Mayan Apocalypse? Maybe not, but it is the Winter Solstice: A few facts and an excerpt.

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This will most likely be my last post…until after Christmas, that is, and I thought I’d make it a blatant sales pitch. Winter Solstice was my second book published, but the first full-length romance I ever wrote. I’m very proud of it, and I’d love to share a little excerpt with you guys. First, though: A few facts about Winter Solstice 2012:

1. It’s the shortest day of the year in my half of the world. Tomorrow, December 21, 2012, daylight will last only about nine and a half hours in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States.
2. It’s the official start of winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
3. The actual time of the winter solstice is 6:12 a.m. on December 21 for me. This is, ironically, 11:12 a.m. GMT, meaning the winter solstice actually occurs at 11:12 a.m. 12/21/12 this year, if you happen to be in Great Britain. Ahem, like Stonehenge. Cool, huh?
4. Winter Solstice contains the only phone sex scene I’ve ever written… Oh wait, that’s not about the winter solstice, but it is interesting, isn’t it? 😉

Continuing her tour of the artwork, she paused before a large painting, showing two deer in a wintry landscape before a rising full moon. It occupied the wall opposite the Redlin painting. In sharp contrast to the warm oranges and reds and nostalgia of Redlin, however, everything in this painting, from the stark snowy landscape and sharp blue-black shadows to the bare trees and the ribs showing through the deer’s hides, spoke of starvation. Winter Solstice was printed on a brass plate on the frame. Becky stared at it for several long minutes, letting its barrenness creep into her soul, its iciness encompass her entire being.

“You like it?” he asked from behind her.

“Like isn’t the right word.” She shook off the creeping feeling of cold and loneliness with difficulty. “It’s powerful, though. My favorite day too.” She let him guide her through the swinging door into the large, stone-floored kitchen. Despite the shiny, stainless steel appliances and granite countertops, the kitchen had a homey air due to the little breakfast alcove with a rough-hewn wooden table that was now set for dinner under a wrought-iron chandelier. Susie pushed her way through the swinging door and padded over the wide planks of the hardwood floor to the firewarmed stone hearth of a large fireplace near the table. She shifted around on the stones, finally coming to rest with her huge head on her paws.

John opened two beers and set them on the table, taking Becky’s wineglass from her in a smooth movement as he motioned for her to sit. He set a plate of rockfish, steaming baked potato and salad in front of her. “Why is the winter solstice your favorite day? I would have had you
pegged for a spring person.”

He sat across from Becky, focusing all his attention on her. It made her a little self-conscious, but as he turned away to heap butter and sour cream on his potato, she found a reply. “It’s the shortest day of the year.”

His eyebrows shot up and he glanced at her. “Doesn’t explain why an optimist like you would like it. Seems like the perfect day for somebody like me.”

Starting to feel even more ill at ease, as if this were something too personal to tell him, she opened her mouth and closed it again. When he raised his eyebrows, she realized he wouldn’t let her not answer. “Well, if it’s the shortest day of the year, it means the rest of the days afterward
are getting longer, right?”

A slow smile spread across his face and he nodded, as if her answer fit in perfectly with his perception of her. “I get it.”

She wondered why he felt he knew her so well when they’d met such a short time ago. “What exactly do you get?” She took a bite of baked potato and tried to remain calm.

“Obviously, to you, it doesn’t matter where you’ve been or where you are so much as where you’re going.” He chewed thoughtfully for a moment. “Whereas I find it difficult to look past where I am at the present.”

Want to BUY IT NOW? The link is to the Lyrical Press store, where you’ll also find links to many other great e-book retailers.

Change for the Children: Making Kindness a Habit

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Over the past few days, I’ve struggled a lot not to be political in the wake of the Newtown tragedy. It’s been tough, because, as my husband tells me, I’m very passionate about certain things, and, in my eyes at least, there’s no room for compromise. So keeping my mouth shut can be a challenge for me.

But by keeping my mouth shut, I’ve heard some surprising stuff. I’ve learned a lot about the lack of care for the mentally ill. I heard our president say that we as a society needed to change. I heard a resounding silence from gun supporters. And most surprising of all, perhaps, I’ve heard many, many people saying we all need to be kinder to each other.

I could ask when we stopped being kind to each other, but I’ve found it’s much more effective to start at home base. When did I stop being kind? I was a very kind child, I think. I never wanted to hurt anyone’s feelings. When did that stop? When did I become an aggressive driver who’s willing to honk at other motorists for the slightest infringement, the irritable mother, the uncaring neighbor, the shopper who’s in too much of a rush to let someone cut in line?

