Michelle Garren Flye

A Warm Welcome To Michelle 

Michelle Garren Flye is a mother, writer and editor based in coastal North Carolina. She obtained her degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1992. Not liking the hours required of a journalist, she went on to obtain a Master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1997. When her first child was born in 2000, she packed her diplomas away and began a new life as a stay-at-home mom, which fortunately afforded her the opportunity to pursue her writing on a semi-regular basis.

Michelle has served in various capacities for several online and print literary endeavors, including Dark Recesses, edifice WRECKED, Horror Library, Butcher Shop Quartet, and Tattered Souls.

Michelle is the author of three romance novels, Where the Heart Lies (Carina Press 2012), Winter Solstice (Lyrical Press 2011) and Secrets of the Lotus (Lyrical Press 2010). Michelle also self-published a fiction book titled Weeds and Flowers for the Kindle in December 2011.

Here's the blurb for her latest release Where the Heart Lies

 

BUY

All widowed Alicia Galloway has left of her war-hero husband are the flag that draped his coffin and his final wishes: to move to his hometown, take over the family bookstore and enjoy a simple, quiet life with their two small children. When she arrives, her husband’s best friend makes that new life anything but simple. How can she be so drawn to Liam Addison?

Liam only intended to help Alicia get settled. But one unexpected kiss awakens his long-held forbidden feelings. Soon, the town busybodies swoop in to warn Alicia away from him. Because no matter the man he’s become, he’ll never live down his reputation as town troublemaker and wolfish womanizer.

No one wants the war hero’s sweet widow and the supposedly former bad boy together. But the more everyone tries to keep them apart, the closer he and Alicia get. And the more determined Liam is to prove he’s a changed man. Will it be enough to convince Alicia to let a new love in her life?

Before treating us to an excerpt, Michelle Reveals

 

In a couple of sentences, describe the hero’s character. What do you like best/least about him?

Liam is a very flawed hero. He’s got a past that still haunts him. He’s an alcoholic college physics professor, for heaven’s sake. But he looks a little like a cleaned up Johnny Depp, and he’s worked hard to overcome his addiction to alcohol and make something of himself. You can’t help but love him.

 

And the heroine? How do you relate to her?

Alicia is just one of those amazing people you sometimes meet who has it all together in spite of everything life throws at her. She’s beautiful, a wonderful mother, and she’s able to overcome some pretty challenging obstacles. She is who I wish I could be.

 

Who controls the story – you or your characters? 

I’ve always found that when I really know the character, he or she (or both) will tell me the story. So I work really hard to get to know my characters. It makes the writing easier.

 

What do you most enjoy about writing romance? 

I’m a born romantic, so even though I’ve tried writing other stuff, I always end up back on the romance end of things. I love the idea that there can be a happily ever after, even though it doesn’t always happen in real life. Romance is an escape for authors and readers. I mean, everyone should read the newspaper, but if that’s all you read, you’ll get depressed really fast. I guess that’s why I enjoy writing romance. It makes me happy and I hope it makes someone else happy too.

 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? What would be your tips to overcome it?

I’m scared to write this, but I don’t really believe in writer’s block. I believe writing comes in cycles like everything else in our lives. I’ve found that I do best if I sit down at the computer every day, whether I write something productive or not. If I maintain the habit of at least sitting at my desk, eventually the writing comes back. Sometimes I might sit for an hour and manage a paragraph. Then I get up and do something else for a while and come back later for another attempt.

 

What is the best writing advice you have ever received?

The very best advice I’ve ever gotten isn’t really advice, it’s a quote, and it probably wasn’t intended to have anything to do with writing. It’s by Robert Schuller, and it’s been used on everything from t-shirts to mugs and bumper stickers, so I’m pretty sure you’ve read it before: “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?” To me, that quote will never be trite. It’s a reminder that if we try, we may achieve, but if we don’t try, we never will.

 

What are you currently reading?

Echolocation by Myfanwy Collins.

 

Which flower would best describe you and why?

I’ve always loved the daffodil, because it’s sort of shy in spite of its bright color. And it blooms everywhere, anywhere. You’re as likely to find it blooming in front of a broken down house with boarded up windows as in a fine garden.

Now A Taste of Michelle

Alicia came out of the bathroom, fastening an earring. She looked amazing in a long black skirt and white silk blouse with her brassy red hair falling over her shoulders. For a moment he had trouble breathing.

He’d considered bringing flowers, but he’d known what Penny’s opinion of that would be, and more importantly he hadn’t wanted to do anything that would make Alicia uncomfortable. Confronted by her beauty, however, his fingers felt empty, as if he needed something to offer just for the opportunity to look at her. Was this how Aphrodite’s worshippers had felt as they left their worldly goods at the feet of her statue in ancient Greece?

                                                                                      



Follow the rest of Michelle's tour here

MICHELLE'S LINKS:

Blog: BREATHE: http://michellegflye.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michelle-Garren-Flye/132688623422175
Twitter: @michellegflye

PLEASURE TO MEET YOU, MICHELLE. TOTALLY AGREE WITH THE SCHULLER QUOTE!

Michelle will be awarding promotional postcards fromCarina Press with 10% off coupons to one commenter at every stop, and a $10Amazon GC + a copy of Bartlett's Poems for Occasions, which inspired part ofthe book to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

NOW LEAVE A COMMENT TO ENTER THE DRAW