Author Archives: Michelle Garren-Flye

Unknown's avatar

About Michelle Garren-Flye

I am an author of romance, poetry, children's books and graphic novels. I also own a bookstore. My love of the written word runs deep.

SATURDAY LOVE: My current feelings (subject to change) about self-publishing

Posted on by

Whatever else you might say about self-publishing, I’ve never felt so free before!

Today marks the official publication of my book SATURDAY LOVE. It’s my eighth book, my fifth self-published. I’ve gotten much better at this thing over the past couple of years, everything from formatting to editing to cover design is better now. Even my writing is improving with every book, and I say that with no false modesty whatsoever. I can’t read one of my older books without blushing a little, and I wouldn’t want to change that. If I could read them all with unfettered pride, it would mean I was standing still.

But why do I say self-publishing is freeing? Whether it’s a good thing or not (and it’s definitely more work in many ways), I can publish what I want and make my own schedule. Having done it both ways, I thought I’d give you a sample schedule for both traditional and self-publishing.

SELF
Write
Finish book and set aside.
Write something else.
Return to first book, rewrite and set aside.
Contact editor and get quote.
Send book off for editing.
Write.
Get edits back. Lots of great suggestions! Pay editor.
Rewrite and make better.
Set aside.
Write something else.
Pull out book and read over making small changes and edits.
Decide it’s good and set a publishing date.
Write blurb.
Contact a cover artist, tell him/her exactly what you want.
Get back cover and be pleased. Pay cover artist promptly because you want to use them again.
Submit everything to CreateSpace.
Decide to go over one more time. Crap. How did you leave that apostrophe out?
Fix apostrophe and resubmit everything to CreateSpace.
Begin telling friends, posting on FaceBook, Tweeting, etc.
Publication day!

TRADITIONAL:
Submit book.
Wait
Wait
Wait
Wait (begin checking email obsessively)
Wait
Wait (despair of ever hearing back)
Wait
Finally!
Open email with great trepidation to find a refusal.
Break smartphone/computer/etc.
Drink wine.
Resubmit book.
(repeat above process)
Finally!
Open email and rejoice to acceptance.
Wait
Wait
Contact with editor who gives you rough schedule of editing process and publishing schedule and sends you worksheets that will help the art department and blurb writers get a handle on what your story is about.
Complete worksheet and return.
Wait
Wait
Wait
Get first edits.
Despair that there’s still so much wrong with your story.
Get to work.
Complete edits in much less time than is given and return.
Wait
Wait
Wait
Get second round of edits.
Complete edits much faster this time because you and your editor understand each other better.
Return edits.
Wait
Wait
Wait
Final round of edits.
Complete and return.
Wait
Wait
Wait
Copy edits arrive, marked up by two or three additional editors you don’t know.
Crap. There’s still so much wrong! How is this possible.
Fix and return.
Wait
Wait
When will you get to see your cover? What’s up with that? And the blurb?
Wait
Wait
Finally! The cover arrives. The artist is very proud. He/she has a cover they know you are going to love!
It’s not what you’d imagined. But how do you tell him/her that? And it’s not bad, just not what you’d pictured.
Blurb arrives. It’s pretty good. They’ve taken your original idea and spiced it up with some catch words and phrases designed to make readers LOVE the idea of reading your book.
The cover’s really not that far off. And what do you know, anyway? You point out a few small things that could be changed.
The artist replies that those things are set, makes a very minor change and you’re both okay with it.
Wait
Galleys arrive. You read eagerly, certain your book can be nothing but perfect now.
Crap. Who left out that apostrophe? Was it you or one of the copy editors? Is it too late to fix it?
Decide it’s too small to bother editor with.
Decide it’ll bug you forever if you don’t.
Query editor about it and be reassured you’re not being a pest and they’ll fix the apostrophe right away.
Relax.
Wait
Wait
Wait
Get advance copy of your book. Start querying review sites that haven’t already been hit by publisher about reviewing your book.
Wait
Wait
Wait
Publication Day!

