Happy National Poetry Month: Poem 17

Posted on April 17, 2026 by Michelle Garren-Flye

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.

Poem: A Sonnet for My Last Hinge Match

Posted on January 23, 2026 by Michelle Garren-Flye

Now that my novel is done and off to the printer, I’m taking a short break from writing seriously. Although, maybe this is a serious poem? Who knows, really.

A Sonnet for My Last Hinge Match
By Michelle Garren-Flye

Let’s not fall in love, just listen a while:
I can’t sell myself short, it’s no longer my style.
I’m not even sure anymore what I want,
and I’m not saying that just to taunt.

I guess my desire is for a hero of old
a god shining above in a chariot of gold
or winging across the sky on Pegasus.
That’s why there can never be an us.

I expect starlit dance floors, fountains of wine,
and you to be faithful, handsome, and kind.
Settle for something less than? I won’t.
I think I’m destined to wind down my life alone.

I know your bargain doesn’t include all that,
so I’ll happily spend the night alone with my cat.

I made another something: Laws of Lightning will be out soon!

Posted on January 21, 2026 by Michelle Garren-Flye

My last original romance novel was published in 2020. I believe it was at the height of Covid, when we all thought the world was going to end. I remember people caught on cruise ships and getting stuck because of Covid cases being detected onboard. And I bravely published a romance that took place on board a cruise ship.

Ah, those were the days.

No fear this time, though. Covid has been interwoven into our society (along with some other unpleasant things). So for my comeback, my first novel in nearly SIX YEARS, I chose to write a total escape romantasy set in 1700s England and featuring Greek gods. Yep. It’s like if Jane Austen met the crazy-ass gods of mythology.

Here’s the summary:

In a world where magic and religion are outlawed, the fates of a natural mage and a wandering god collide.

Callie has hidden her powers all her life while working as a kitchen maid for the St. Clair family—until one night when she is discovered in the woods by Samir, a servant of the Muses. Drawn to the beauty of her magic, Samir recruits his friend Dionysus to help him discover more about the young woman with extraordinary power.

Together, they embark on a search for the lost pithos of Pandora. The journey tests their love, expands their beliefs, and leads them on a wild ride from the excesses of London’s “season” to the mysterious depths of the Oracle of Delphi.

Can the new love Samir and Callie have discovered survive the demands of London society and the quirks of the gods of Olympus?

And here’s the final cover:

Laws of Lightning will be released on February 28, 2026. I’ll be posting more about it between now and then. I’ve ordered my preview copy of it, just to make sure it really is going to look as good as I think it will when it comes out. Just FYI, although it’s a romantasy, I doubt this one would get even 3 spicy peppers on today’s spicy scale. Still, I’m old-fashioned and recommending it for 18+ readers. So approach with caution.

Celebrating 50,000 words

Posted on March 7, 2025 by Michelle Garren-Flye

I just wrote the 50,000th word of my latest work-in-progress. This is significant to me because I haven’t gotten that far on a novel since 2020. I’ve written plenty of poems and actually published several poetry books, but a novel? Ha! My muse wasn’t talking.

But all that changed with this idea. I’ve started and restarted it at least three times. I’ve tried different settings, different time periods, different characters…and it finally seems to be working out. Never being one to do things in order, I made myself a working cover to help keep myself on task. And, in a fairly weird reversal of never judge a book by its cover, I love the cover so much the book has to be written!

So, as a celebration, here’s the preview of the cover (still may change a bit…or a lot) and a brief summary of what it’s all about.

I’m excited!

Cover design by Michelle Garren-Flye Copyright 2025

Set in 18^th century England, in an alternate universe where magic and religion are both equated and outlawed, Callie, a natural mage, has hidden her powers all her life while working as a kitchen maid. Callie is discovered in the woods one night by Samir, a servant of the Muses who is traveling England as Lord Wildingham. After witnessing Callie’s magic, Samir recruits his friend Dionysus to accompany him to the manor where Callie works.

Samir remembers nothing but servitude to the Muses, Callie knows nothing but concealing her magic. Yet together, the two realize they are much more. Their mutual discoveries lead them on a search for the lost pithos of Pandora. The journey tests their love and their beliefs, as they hunt down the sins released from Pandora’s pithos.

Ranging from the countryside of England to London to the mountains of Greece and beyond, Laws of Lightning imagines a world where magic and mythology intertwine with the conventions of Georgian England.

Winter Solstice: Let’s Celebrate the Darkest Day of the Year

Posted on December 21, 2024 by Michelle Garren-Flye

Today is the winter solstice, aka the darkest day of the year. There are fewer minutes of daylight today than on any other day.

It’s my favorite day, not because I don’t like light but because I do. I love light, and if today is the shortest day, then we start getting longer days tomorrow. It’s like hitting rock bottom but knowing you will have the strength to climb back up.

That’s why I wrote my book Winter Solstice, which is now in print in my “Author’s Edition”. This is a day we don’t always appreciate or even note, but it’s worth remembering if there’s a down, there’s usually an up that follows.

Graphic Novel Update: More Pictures!

Posted on October 4, 2020 by Michelle Garren-Flye

It seems I just can’t NOT share my excitement about this ongoing project. I’m up to about eighty pictures now, and I’m still going strong. I’ve been experimenting more with drawing people as well as places and things. I think it’s working out…

Of course, my strength remains in the words, but I have had fun experimenting with drawing things like fire, too.

“Why would you think all the fire in the world is yours?”

I know, of course, that my pictures will not be the works of art I see in other graphic novels. I am not truly an artist. Most of what I’m doing is photographic manipulation. My strength is really in the five poems that are in this book. And the story I’ve woven around the poems and pictures. I am hopeful that they will find a place in the hearts of readers.

