound & Color, Alabama Shakes

Who Did That To You, John Legend

Skinny Love, Bon Iver

Dearly Departed, Shakey Graves

Crash Push, Robi Draco Rosa

You are the Best Thing, Ray LaMontagne

Since I Seen’t You, Anthony Hamilton

Jackie and Wilson, Hozier

Chaiyya Chaiyya, King Khan and Malaika Arora

I’m Your Man, Leonard Cohen

Hope you enjoyed this musical interlude inspired by Dutch and Juma and sex and love and darkness and death – I’m sure I’ll be adding to it as I continue writing the trilogy.

Stay tuned…

Thirty days

of poetry

I promised you

I promised me

Twenty-nine days

came and went

writing

posting

phew! I’m spent

I woke up Saturday

and thought oh my!

the month is over

I want to cry

A poem a day

is so much fun

exercising the mind

rolling the tongue

But then something

happened yesterday

I somehow forgot

to post away

I played outside

I built a tent

and day number thirty

came and went

I’m embarrassed

I’m mad

how could I be so forgetful

I promised a poem a day

now I’m utterly regretful

But then I look back

on what a month I’ve had

I re-read my twenty-nine days

and I’m not so sad

National Poetry Month

has been a success

and even if I missed day thirty

I certainly gave the other twenty-nine

my very best

Today’s the first of May

you’ll still find me writing

and laughing and skipping

and doing all things exciting

Rejoice good folk

April 2016 was a blast

and fear not

don’t dismay

for April 2017

will be here real fast

When we’ll do it again

so until then

be magic

read poetry

have sex

and by all means

avoid anything tragic

HAPPY NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!!

April was National Poetry Month and to celebrate – inspired by that badass word warrior Jason Reynolds and my writing promptress Jena Schwartz – I posted a poem every day except Saturday, April 30th. This is my explanation, my thirtieth day of poetry, one day late. These pieces won’t be perfect, they never are, but they’ll be here, every day of April (and one day of May). I hope you stop by and enjoy the words and maybe even feel moved to share some of your own.

in that funky smooth way

Mos Def has with a rhyme

say my name say my name

hey MA

those boys call out every morning

like they’re getting a response

to their question

statement

whatever

DHU-ranged

deranged

that’s what they must be

if they think that shit’s

gonna work on the girls

any girls

me

they need to grow up

learn to be men

car-RI themselves

with some charm and swagger

make it so us girls

don’t have to roll our eyes every

time we pass

MADHURI

say my name say my name

[and make it sound

like Mos would

all sexy and grown]

or else little boy

stfu

April is National Poetry Month and to celebrate – inspired by that badass word warrior Jason Reynolds and my writing promptress Jena Schwartz – I’m going to post a poem every day. These pieces won’t be perfect, they never are, but they’ll be here, every day of April. I hope you stop by and enjoy the words and maybe even feel moved to share some of your own.