In so many ways, the process is the same. The difference is, the only person I have to wait for is myself, really. The editor and cover artist (and I’ve done self-publishing without either) never take long to do their jobs, and because I hire them, I know about how long that will take. So, in the end, I can publish what I want when I want to publish it. But I’m out here more or less alone, except for you guys, my readers.

SATURDAY LOVE is now out there. Feel free to give it some love. And if you’re worried about reading the sequel without reading the first book, DUCKS IN A ROW is free for the Kindle today. Do me a favor and go check it out, then let your friends know, too.

SATURDAY LOVE excerpt:

Posted on by

In just three days, SATURDAY LOVE will be available for Kindle and in paperback for your enjoyment. In the meantime, however, I thought I’d give you a little taste of what Saturday love is like from my heroine Accalia’s point of view:

On Wednesday afternoon, she visited her friend Cyra, who’d recently had a baby. Other than Myron, Cyra was the only childhood friend she’d kept in touch with over the years.

Cyra greeted her enthusiastically at the door, pulling her inside to admire the baby, who slept in a bassinet in the sunny living room. Accalia stood for several minutes studying the tiny peaceful face framed by dark hair. What was it about babies, anyway? The tiniest, most demanding creatures in the world, but mothers would do anything to protect and serve them. She could see it already in Cyra. And if she stood still long enough and looked deep enough into her own heart, she could feel a longing to experience that servitude herself.

“She’s so beautiful, isn’t she?” Cyra nudged her friend and handed her a mug of hot, strong coffee.

“She truly is, Cyra. And you and Pavlos are doing well?” Accalia smiled at her friend.

Cyra beckoned her over to the couch. She sat with a sigh of contentment. “We’re exhausted. But Pavlos is a wonderful father. He gets up with me every night when she cries. I tell him ‘go back to bed, Pavlos, you have to be up early,’ but he does it anyway.” Her expression turned tender. “I married such a wonderful man.”

Accalia thought of Elene’s advice about marriage and friendship. If she hadn’t fallen in love with Will, if she’d given her marriage with Myron a chance, would she end up feeling such tenderness for him after the birth of their first child? When she tried to imagine the development of such feelings, however, her mind turned to Will.

As if she were reading her friend’s mind, Cyra gave her a mischievous smile. “When will you and Myron try the baby thing, anyway?”

Feeling her face grow red, Accalia took a sip of the hot coffee, which unfortunately did nothing to alleviate the heat in her face. She set it aside. “I—we don’t have any plans right now.” Especially since we’re not sleeping together. Loyalty to her friend Myron wouldn’t allow her to make such confessions—even to Cyra—however. She couldn’t risk embarrassing him that way. Still curious, she looked for another way to ask her friend about married life after the first passion had faded. “Now just isn’t the time. I’m returning to America soon. And…I worry. What if things…change?”

“Change?” Cyra snorted and shook her head. “Oh yes, it changes. Pavlos and I—well, once upon a time we couldn’t keep our hands off each other. And little Chloe is the result of that, I guess. I can see why you’d be worried about it.” She grinned, then reached over and took Accalia’s hand. “But even though most nights we’re too exhausted to do anything but fall asleep on the couch, we do it together. And I think if you have that relationship to base your marriage on, it’ll survive even the fatigue of a new baby. Besides, even now there are…moments.” She smiled a tiny private smile, then gave Accalia’s hand a squeeze. “Marriage is work, isn’t it?”

Accalia bit her lip and nodded. It’s work I’m not very good at.

NEW REVIEW! Ducks in a Row still has it!

Posted on by

Ducks_CoverSaturday Love
What a great way to end the old year…especially when I’m kicking off the new one with another book. If you check this page out closely, you’ll see what I’ve been up to besides happy holidaying with my family. Yes, I’m getting ready for the release of SATURDAY LOVE (sequel to DUCKS IN A ROW), which will definitely be available for purchase on January 1, 2014.