I wrote a fanfiction. And it’s really good.

Posted on August 6, 2020 by Michelle Garren-Flye

I blame 2020. So in a way, I guess I should thank 2020 for being such a miserable year it froze my creative juices in my veins so that the only way I could continue writing at all was to take up a study of haiku and try to figure out why some 5-7-5 poems are better than others.

Until Boku No Hero Academia, that is.

My daughter introduced me to it. More to the point, I found out she’d been watching anime and reacted like any sensible parent would and demanded she watch it with me. I have a bit of a prejudice against anime and manga due to the way it portrays women. I found some of that in BNHA (a.k.a., My Hero Academia, based on the manga by Kohei Horikoshi), but nothing I felt would scar my beautiful, confident, intelligent daughter.

I did think the anime could use a stronger female character or two, preferably on the hero and not the villain side.

I was pretty sure I could create one.

In mid-July I did exactly that. And then I started writing her story. Then I posted it on a fanfiction site. It’s now up to 22 chapters (I’ve been posting one a day, serial-like), has almost 700 hits, 22 kudos, six subscribers, and one reader who comments every single day. I’m kind of proud of that. It might be the most successful thing I’ve ever written.

After I wrote about ten chapters of it, I came clean with my daughter. She was shocked and, I think, happy. She asked if she could read it. I gave her the link because I’ve rated it “Teen and Up” on the site, and I know it’s okay for her.

She said it was really good.

I asked if it was weird that I wrote it.

She pointed out that most fanfiction is written by kids, so my readers are probably kids and probably think I am, too.

Oh jeez.

That is a little weird.

And still, I know I’m going to finish this story because I can’t not. It’s been pure fun to write. I love the universe, the characters (Kohei Horikoshi’s and mine), and how it’s brought me back to reading the comic books I borrowed from my older brother’s room when I was a kid. He always had the best ones. Richie Rich, Spider-Man, The Micronauts (remember Baron Karza, anyone?), and so many others. I loved those comics.

And I’m not going to apologize for writing a fanfiction based on an anime based on a manga. After all, it’s better than sitting frozen in horror watching our world flame out.

And besides, it inspired my beautiful daughter to draw me this:

My OC (that’s Original Character) from my fanfiction.

I am not going to post a link to my fanfiction because I don’t want to lead any children to my romances. If any of you do find this, my romances are not child friendly. I would refer you to my Shelley Gee account for middle grade children’s books. Possibly my semi-YA Weeds and Flowers. But none of these are set in a universe with heroes and villains and would probably be a disappointment. Sorry? On the other hand, if you know me and want to read the fanfiction to see if it’s really all that, let me know.

Haiku quest continues…

Posted on July 16, 2020 by Michelle Garren-Flye

A few more of my better ones.

#14

Wind and rain lover’s

Knuckles brushing over cheek

Gentle but solid

#15

Rain beats the leaves down

Rushes on the ground to pool

Over the tree’s roots

#16

Inspiration comes

After storm falls on our heads

Umbrella is nice

#17

Irrational want

Desire what can never be

Love has no place here

#20

This excellent trip

Will end eventually

What happens then, love?

#21

Restless sleep tonight

The moon flows full over trees

Inviting rambles

#23

Why sleep in the night?

Fight circadian rhythms—

Living time is dear.

#24

Read haiku poem

Prepare for inspiration

Bursting with longing

#27

I love the rain sounds

On the glass paneled windows

Safe in my bookstore

#29

Summer evening

Alien ratchets and song

Wish I weren’t alone

#31

Scarlet cardinal

Takes flight, leaves the rest of us

Behind, bound to earth

#32

Late blooming flower

Pure and alone on the bush

I guess you forgot

#33

Bizarre masked people

Eating at sidewalk cafes

Through open zippers

#34

Can’t really decide

If surroundings are muted

Or are you just bright

#35

Reality runs

After me, chases, leaps and

Follows my retreat

Late blooming gardenia. Photo by Michelle Garren Flye

Poem: No Edges

Posted on July 11, 2020 by Michelle Garren-Flye

No Edges

By Michelle Garren Flye

I decided to be edgy much too late

Soft living makes soft edges

And those are just curves

Rounded spaces don’t agree

With razor sharpness

Anyway

So I’ll just go on preserving

Circular surroundings

(Circles have no end, no beginning

They mean forever

And a day

But that’s too long for anyone sane)

And leave the sharp spears

To the young people

Those who can still afford

To poke holes

Where they don’t belong.

Happy 25th and 18th: An anniversary, a book and a poem.

Posted on May 28, 2020 by Michelle Garren-Flye

Today is, in a very real way, a very big day for me. It’s my 25th wedding anniversary and the day I officially release my 18th book.

Thank you.

It’s hard to celebrate right now, as I have good reason to know. My 50th birthday fell right at the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis. My son and my daughter also have celebrated birthdays. Today I have no actual plans to celebrate. I once envisioned a busy day full of well wishing friends for both my book and my marriage. I mean, not as many people make it to their silver wedding anniversary as used to, right? And quite a few authors never see 18 books with their name on the front.

But celebrating is hard right now. People are still sick, still dying. I’m working hard to make sure I’m not one of them. I have nightmares that my family is. And life goes on.

And still, I am happy to announce the publication of my 18th book, Magic at Sea, the seventh book of my Sleight of Hand series (and still a standalone, so you can read it even if you haven’t kept up with the series!). And I am happier still to be married to the same wonderful man for twenty-five years. Rain or shine, we’ve had them both.

Rain or Shine

By Michelle Garren Flye

When did it rain?

I never heard thunder

Or wind or raindrops.

When did they fall?

It must have happened

Behind the scenes

While we were busy

Doing something else.

Something important.

Raising kids, living life,