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.

Four Hearts for Winter Solstice!!!! (and a little more debate about sex scenes)

Posted on by

Just discovered another review for WINTER SOLSTICE on The Romance Studio. The reviewer gives WINTER SOLSTICE four hearts and said she would read more by me! Those are always welcome words, so thank you to The Romance Studio for the encouragement. Here’s a short excerpt and a link to the review:

“I thoroughly enjoyed this love story. The author has created two people with very realistic problems that they must get through before truly getting together. … The love scenes were exquisite and beautifully done.” — The Romance Studio

I especially love that last line. As you know if you’ve read my blog much, I’m sort of shy about the love/sex scenes in my book. I debated about even putting them in. Some romance writers don’t. I have to admit, however, that when I read those romances, I tend to feel sort of cheated. Either the couple goes into the bedroom and closes the door on the reader, or they never actually get around to it at all.

I’ve chosen a different approach for my sex scenes, and it’s good to know it’s working, at least for one reviewer. I don’t do obligatory sex. That’s not in my personality, anyway, so I doubt I could write well about it. Sex is important to my characters. In SECRETS OF THE LOTUS (spoiler), Dan and Josie don’t get around to having sex until about three-quarters of the way through, since I used a pretty traditional formula for this book. In WINTER SOLSTICE, however, the reader doesn’t have to wait that long. Becky and John actually have sex pretty early on, but that very fact shaped the entire plot and future of their romance.

My only goal for my sex scenes is that they must somehow affect the plot and somehow develop the characters more fully. Is it possible to write a good romance without a good sex scene? Probably. Any other opinions on this?

August: A Big Month for HONEOWP; Can We Make September Even Better?

Posted on by

Hey y’all! Just a quick note of celebration for my HONEOWP effort for August. Although my royalties were as underwhelming as ever, I did receive $200 prize money for my third place story in Hyperink’s Romance Anthology Contest. I had originally only pledged my royalties to the HONEOWP effort, but I decided that the prize money should go to it as well. I donated $100 to Oceana, my HONEOWP charity, and $100 to the Gail Parkins Memorial Ovarian Cancer Walk and 5K Run.

As mentioned before, my HONEOWP charity for this month is my local food bank. September is Hunger Action Month, and many of us, myself included, probably don’t realize how many hungry people there are in America. From the children who go to school hungry to the parents who struggle every day and the homeless who can’t afford a decent meal, they’re all around us. My goal for September is not just to get people to buy my books so I can donate the royalties, but to urge you to locate your local food bank and make a donation there. Please, spread the word. Refer someone to my post, tweet it or repost it on Facebook. YOU could make a difference.

For ways you can help fight hunger in America:

Food Bank Locator
Share Our Strength
Feed the Children
Feeding America

A Special Breathing Moment

Posted on by

Take one today. Remember. I am.

Laboring on Labor Day

Posted on by

I’m spending my Labor Day writing as much as possible. I’ve latched onto a new idea and I like it, finally, so I’m going with it. I’ve wanted to write a pirate love story for some time now, and I think I’ve finally found one. I had to rename the main character last night, because I realized he was not a Roger. He needed a good solid seafaring name, but I settled on Colin, which seems to suit him and also celebrates the fact that Colin Firth, one of my favorite actors, will be filming a new movie in North Carolina soon.

So instead of a real post today, I’m going to give you a taste of my most recently published labor of love, WINTER SOLSTICE, which is all about love in the workplace:

At the end of the day, she stopped by the admissions desk to catch her breath and talk to Amy, a critical-care nurse. John approached and reached around her to drop a chart on the desk, his fleeting proximity making it difficult for Becky to breathe.

“That’s it for me. I’m out of here.” He started to turn away then paused, and his gaze met Becky’s. “I’ll be home later if you want to call me about those questions you had.”

She felt her face burn and ducked her head, hoping to hide her arousal if not her embarrassment. “Of course. I’ll do that.” She made some quick notes on her paper and when she glanced up, he was long gone, but Amy looked at her with a mixture of pity and commiseration. “You’ve got it pretty bad, huh?”