Okay, so I’m not horrible. I’m not always irritable and pushy, but I’m much more likely to be that way than I was early on in life. The only thing I can figure is that as I’ve gotten older, unkindness has become a habit with me. So how do I cure this habit?

I think journalist Ann Curry, of all people, has given me the answer. If you are on Twitter, check out her twitter feed. She started out calling for everyone to commit themselves to 20 acts of kindness (#20acts) to honor the twenty first graders killed at Sandy Hook. Some of her followers suggested they expand this to include the adults killed trying to save the children (#26acts). It’s a wonderful idea, and for more reasons than I think Ms. Curry considered.

I believe you can become addicted to kindness. Think of the good feeling you get when you do something kind. Consider the impact of getting addicted to that feeling. How long does it take to form a habit? If you commit to performing 26, or even 20, acts of kindness, might it be possible that you would want to keep going? I’m hoping so. Judging by the number of positive responses Ms. Curry has garnered, I think she may have started a movement with some real power behind it, and if all those people form a habit for kindness because of her, she will really have accomplished something lasting.

Will a kindness habit cure the world’s problems? Probably not. But perhaps if enough people are more considerate and kinder because of Sandy Hook, more problems could be solved. Maybe we could learn to compromise and care a little more, and maybe fewer people will want the guns that are made to kill without mercy.

So far I’ve accomplished a rather unimpressive three acts of kindness. They weren’t things I wasn’t planning on doing anyway, but I tried to go a little beyond. I have plans for two more, and I’m watching for opportunities to act kindly on impulse. I think those acts might go the furthest toward accomplishing a real change in our society.

The End of the World? Don’t Hide. Live Better.

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Today I’m not going to write about the news stories that are terrifying and saddening the entire world. I’m not going to talk about the innocent victims or possible solutions or call for gun control or better care for the mentally ill, although I think those things are well worth discussing. I’m writing because it seems the world has gone mad, and I feel a need to ask you all not to let the end of the world become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

This is what has haunted me ever since I heard about the end of the Mayan calendar and how many millions of people actually harbor some belief that Friday will be the end of the world: What if it’s not? What if God has no intention of ending the world on Friday, but as the “end” that we have prophesied for ourselves approaches, people go mad and society destroys itself? What if we ruin our world and kill each other and those who survive have a world no longer worth living in?

The holiday season always brings out the madness in people. It enhances the divide between those who have so much and those who have nothing. I believe this holiday will be even worse than usual and that’s why I’m writing. This holiday, I’d like to encourage everyone to think a little bit about your neighbors. Do they have enough to make their Christmas merry? Do they have someone in their lives to love or are they alone? Reach out and shake someone’s hand or leave a small gift for someone you think might not get something this season. If you’re not comfortable with that personal approach, give something to your local Food Bank or other charity.

I plan to do some soul-searching today to think about what I can do this season. I want to go a little beyond what I usually do. I want to try to make a real difference this year. I don’t know if the Mayan calendar means anything or not. I don’t honestly think we can predict the end of the world. What I do know is that nobody’s tomorrow is ever guaranteed, and if we don’t try to make a difference today, we may never get a chance. After all, where would you rather be if God comes down to judge us? Helping someone in need or hiding in a Doomsday bunker?

Guilty Indulgences gives 4 chocolate-dipped strawberries to Where the Heart Lies!

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What better way to start out the month of December than with a little guilty indulgence? The fabulous folks over at the Guilty Indulgence Review Site just thrilled me with a four-chocolate-dipped-strawberry review of Where the Heart Lies! Here’s an excerpt:

“Romance on the softer side for readers who enjoy a more predictable, mainstream read. … Readers will feel good and happy about this story… it made me smile.”–Guilty Indulgence

How great is that? Seriously. I feel like a reviewer really got what I was trying to do. I didn’t set out to be unpredictable (although I did try to keep the story interesting). All I wanted was to leave my readers with a smile. If I accomplished that, I’m happy because it means they cared about my characters while they read the story. If that’s not awesome, I don’t know what is!

Reminder to my blog tour winners: Please send me your mailing address so I can send you your goodies! I’ve got five so far, but there were way more winners than that. 🙂

Blog tour wrap-up! Giveaway time!