And what better way to celebrate the end of the old year than with a FIVE STAR review of DUCKS!? Read below for a bit of what WE’RE JUMPIN BOOKS had to say about DUCKS:

One of the best books I have read this year, very thought provoking…Michelle brings you close to the characters, you can understand their logical, or what seems to be, thinking. This book has so much depth on so many levels. The thought process, and how everything played out was so great! —WE’RE JUMPIN BOOKS

You might want to pick up DUCKS IN A ROW now for only 99 cents on AMAZON…and catch up on the story before it continues in SATURDAY LOVE.

It all began two years ago on a winter afternoon…

Posted on by

Saturday Love Final CoverThis year I will self-publish another book on January 1. I’ve done it for the past two years, and I now think of it as my way of renewing my pledge to keep on keeping on at the writing and publishing thing. But it does have a story…

It was after Christmas, everyone was content, and for once I wasn’t running anywhere or doing anything. That’s when I decided to take the leap into self publishing. I already had two ebooks out (Secrets of the Lotus and Winter Solstice) through Lyrical Press. And I had this third manuscript just kind of hanging out on my computer desktop. (Stephen King calls them “trunk novels”, and the description is pretty apt. Because you don’t know what to do with them, you tuck them away somewhere, but every now and then you open the trunk and have a peek.)

Weeds and Flowers coverThat was how Weeds and Flowers came to be published. Half young adult romance, half coming of age novel, a sprinkling of mystery and a pinch of autobiography, Weeds and Flowers doesn’t fit in any particular genre, but I always knew it was a good story. Even if it is a tough sell. I first published it on New Year’s Day 2012 through Kindle Direct Publishing, although it’s gone through revisions and is now on its third edition (and available in paperback as well as ebook).

Ducks_CoverLast year I found myself in a similar situation. Kids happy, husband happy, everyone content to stay in for an afternoon…and lo and behold, I had another trunk novel just begging to be published. That’s how Ducks in a Row found its way into the published world through the magic of CreateSpace and KDP on New Year’s Day 2013.

This year, I’m doing it again, but I’m doing it on purpose. Saturday Love is the sequel to Ducks in a Row, the story of Will and what happens to him after the events of Ducks. In Saturday Love, you’ll become better acquainted with Will’s loving and lovable family, including his handsome brother Patrick (the one who coins the phrase “Saturday love” to describe the way he feels about his new girlfriend), his younger sister Lisa (who may yet have her own story…) and his beautiful, strong mother Anne, the matriarch of the Hubbard clan. And yes, it’s a romance, so there’s a new lady in Will’s life. You’ll be able to find Saturday Love on Amazon and many other online retailers in paperback and on Amazon for Kindle on January 1, 2014.

What the heck is “Saturday Love”?

Posted on by

Saturday Love Cover

It’s been asked. What the heck do I mean by “Saturday Love”? Is it a once a week thing? A one-night stand? If so, why did I choose that for the title of the sequel to Ducks in a Row? This is, after all, the book that follows the further adventures of Will Hubbard, the man many people was done totally wrong by Cady Summers in Ducks. We want him to have a happy ending, don’t we? So why not call his book “24/7 Love”?

Well, in addition to not sounding like a 24-hour gas station, Saturday love is a feeling that refers to more than a time period. It’s forever love. The kind of love that lets you rest, safe in the knowledge that you’ve reached the prize you were aspiring to. It’s the kind of love that lasts fifty, seventy-five, even a hundred years if it’s called on to do so. And even if there are hard times and difficult passages, Saturday love is still there.

Saturday Love, the sequel to Ducks in a Row, will be published January 1. As you can tell by the cover above, it’s in the final editing stages right now. I’m cleaning up the final typos in my last thorough read-through. So you’ve still got time to get up to speed if you haven’t read Ducks. Plus, Ducks in a Row, the novel that has been called “thought-provoking”, “unsettling”, “wonderfully beautiful” and “painful”, is currently only 99 cents for your Kindle on Amazon!