Becky hesitated, wondering if plausible deniability was still possible, but Amy shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, hon. We’ve all been there. I mean, he’s got everything going for him. He’s rich, a doctor, intelligent, and we won’t even mention S-E-X-Y. Just don’t lose your heart. He might be an eligible bachelor, but he’s also a confirmed one.”

“No worries.” Becky laughed and tossed her head, but she wondered if she fooled Amy anymore than she fooled herself.

The truth was she really didn’t know where she and John stood with each other. His continued professionalism at work did nothing to help her find her footing. If he’d grabbed her when she walked in the door and kissed her in front of everyone, or dragged her into his office and torn her clothes off, or even if he’d just asked her out for drinks again, she’d have some clue. Instead, he invited her to call him.

She groaned inwardly. She’d never expected to find herself so out of control, and in spite of her misgivings, she had every intention of accepting his invitation and probably repeating the
previous night’s performance.

Post Irene Update

Posted on by

I’ve been trying to organize my thoughts since we got our power back after Hurricane Irene. It’s harder than it sounds. I can’t honestly say I’ve ever been through an experience quite like Irene. Early, early on Saturday morning I woke and lay awake hearing the wind and various thumps from outside. I knew those thumps were trees coming down. I’ve heard that final, horrifying sound of a tree dying before. These were different, though. These thumps were near and far and I had no real idea when one might crash through the roof of my house. When the power went out at 4:45 a.m., I pretty much gave up sleeping and just listened and prayed.

The gray-washed light of Saturday morning brought no real relief. The water in the creek was higher than I’ve ever seen it. I alternated watching it and waiting for it to come over our retaining wall and keeping a close eye on the swaying hundred foot tall pines in our front yard. I don’t know exactly how long the eye wall of Irene hovered a mere forty miles away from my home, but I do know the winds and rain continued until well past dinner time on Saturday. I finally realized it was over when I heard a bird cheeping outside. Peering out the window I saw him sitting on the railing beside my steps, fluttering his wings and chirping indignantly at the sky. I couldn’t help but smile because his feelings exactly echoed mine.

On Sunday we realized how lucky we were. Trees were down all around us. Trees blocked roads, smashed houses and littered yards. Homes were flooded not far away. Nobody had power. Generators and chainsaws provided a white noise for five days after. You can still hear the chainsaws and wood chippers, but almost everyone has power again thanks to the utility companies who worked tirelessly to restore it. I’ve had power and cable for going on three days and have logged on to update my blog at least six times. I couldn’t find the words.

You see, I thought I was salty. I thought I had been through a hurricane before. I thought I was a tough Eastern North Carolinian (I’ve lived here for six years now) who could weather the storm. But I’ve never seen a storm like Irene. And she was mild compared to some. Locals still talk about Fran and we all know what Katrina did. My heart goes out to the people on the Gulf Coast who are now dealing with Tropical Storm Lee. Heavy rain could fall there for 36 hours and thousands are already without power. Even as I say a little prayer for those affected by Lee and those worse affected than me by Irene, I’m keeping a close eye on Katia. Too soon to tell if she’s coming our way, but I have no desire whatsoever to go through another hurricane.

And now that I’ve found the words to express my dismay about tropical storms, it’s time for my HONEOWP update. September is Hunger Action Month, so I’m donating my royalties to my local food bank. Even when natural disasters are few and far between, there are plenty of hungry people out there. Consider making a donation to your local food bank this month. And if you want me to donate more royalties to my food bank, buy my books!

Still waiting to hear about August’s royalties to know what my final donation to Oceana will be, but I have decided to include my $200 prize money for my story “Life After”, which won third place in Hyperink’s Romance Anthology Contest. If you’d like to purchase the anthology and read my story, you can find it on Amazon (Kindle format) here: The Best of All Sins: Stories of Love and Heartbreak or on Hyperink’s website (pdf format). If you read it, please consider writing a review on Amazon!

Stay safe everybody, and take a breathing moment when you can.

WINTER SOLSTICE earns Five Hearts!!!!