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Well, it’s been an active couple of months, that’s for sure! And that may well be the last time I EVER schedule a blog tour during National Novel Writing Month. Whew! Overall, however, I really enjoyed the blog tour Goddess Fish set up for me! What fun it was! And the fun continues today as I choose the winner of my blog tour prize. I’ve already selected winners for each individual stop. Those folks win a Where the Heart Lies promotional postcard with a 10 percent off coupon for Carina Press—and a couple of other promo goodies I have lying around. Here are the winners and the stops where they won:

World of Dreams: vitajex
Queen of All She Reads: amberdcline
All I Want and More: lauratroxel
Megan Johns Invites: kybunnies
My Reading Addiction: bn100candg
Once Upon A Time: nat567
Ramblings from This Chick: ivegotmail8889
Bunny’s Review: marypres
It’s Raining Books: gokarter418
The Brunette Librarian: silversolara
Jersey Girl Book Reviews: kit3247
Stitch Read Cook: bn100candg

Wow! What a lot of great new friends! 🙂 Here’s a picture of my cowboy hat that I wear when I’m feeling saucy all filled up with entries for my giveaway:

And now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for…the winner of my grand prize of a $10 Amazon gift card and a copy of Bartlett’s Poems for Occasions. This copy of Bartlett’s is actually the one I read at times while writing Where the Heart Lies, so it’s very special to me, and believe it or not, new copies of this book are very hard to come by! Here’s a picture of some of the prizes being awarded today:

And the winner of my copy of Bartlett’s and the Amazon gift card is…kybunnies!

Congratulations to all my winners and thank you all so much for checking out the tour. And if you’re interested in giveaways, stay tuned…I do tend to get generous around the holidays!

November 26: Stars aligned, NaNoWriMo complete.

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It’s official. I finished NaNoWriMo a few days ago. Then I edited the novel, added chapters, formatted it…and sent it to my editor. I’ve NEVER done anything like this before. I’m one of those write-it-let-it-sit-and-then-eventually-edit-it people. I’ve got a couple of novels sitting on my hard drive that I wrote more than a year ago. I think Stephen King calls them “trunk novels”. One of these days I’ll pull them out and figure out what to do with them.

So what’s different about this one? For one thing I wrote it faster than I’ve EVER written a novel. I’ve finished National Novel Writing Month twice before, but I’ve never finished it this much ahead of the deadline. And when I finished it, I wasn’t tired of it, so re-reading and editing wasn’t a chore. Plus, I’m actually energized and excited about the ideas this novel has inspired in me. It’s the first of what I hope is a series. I’m already working on the next one. Of course, by “working on the next one”, I mean the idea is simmering in my head. I have a vague idea of who the characters are and haven’t really decided about the plot. But the ingredients are simmering and congealing and eventually will come together in a delicious stew. (Now I’m getting hungry!)

NaNoWriMo was a fast ride this year, but it was a smooth one. I guess the stars aligned just right. Now I can afford a brief breathing moment before the next novel-writing frenzy overtakes me!

Last stop of the book tour: Check out My Devotional Thoughts for an interesting, if complimentary review of Where the Heart Lies and my own description of my writing schedule. Since this is my last stop of the tour, it’s also your last chance to enter to win my great prizes! (10% off coupons to Carina Press and a copy of Bartlett’s Poems for Occasions) Also, I would like to thank Goddess Fish for organizing the book tour, all the gracious hosts who shared their blogs with me and everyone who stopped by! It’s been a blast!

NaNoWriMo: What’s Going On? (exclusive excerpt from my NaNo novel)

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No, I’m not confused. I’m updating. Finally. I feel like I’ve been in a daze most of this month, and I guess I have sort of been in a writing fever. Consumed. I’d like to credit National Novel Writing Month with this, but I’ve participated in this annual event often enough to know, if the story hadn’t been there, it wouldn’t have written itself like this. NaNoWriMo probably did help me keep going, but this story was just kind of there. The characters weren’t hard to bring to life because by the time November 1 rolled around, I already knew them well enough to write about them.

I’ve already said the story is about magic. I’ve spent most of my life looking for magic, even finding it every now and then in everyday life, trying to capture it and cage it on the page in black and white. It doesn’t work, usually. I’m not sure I managed it this time. Maybe you can tell me:

She could feel the dry desert breeze on her skin, a welcome relief after the canned air she’d been breathing all day. This far up, the air smelled fresh, free from the musty mix of sweaty bodies and sewage that often pervaded the street level of Vegas. If she kept her eyes closed, she could almost imagine what it had been like hundreds of years before when the cowboys rode through the desert…

She was wasting time. If she were going to do it, she should go ahead. She bit her lip, felt his hands on her hips, the warmth of his body behind her. As if he understood her inner battle, he leaned forward, his lips almost touching her ear, making her dizzy with desire at a time when she desperately didn’t want to be dizzy. At first she barely understood his words, but when they penetrated, she found her courage. “Sometimes you have to do something that frightens you just to be sure you’re still alive.”

