Tag Archives: book

Happy National Poetry Month: Poem 17

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12:42 p.m. I guarantee I’ll be interrupted, but I’m trying to finish this before lunch. I have only a line in mind:

“Making yourself small enough to fit.”

It was inspired by the book I just finished, Weyward by Emilia Hart. An excellent read and all about learning not to try to fit into society’s expectations of you.

12:46 p.m. Here goes:

Make yourself small enough to fit
the hole that has been provided for you
even when that lifestyle doesn't sit
well, and nothing about it seems true

But what if, say, you didn't slim down
and instead put on your loosest jeans
and didn't mind what was said in town?
Say fuck it all and spread your wings!

Even if you've spent the past few years
cutting edges off your square peg
feeling pain, self disgust and shedding tears
the ache in your knee when you bend the leg

Stop cutting yourself, stop holding back
let the ground fall away as you take flight
Bet you never thought you'd have a knack
for living life with all your might.

Don't bother trying to make yourself fit
life is better if you just live it.

1:10 p.m. Yep. Several interruptions. Also, I didn’t know it was a sonnet. A little cleanup:

Square Peg
by Michelle Garren-Flye

Make yourself small enough to fit
the hole that has been provided for you;
even when that lifestyle doesn't sit
well, and nothing about it seems true.

But what if, say, you didn't slim down
and instead put on your loosest jeans
and didn't mind what was said in town?
Say fuck it all and spread your wings!

Even if you've spent the past few years
cutting edges off your square peg,
feeling pain, self disgust, and shedding tears—
oh, the ache in your knee when you bend the leg!

Stop cutting yourself, stop holding back!
Let the ground fall away as you take flight.
Bet you never thought you'd have a knack
for living life with all your might.

Don't bother trying to make yourself fit;
life is better if you just live it.

1:14 p.m. Done. Whew.

Book Release Tomorrow! (With Live Excerpt)

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It’s almost time! My Greek Gods meet Regency England romantasy that was SIX YEARS in the making lol. Actually, probably more like three because I kind of got sidetracked from writing novels for a while, especially of the romantic sort.

I tried to figure out a great way to spend this last day before the book release and what I came up with was inspired by how I used to do live poetry writing on my blog. (I plan to revisit that this April, btw!)

I’m going to do live excerpts. That’s right. I have a copy of the book here and I’m going to open it up, find something of interest and transcribe it here. I’m so confident in my writing, I’m certain I can find something to tempt you to buy my book on any page I open to! So get ready…here goes.

Excerpt 1:

“I was born mortal.” Callie wondered if it was true. She barely remembered her parents.

“There are no guarantees as far as that is concerned.” Aphrodite swirled the golden liquid in the glass. “Maybe your mortal mother thought she was never taken by a god, but the things I’ve seen…” She shook her head. “One could have come to her in her sleep, or disguised as your father. Or in a really good bath…” She widened her eyes.

Excerpt 2:

Hades sighed and reached forward as if to touch her face, then stopped, his fingers curling back into his hand. “Very well. But please, join me for a drink.”

Callie looked at the bottle on the table then back at him. His lips curved. “You won’t be trapped here. That was a little fiction my wife and mother-in-law cooked up. I just go along with it. For domestic peace.”

Excerpt 3:

With no other choice, Callie picked up the teapot and went over to the table. She noticed Dionysus’s little frown, Lord St. Clair’s quizzical look. But she focused only on the lady who’d summoned her. “Did you need more tea, My Lady?”

“No, I did not. I wish you to join us.”

Callie’s immediate reaction was dismay. Join the family breakfast table? She had been horrified when Samir proposed she accompany him to dinner, but to sit down with the family for a meal when Samir wasn’t even there? She shook her head. “No, ma’am. I would not presume.”

“You’re not presuming if I ask. There are plenty of servers and we have an empty spot at the table.” Lady Clarissa nodded to one of the footmen. “Please bring another teacup for Callie.”