Posted on by

Second review for WINTER SOLSTICE just came out on Romance Book Scene. They gave it five hearts! I’m thrilled. My thanks go out to the very intelligent reviewers over at Romance Book Scene. 🙂 You can read the entire review here: WINTER SOLSTICE GETS FIVE HEARTS. Or here’s a little tidbit: “Well written contemporary story for those who like drama type love stories.”

Just a note to those who review books. I have been struggling recently, wondering if I ought to hang it up for a bit (not seriously, but you know, we all wonder that sometimes). Maybe I don’t have enough to write about. Maybe what I write is too trite for anybody to care about. My friend McKenna of To Write Well calls these thoughts “negative scripts”, and she’s right. They get under your skin, and you just have to find your own way to deal with them. This review from Romance Book Scene gave me the desire to do that. I’ve been fortunate not to have anyone give me an awful review yet, but I hope when I do get one (and I most likely will if people keep reading my books), I will have enough philosophy to realize that if they reviewed it, they had to read it. And if they read it, I did my job. So thank you to reviewers. You give us the motivation to write.

The Sounds of Silence

Posted on by

Consider this during your next breathing moment. Have you ever noticed how many different sounds silence has? Or maybe I should say “qualities” instead of “sounds”. In the past twenty-four hours I have witnessed several different silences.

Yesterday morning I walked out with my children chattering around me into a silent, somewhat overcast morning. I paused because the silence reminded me of something. After a moment of listening, I realized what it was. The silence of the world around me was the silence I’ve felt before. Right before a storm. It occurred to me that Irene isn’t far away and is forecast to hit the North Carolina coast. Maybe that was the silence I was “hearing”.

Of course, everyone along the Eastern Seaboard has their earthquake story. Mine is a little different, and it was my husband who actually gave me the words to express it. I felt the tremor in the earth and stood up because I was at that moment sitting under some shelves. I wasn’t even certain what I’d felt was an earthquake because I live in eastern North Carolina. We just don’t have earthquakes here. Maybe it was the construction site down the road or maybe one of my kids had dropped something. More likely, too, a large truck had passed by. But in the few seconds of silence that followed the tiny trembling of my cabinet doors, I noticed something. A very subtle feeling that something wasn’t quite right.

This morning as I straightened the house, I noticed another type of silence. One of my children has returned to school already. Another one goes back later this week and my daughter’s preschool doesn’t start until after Labor Day, but already my house has assumed that cloak of silence that it gets when your children are away somewhere safe, doing something productive. This silence has a waiting contentment to it. It’s a silence I always forget when my kids are home for the summer, but I welcome it back in the fall.

I apologize for the recent silence of my blog. Life gets in the way sometimes, but take a breathing moment today and listen to the silence.

Still reeling. I won!

Posted on by

How cool is that? I won third place in the Hyperink Romance Writing Contest with my story “Life After”. It’s the first time I’ve won a writing contest since I got second place when I entered a contest in third grade. That one was sponsored by the publishers of the youth bulletin they gave out in Sunday School. I remember I read the contest and wrote a story about a young girl in the United States and a young girl in Russia. Both reflected on the possibility of nuclear war and wondered what Jesus would do. (This was before WWJD? so I’m pretty sure somebody stole that idea from me—just kidding!)

If you’d like to read my story, it will appear in the Romance Writing Anthology e-book, coming soon from Hyperink Press. For now, you can check out an excerpt here: Hyperink Romance Writing Contest.

Still celebrating…over at Lyrical Press blog today!

Posted on by

Stop by and see me there, if you have a chance. Just click here: WINTER SOLSTICE: The stuff (my) dreams are made of…

Door Prize Winners!

Posted on by

Door Prize Winners for my WINTER SOLSTICE Book Release Party are Jenn, Bunny, Aimee, Amy, Richard and Candice. Thanks to all who entered. You should receive your e-gift certificates by tomorrow evening. If you have a preference of which e-book retailer you’d prefer (Lyrical, Amazon or Barnes & Noble), email me at michellegflye@gmail.com and I’ll make sure you get that one!