In the meantime, here’s a bit of Will’s introduction to “Saturday Love”:

“Being in love with Stephanie is awesome.” Patrick looked out at the vineyard for a second, thinking. “It’s kind of like Saturday morning when you’re a kid. Remember those?”

“I’m not sure I get what you mean.” Will shook his head.

“Remember how it felt to wake up on a Saturday morning and know there wasn’t anything you had to do? You’d slept late, and maybe you had a few chores around here, but other than that, most of the day was yours. It’s kind of like that with Stephanie. It’s like I spent my whole life working and waiting and looking for her, and now it’s Saturday and I don’t have to do that anymore.”

Will felt a slight hitch in his chest at his brother’s words. He wanted that and he suspected he could find it with Accalia. He’d seen that kind of Saturday love: between his mother and father, now with Patrick and Stephanie. And even, if he admitted it, between Cady and Neil. He reached over and grasped his brother’s shoulder. “Thanks. I’m really happy for you, man.”

“Yeah, me too.” Patrick stood and stretched. He looked down at Will. “I’m happy for you, too, you know. You know why?”

Will shook his head.

“Because even if you haven’t found it yet with Accalia, you’re getting there. You haven’t asked me even once about Cady.”

Patrick went back inside, but Will remained where he was. His chest felt strangely hollow. Strange, because it wasn’t a totally unpleasant feeling. It felt clean, not empty, and he knew why. Whether Accalia was his Saturday love or not, he’d finally faced the fact that Cady wasn’t.

Like a visit from an old friend: A new review for Where the Heart Lies

Posted on by

Anybody remember Where the Heart Lies? Way back before the time of magic—well, before I conceived of the idea for my Sleight of Hand series, anyway—I wrote a little book about a war widow starting over. It was published by Carina Press (the closest I’ve gotten to Harlequin, which is my dream publisher), and it was an overall positive experience. It got mixed reviews. Some people loved it, some hated it, and some were sort of…meh. It also sold WAY more copies than anything else I’ve written before or since, even though it’s only available in e-book form.

Well, anyway, this morning I got a surprise notice that there’s a new review of Where the Heart Lies. Well, cool, I thought after successfully figuring out which of my books Where the Heart Lies is. That’s nice. I wasn’t at this point certain of how nice it actually was (remember the aforementioned mixed reviews?), but when I pulled up the review on Blackraven’s Reviews, I found I’d received 4.5 ravens (that’s gotta be good), and one of the most well-written reviews I’ve received on any of my books (not to cast aspersions on any of my other reviewers, who also write very nicely). Here’s a quote from the review:

Where The Heart Lies by Michelle Garren Flye is a compelling story about love, loss, secrets, betrayal, and ultimately forgiveness. — Blackraven’s Reviews

And here’s another one:

The dialogue is rich, the setting is quaint, and the sexual tension between Alicia and Liam sizzles. — Blackraven’s Reviews

And one more:

If you’re looking for a complex, heartfelt story that will put a smile on your face from the small town antics, heat up the pages from the unbridled passion between Alicia and Liam, and bring a tear to your eye as our hero and heroine learn to forgive and be forgiven, then Where The Heart Lies by Michelle Garren Flye is definitely the book to read. — Blackraven’s Reviews

My sincere thanks to the reviewer for the reminder of a book I’d forgotten I loved writing. If you’d like to read the whole review, click here: Blackraven’s Reviews. Or you could go buy Where the Heart Lies (Amazon or Barnes & Noble) and decide for yourself if Blackraven’s Reviews is right…or, God forbid, was Romance Around the Corner more on target?

Time to let go, move on…and give out some prizes!

Posted on by

So my Magic Fun Week Celebration is drawing to a close, and I’m waxing a little nostalgic. It seems like just the other day I gave you a list of some surprising Houdini facts. And remember the time I listed the five female escape magicians who were a little like Lady Lydia? Sigh. How does time fly so fast? Why it might have just been yesterday that we were talking about the greatest escape magic tricks!

