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“They each squeezed a small bit of paint on their palettes,
picked up a brush and started to paint, busily adding
strokes of bold yellow and green paint to their canvasses.
That’s when it happened: something magical
that changed Violet and Victor’s life forever.”
The Secret of Dark Mountain

 

How hard work and planning can help you get a full manuscript request

by Sirish on May 5, 2011

Holy smokes!  It happened.  I was ecstatic to get my first full manuscript request from a top agent about 10 days ago for my lower middle-grade chapter book, The Secret of Dark Mountain. After receiving many rejections including one that was as eloquent as “No thank you”, I wondered if my book was doomed. When I heard the email chime on my iPhone, I assumed that it was most likely Amazon telling me that my “article had shipped” or perhaps it was yet another meaningless Twitterbot who, in its e-wisdom, had decided to follow my tweets (@SirishPrabhu – shameless plug). [...]

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Florenthian Diamonds

by Sirish on April 19, 2011

Florenthia is an incredible world filled with strange creatures and surprises.  Violet and Victor are getting to know this first hand in The Secret of Dark Mountain. In an upcoming adventure, they’ll experience the famous Florenthian Diamond–a sweet treat with coconut and nuts.  Victor loved it so much, that Violet brought back the recipe for Grandma.  I hope you enjoy the magnificent Florenthian Diamond as it is a royal treat only served on special occasions. Florenthian Diamonds 0.5 cup butter or margarine, melted 1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs 1 (14 ounce) can of sweetened condensed milk 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels [...]

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The Grammy for best technology song goes to…

by Sirish on April 13, 2011

Irrespective of what type of writing you do, technology is one of the most important tools used on a daily basis.  Am I right?  You strategically select RSS feeds; monitor your Twitter account like a hawk (pun intended!); you anxiously check your Facebook fansite to see  how many new “likes” you have; and you wonder how the person in Horneytown, North Carolina (real town, no joke), found your website– by the way, thanks Google analytics! I started to wonder why, in these tech-rich days, more songs aren’t dedicated to something we use so much–technology.  We love it.  We hate it. [...]

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Simone de Beauvoir: Twitterer and Blogger?

by Sirish on April 10, 2011

One of my favorite authors is Simone de Beauvoir.  I read her book Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter as a teenager and it left a lasting impression.  Her descriptions of France and their bohemian lifestyle are simply unforgettable and, if you haven’t read it, I strongly recommend you do.  I couldn’t help but think of de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre and their gaggle of friends as my wife and I honeymooned in Paris and Provence this past fall. De Beauvoir was a tour-de-force when it came to writing and philosophy.  Her writing was ahead of her time and I believe she was [...]

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