And that’s all you’re getting out of me. I had so much fun adding my own spin to the gods of Greek Mythology that I fell in love with a long time ago. I don’t exactly remember the first time I picked up a book of Greek mythology, but so much of it has stuck with me. I remember devouring book after book. I thrilled to the adventures of Jason and Heracles, was horrified by the fate of Daphne, and I was always dubious about Persephone lol. (She’s not actually in this one, though, so maybe I’m just taking Hades’s word for it.)

Anyway, tomorrow we’ll open a Pandora’s pithos of our own when I let this book loose on the world of romantasy readers. If you’re intrigued, it will be available on Amazon and at my store, The Next Chapter Books & Art.

Another Branch of My Publishing Journey Begins with a Cover Reveal!

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In 2010 I received what felt like maybe good news… One of my novels had been accepted by a publisher, Lyrical Press. At that time, Lyrical Press was an independent e-pub only publisher. That meant my book would only be available as en ebook. Kindle. Nook. All the other hot items on everybody’s Christmas list.

I consulted friends who had had more luck than me. The consensus was, basically, “Congratulations. At least it’s not self-publishing!” (haha! The worm has turned on that one!)

Lyrical Press did a wonderful job with my book, helping me edit, format, and designing an outstanding cover I will always love. Probably the most of all my covers. Secrets of the Lotus became a real book on July 5, 2010. Shortly after that, Lyrical accepted another of my books, Winter Solstice, which they published in 2011. And a few years later, Lyrical Press became part of Kensington Press, giving me the ability to say two of my books were published by Kensington Press. Pretty cool.

Late last year, however, I realized I wanted to do more with my books. Having taken the self-publishing thing to an extreme, I now own a bookstore, and I want those books on the shelf with my others. I contacted Kensington and they reverted the rights to me. Unfortunately, these rights do not include the original covers, but I have become rather handy with designing covers myself so no worries.

I’ve learned a lot about self-publishing in the past fourteen years. I’m currently putting both books through my own editing and formatting process and hope to have them on the shelf, literally, by summer. I have redesigned the covers already, and I’m getting excited about reintroducing these two stories to you guys.

Congratulations! I’m self-publishing!

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Poetry Diaries: It’s happening!

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Everyone who knows me as a poet knows my feelings about poetry being nonfiction. Poetry is a much more personal form of writing (to me) than novels or short stories. I can write about anything in a novel or short story. I once wrote a flash fiction about a woman who’d lost both legs in an accident. I used to write horror. And yes, romance. All fiction.

Nothing personal.

Poetry, on the other hand, is almost never fiction to me. I can’t really put myself in someone else’s shoes when I write poetry. The few times I have, it’s because I’m able to empathize for one reason or another. And I almost never think those poems are as good as my others.

So poetry is very personal. It’s my thoughts and feelings. And when I put together a poetry book, it’s almost like a diary. I tend to share a bit about what and why I wrote different poems. Like a diary.

I noticed this trend in my work after Hypercreativity. Both Hypercreativity and 100 Warm Days of Haiku fit this concept I had for poetry diaries. So I decided to make them part of a series. The Poetry Diaries was born. The third in this series is coming soon. Well, hopefully. I’m hoping it will be fifty villanelle, but I haven’t even hit forty yet and may stop there, honestly. I’ve discovered a new type of poetry I really want to try. In the meantime, however, I did design the cover to the next poetry diary. And it’s pretty good!

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Challenge Accepted: Learning something new

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I’ve been a bit directionless recently. No idea what to do with my creative energy, so I’ve been shoving it down and watching Netflix instead (I’m rewatching Longmire, and it’s better than I remember from the first time around). (Side note: I need a Lou Diamond Phillips in my life.)

Back to learning something new. I decided I needed a direction, so I posted on social media and Twitter (Twitter is not social media, imo), asking for suggestions for my next poetry challenge. I didn’t promise to write, illustrate and publish another poetry book in less than a month, but I did indicate I might try.

Well, the challenge I got and accepted after some thought was a bit more complex than I’d anticipated. I don’t think I’ll manage another book in 30 days. It’s a whole new form to me and I’m loving it, hating it, cursing it—and learning it.

A villanelle is a sort of song poem with a rigid rhyme scheme that utilizes repeating lines, unlike most poetry. The best known one is Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Night.” I have always loved that poem. I love the rhythm of it. I love the passion in it. I love the way you can almost unconsciously sing it without even meaning to.