But it is time to let go, move on to the next project. It’s waiting on my laptop right now. The edits for Saturday Love, the highly anticipated sequel to Ducks in a Row. But before I do, I want to leave you with this one rather startling statement (and the winners of my magical prizes–I haven’t forgotten):

You are within a mile of an aspiring writer right now.

No joke. There are a lot of us. And by aspiring, I mean a writer who hopes to one day have a bestseller on the shelves. Maybe they’re in the process of writing their first one, maybe they’ve got seven books already floating around out there in the ether. Maybe they have yet to put pen to paper (sounds better than fingertips to keyboard), but they do plan to one day write a book.

My point is, there are a lot of people out there writing books, and some of us are even publishing them. Readers have a lot to choose from, and they’re going to choose a book with twenty to a hundred favorable reviews over a book that has just one. So how do these aspiring writers obtain those reviews?

No clue. But I’m not too proud to beg.

Please, please, please if you’ve read and enjoyed one of my books, leave me a review on Amazon! It might just help the next reader decide if she wants to take a chance on me or go back to her favorite best-selling author.

Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!

I don’t actually have a chicken dinner to award anyone, but I do have some pretty cool stuff. Without further ado, here are our winners and what they won.

Winners! Richard, Scotch & Soda; Cheryl Rhodes, Linking Rings; C.J. May, Love Me deck; John Hinson, Archangel deck; Sherry Thompson, Escape Magic; Sal, Escape Magic.

Winners! Richard, Scotch & Soda; Cheryl Rhodes, Linking Rings; C.J. May, Love Me deck; John Hinson, Archangel deck; Sherry Thompson, Escape Magic; Sal, Escape Magic.

Thanks to everyone who participated, and also everyone who has given Escape Magic a warm welcome into the world. Escape Magic will remain a cool 99 cents for Kindle, but the special 99 cent price for Close Up Magic for Kindle will expire on Monday. So if you haven’t gotten your copy of Book 1 of my Sleight of Hand series, do it now!

Greatest Escape Magic Tricks and Your Last Chance to Win!

Posted on by

Today I wind up my week-long magic celebration and I figured what better way to do it than by counting down a few of my favorite escape magic tricks. Actually, it’s not really a countdown because they’re just in the order I happened to think of them in, but these are the ones that stuck with me. Maybe you have one of your own that you’d like to add to the list.

1. Houdini’s crate escape. I’ve seen pictures of this one. Houdini shackled in a packing crate that is padlocked, nailed shut and bound with rope before being dropped into a river. Of course, he escaped!

2. David Copperfield’s escape from Alcatraz. It’s like a mini-movie and really just fun to watch. Copperfield uses what’s available (surely not props left there for him) to escape Alcatraz in (spoiler!) the police helicopter!

3. Criss Angel’s “Buried Alive”. Give him his due, it takes a lot of guts to allow yourself to be padlocked in a glass coffin and buried in cement.

4. Dorothy Dietrich straitjacket escape while suspended from a burning rope. Enough said.

5. Kristen Johnson’s Full View Water Torture Cell Escape. Houdini was suspended upside down, but his audience could only see him from the front. Johnson’s audience can see all around, witness her efforts, hold their breath along with her.

Don’t forget to leave me a comment below! Today is the last chance to win one of my fabulous magical prizes. 🙂

My Favorite of Houdini’s Magic Tricks

Posted on by

I’ve always said that half the reason I write about magic is so I can spend hours on Youtube watching magic. And it’s true. I do love watching magic, and if it’s part of my research, then I have a viable excuse, right?

Escape Magic was particularly fun to research because I’ve always been fascinated by Harry Houdini. He’s a legend and you can actually see him perform on Youtube. It’s sort of like he really did find a way to reach out from beyond the grave. Houdini was known for his water escapes, but I think my favorite will always be the suspended straitjacket escape. He would perform this trick outside, sometimes in front of the local newspaper office of whatever town he was performing in. Of course he made headlines, thus generating free publicity for his shows, which then sold out. The pure genius of the marketing strategy is what really gets me, but the ease with which he slipped out of the straitjacket is also pretty impressive. Check it out here: straitjacket escape.