Her eyes fluttered open, and she waited for the vertigo and fear to crash down on her. But with him at her back, she found she could look out at what was undeniably an amazing view. Somehow beautiful in its blatant excess, the Strip spread out below her in a medley of lights, looking like crystal and jeweled glass. She could see the people strolling along the street, slower and more peaceful at this late hour and at this great distance than she knew they would if she were among them. Light of every color bloomed and blossomed and split through the night. The light breeze brushed her hair back from her face, almost as gentle as his touch. For the first time, she could understand why Vegas had become known as the flower of the desert. “It’s amazing.”

He stood close enough so she could feel him nod. “From up here it is.” He moved to her side, and she immediately wished he hadn’t. She liked the solid feel of him behind her. He contemplated the view for a moment. “Do you know what I see down there?”

She shook her head. “What?”

“A lot of people looking for something. I’ve always believed it’s magic. Do you know what I think magic is?” He turned, searching her eyes.

Again she shook her head. A gust of wind whipped her hair across her face and he reached up to brush it back, his palm warm against her cheek. “Magic is the absence of doubt.”

So far, my magic novel is 48,000+ words. I anticipate finishing it today. It’s the first time I’ve ever finished a NaNo novel before Thanksgiving. It’s still untitled, although I have a few ideas. But if you want to help, feel free to leave a comment below with your suggestion.

And while I’m bragging, I got two reviews yesterday for Where the Heart Lies! One was from my gracious blog tour host Stitch Read Cook. Here’s an excerpt:

“Michelle has a way with words, she draws you into the small town life of these characters and keeps you hooked until the last page.” — Stitch Read Cook

The second was unexpected, however, and I found it by chance on Bookaddiction. Check this out:

“Where The Heart Lies by Michelle Garren Flye is a lovely story about guilt, redemption, and the power of love. …a well-written romantic novel with an unusual amount of depth.” –Bookaddiction

How cool is that? Makes me think my quest for magic might be progressing after all!

Weekly NaNo update and blog tour stops; Plus, YES!

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National Novel Writing Month this year has been awesome. My word count right now stands at 47,588 and the story is pretty much done. It’s a very simple romance this time, but my hero and heroine fall in love much faster than usual, like over the span of about two days. Of course, then you have a monkey wrench thrown into the works, because they both have trust issues, but, and I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by telling you this…there’s a happy ending.

So on from NaNo to my blog tour. We have two stops today! First off, over at Stitch Read Cook, you can read my take on Life in a Small Town. Later on this morning, there’ll be a post on Guilty Indulgence about, ahem, my particular guilty indulgence.

Finally, look to your left at the YES! (Year End Splash) party promo pic (I know, not too hard to look at that, huh?). Over at the Romance Reviews, there’s a huge end-of-year party going on and you’ll find my book featured there tomorrow through Saturday. Check out the YES! party page for some great games and giveaways and find out a little about some great romance books and authors.

A Brief Announcement and Redirection…

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Yes, I realize I haven’t posted anything real in over a week. (Last Tuesday’s Get Out and Vote Post doesn’t count.) Sorry about that, but I’ve been very busy with normal everyday life as well as anything-but-normal NANOWRIMO life. I’m happy to say I’ve had great success with NaNo this year, though. And here’s the big announcement: I’m up to 31,000+ words! I’m having so much fun with this one. I’ll tell you more about it later, but here’s a little hint: It’s about magic and the odd places you go to find it. It is a romance and it’s still untitled, so if anyone wants to leave me a suggestion for a title, I’d welcome it.

But if you want to read a real post from me today, I’m going to redirect you to Jersey Girl Book Reviews. As part of my blog tour, they’ve put up a very nice post featuring a little info about me and WHERE THE HEART LIES, a guest post titled “Capturing Magic: Lightning Bugs in a Mason Jar” and even a very nice, well-written, four-star review! Here’s a little tidbit from the review:

Where The Heart Lies is a poignant story of loss, grief, secrets, love, redemption and second chances.–Jersey Girl Book Review

Can you guess how much I enjoyed that review? So pop over and let JGBR know how much you appreciate their kindness to your favorite author–no, not Nicholas Sparks or J.K.Rowling. ME, silly. 🙂

Ten reasons to vote today–out of the horse’s mouth, so to speak

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1. If you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe for the lowest common denominator of human achievement. — Jimmy Carter

2. I hate to see complacency prevail in our lives when it’s so directly contrary to the teachings of Christ. — Jimmy Carter

3. We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams. — Jimmy Carter

4. Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future. — John F. Kennedy

5. Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. — John F. Kennedy

6. The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves. — George Washington

7. Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves, and the only way they can do this is by not voting. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

8. Americans…still believe in an America where anything is possible. They just don’t think their leaders do. — Barack Obama

9. Leadership is about taking responsibility, not making excuses. — Mitt Romney

And finally:

10. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. — Theodore Roosevelt

That last one really says it all, doesn’t it? Source for all quotes is BrainyQuote.com.