The one thing I never loved because I never even noticed it was the rhyme.

How is that possible?? In multiple places “night” literally rhymes with “night”, “light” with “light”. How the heck did Thomas make his rhyme so invisible? It’s awesome that he did, because a poem with too heavy a rhyme will be singsongy and irritating. It may sound contrived. How did Thomas manage a poem with such a rigid rhyme scheme and make it sound natural?

The answer, of course, is that so much of the rest of the poem is more important than the rhyme. The passion, the theme, the message, the rhythm. All the things I’ve noticed that I love.

So that’s my new challenge. Write villanelles that don’t sound like they have a rhyme scheme. Or at least write villanelles where the rigid rhyme scheme doesn’t interfere with the message and passion of the poem.

Random picture of a perfect mushroom. Photo by Michelle Garren-Flye

Far & wee: The (video) audiobook

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It’s one thing to tell you how special this little book is. It’s another to show you. So here I am in a one-take video, reading my book out loud and explaining it as well as showing you the pictures as best I could.

Want to look for the balloon-man with me?

New poetry book announcement: Far & wee (with excerpt—sort of)

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Cover copyright 2022 Michelle Garren-Flye

So you’ve been with me from the beginning of this thing. May 21 doesn’t seem like that long ago, right? What is that, 19 days?

I never would have thought in a million years that I would write, illustrate and publish a book in nineteen days. But I did.

I’ve often felt that I write what is given to me from…somewhere else. I write for someone else and there’s a purpose I don’t necessarily know about for my writing. I don’t know who it is out there who needs to read this book, but it’s here now. It was my obsession, pushing everything else out of the way for 19 days. Now I need to move on to finish up some other projects. Projects that took me longer than 19 days. But I think I can do it now.

Anyway, as a little introduction/excerpt to the book, here’s the actual introduction of the book as it appeared on my computer while I was laying out the book.

Copyright 2022 Michelle Garren-Flye

Cover reveal of the book I wrote, illustrated and prepared for publishing in less than three weeks

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Is there a correct amount of time to spend writing a book?

If there is, I broke every rule with this one.

My previously untitled “balloon-man project” is nearing completion. I designed the cover this morning. I finished the layout last night. I’ll probably publish it tomorrow.

This book is really about obsession—especially as it applies to us creative types. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of need that an especially appealing project creates in the belly of a creative.

And there’s nothing like that feeling of knowing it’s done. Even if you broke all the rules getting there.

Copyright 2022 Michelle Garren-Flye

Which Wolf Do You Choose?

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Fear and hope. One can easily defeat the other. It’s a matter of which wolf we choose to feed.

I’ve fed both in the past. Fear is a scavenging beast of a wolf. His ribs always show, regardless of how much you feed him. He’s always wanting more. More of your confidence, more of your dreams, more of your self. He brings nothing but doubt.

Hope is a mighty warrior when you feed her. She’ll slay Fear before he can eat your soul. She’ll encourage you to reach for those dreams, even when it seems there’s no way you’ll ever achieve them. She brings joy and life and love.

I am almost finished with my next poetry book Hypercreativity. During the course of putting it together, I realized that although I always want to choose to fill Hope’s bowl with kibble, I often dribble it into Fear’s. Because you have to consciously make a choice to feed Hope, but Fear is always there, waiting.

I made a conscious decision to finish my book with a healthy feeding for Hope. I’m pleased with that decision because my entire writing life is built on Hope. She needs to be strong.

Illustration copyright 2022 Michelle Garren-Flye

Taking Steps: A Poetry Reading About Winter

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As a poet laureate, I’m supposed to be spreading my love of poetry far and wide. As someone who is less than enamored with the sound of her own voice, this is a difficult charge for me. However, as I take this position seriously, today I impulsively decided to record a short poetry reading and post it on social media. I selected two poems about winter. The first is, ahem, not mine but by a poet you might recognize. The second is mine, one of my favorites that I wrote last year about this time. The video below is of the impromptu reading I conducted in my bookstore. It’s the first in my series, Poetry Readings, which will be posted on my Instagram account, michellegflye.