How about you? Do you have a favorite escape magic trick (by Houdini or someone else)? Leave me a comment below for a chance to win a magic trick, special deck of cards, a magic wand or one of my Sleight of Hand books!

And the magic for today…an excerpt!

Posted on by

Yeah, I’ll be back with some more fun magic facts tomorrow, but it’s Wednesday and my brain is starting to feel a little fried. If you missed them, I counted down 10 Intriguing Things I’ve Learned About Houdini and Five Female Escapologists Who MIGHT Have Inspired Lady Lydia. Today, I’m going to let myself off easy and give you three reasons I like to write about magic:

1. Magic is fun. If there’s a good magic show in the area, I’m right there.
2. Magic can be romantic. Handsome magician producing a red rose out of thin air, anyone?
3. Everyone needs to believe. Really, you’ve got to believe in something or life is like an arid plain with nothing growing on it. Whether it’s God or love or aliens or magic, human beings want to believe. Stage magic is just an extension of that.

In the meantime, remember both Close Up Magic and Escape Magic are currently on sale for 99 cents for the Kindle! And if you want to spring for a paperback, those are available, too. And just to get you in the mood, here’s an excerpt from the beginning of Escape Magic:

Chapter 1

It looked real. The bride and groom posed in front of the waterfall, palm trees and beautiful tropical flowers framing them. Her smile was radiant, and her groom couldn’t take his eyes off her. The wedding photographer—the only photographer allowed past the yellow tape barrier that held back the paparazzi—directed them to face each other, and when she tilted her head to look at her husband, it was obvious to anyone within sight that these two were for real. What they had would last.

Of course, not all of it was real. Bride and groom, paparazzi determined to capture something of their happiness in their cameras…those were real. The waterfall and palm trees and lavish surroundings were part of a garden in a climate-controlled, high-end mall outside a Las Vegas casino. But in that moment, it was an oasis of perfection. Maybe it was the solid reality of the love between the two that made it easier to accept the practiced falsity of Vegas.

Tony looked on at the happy couple, and his heart swelled with satisfaction for his brother. Three years and lots of trust-building and soul-searching had passed since Andre met Stacey. If they didn’t have a solid foundation to base a relationship on, Tony felt certain no one did.

“Say, man, you know who’s getting married?”

Tony glanced to his side. A heavyset man in a gold suit with pompadour-style hair and dark gold-rimmed sunglasses stood next to him. He must have ducked under the barrier. Tony shrugged. Didn’t really matter. Andre and Stacey were so happy they wouldn’t mind sharing a little of it… even with an Elvis impersonator. That actually was why they’d chosen Vegas for the wedding. They both loved its unpredictability and unique aura.

Not to mention the fact that they’d met there.

At least something good came out of my failure. Shaking off the feeling of uneasy guilt those memories always brought with them, Tony smiled and gave the beautiful couple by the waterfall a last look. Then he took Elvis by the arm and led him back behind the barrier. “My brother. Andre Hawke. If you don’t mind, though, we’d prefer you watch from back here.”

“Sure, man. No problem.” Elvis watched in silence for a few minutes. “Hawke? Isn’t he that magician fellow? Saw his show once. The one where he pulled her on the stage, I think. Did an amazing card trick with her. And everybody was in tears by the time he was done. Really cute. So he’s marrying her? Finally?” At Tony’s nod, Elvis shook his head, dark hair flopping over his eye, rhinestones catching the glimmer of the mall lights and reflecting back rainbows. “Vegas, man. You never know what’ll happen.”

Tony couldn’t help but grin as the other man melted into the crowd. As he turned back to his brother and sister-in-law, his eyes were caught by a flame-haired, leather-clad figure standing on the upper level of the mall. He paused, frowned, and the truth of Elvis’s words hit him. “Nope. You just never know.”

What do you believe in? Leave me a comment below to enter to win one of the fabulous prizes (all magic-related) I’m giving away this week!