Michelle Garren Flye's Blog, page 93

A Lesson I Learned…at Walt Disney World of All Places!

Before I begin writing this post, I just want to say I have every respect for the so-called "cast members" of Walt Disney World. I just got back from vacationing there, and I have to say that of all places I have ever been, the members of the service industry there are overall the hardest working and most cheerful I have ever encountered.

However, there are exceptions to this rule. On this particular trip, we met one cast member in the Magic Kingdom who was, well, on a bit of a power trip. Armed with a flashlight and a bad attitude, he roamed Main Street during one of the evening parades, ordering those of us who had been held up at dinner to stay behind a white line on the sidewalk instead of pressing forward into the backs of those who had evidently arrived well before the beginning of the parade.

"Get back behind the white line!" he yelled, brandishing his flashlight. "This sidewalk must remain clear!"

Honestly, Walt Disney himself could have told this man what would happen in his obvious effort to diminish the spirits of young folks out to have a good time. The man, who must have been near sixty years old, had probably never seen a Disney movie or he would have never attempted it.

My boys were in a mood that night and noticed the poor guy's name tag. Deprived of a good view of the parade and with no immediate way to get across Main Street to Futureworld and their real destination of the Buzz Lightyear ride, they decided to get their fun out of this guy we'll call Steve. As we waited as patiently as possible for the parade to end and everybody to get out of the way, my boys peered down the sidewalk, deliberately stepping into the middle of it, then scampering back. "Here comes Steve!" they yelled gleefully. "Get back, quick!"

For the better part of fifteen minutes they enjoyed themselves in this fashion, then the parade ended and we started up the sidewalk only to encounter Steve waving his flashlight wildly and shouting, "One way only! This sidewalk is one way only, going that way!"

Bewildered, we looked around at the mass of people going every which way, but Steve was obviously not about to let us past him, so my husband turned, walked several steps in the indicated direction and stepped off Steve's sidewalk into the tide of people on Main Street. He turned again in our original direction and my sons yelped in unison, "But, Dad, Steve said we had to go this way!" They were obviously delighted by my husband's disregard for Steve's authority and, with me holding onto their shoulders just to keep them from disappearing into the crowd, they formed a makeshift Conga line singing something about how Steve was going to get them. We drew many smiles from passersby and some even joined in our little dance.

I will go on record right now to say I was not dancing. I may have been shaking so hard some people might have gotten the wrong impression, but it was from laughter.

At any rate, on the other side of Main Street, we encountered another cast member holding a flashlight, who stood back, smiling, to let us pass. My sons immediately read his name tag. We'll call this man Jim. "Hey, that's Jim!" cried one. "He's a lot nicer than Steve!" replied the other.

And we danced on.

What lesson did I learn from all this? Well, obviously Steve didn't really intend to have a real effect on our night. He was doing his job. He was probably sick and tired of sweaty, stinky tourists who insisted on doing the exact opposite of what they should do and expecting to get away with it because they'd paid a freaking fortune to spend a day at the Magic Kingdom. Steve didn't care about the price of tickets or the little girls who wanted to dress like princesses or the little boys who wanted to meet Buzz Lightyear or Jack Sparrow or the parents who wanted to indulge their kids' every whim. Steve just wanted to do his job and go home.

He certainly didn't intend to impact our vacation in a positive way. And yet that is exactly what he did. For the rest of our time at Disney World, every cast member fell into one of two categories. The "Steves" were unpleasant. The "Jims" smiled and waved and made us feel welcome. And whenever we encountered a "Steve" we had only to say the name to elicit a smile from each other.

My point is this: we don't really know what effect we have on the lives of the people we meet. We may not even be trying to be unpleasant when we impact somebody's life. We might be just doing our jobs in an uncaring fashion. But if we become Jims, we might make life more pleasant. And if we insist on being Steves, we might just find ourselves the unwitting butt of somebody else's joke.

The Day After The Romance Girls Went Goblin…

So the candy's been collected and is now on the top of my fridge. The costumes have been relegated to the dress-up trunk and the kids are at school, hopefully learning something after staying up too late last night. And I'm taking a breathing moment.

I am so very grateful for everyone who entered my Halloween drawing. It was a wonderful experience getting messages from Greece, Australia and all over the U.S. I mean, how much cooler than to be able to say I had international visitors on my blog. I hope some of you will come back, maybe even take a leap of faith and read my books. And don't forget that in December I have a lot of surprises planned, including another (and even better) giveaway!

And yet, when I pulled the name out of the hat, I couldn't have been happier at the name of the person on it. Of all the people who have supported my writing career, this lady has been one of the most faithful. She not only subscribes to my blog, she actually reads it, and she's even mentioned me on her own blog once or twice. She even reads my books. Heck, her DAD even read one of my books!

And so, drumroll please…Jennifer Reno, you are the winner of my Romance Girls Gone Goblin Halloween Giveaway! Congratulations, my friend!

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Romance Girls Gone Goblin Halloween Blog Hop Begins! Prizes Galore!

And so it begins.

The Romance Girls Gone Goblin Blog Hop kicked off first thing this morning and I, of course, was unprepared. I have two kids class parties to attend today, plus my favorite art gallery is having a party tonight, so I had to get dinner into the crockpot. But now I'm here, and I have a grand thirty minutes set aside to update my blog.

I wracked my brains to figure out what to write about for Halloween, and I kept coming back to my work-in-progress. It's half ghost story, half romance, and I'm working hard to get the creepy edge just right. It's been a while since I've written anything close to horror, but I'm rediscovering my love of the genre. Anyway, in honor of Halloween and Romance Girls Gone Goblin, I thought I'd give you just a taste of one of my chilling scenes before getting to the good stuff (my giveaway).

Natalia.

A whisper, somewhere just outside the range of hearing. Was it a memory or something more?

…Natalia…

The light breeze from the heavy night breathed over her skin, heating instead of cooling the drops of sweat. She welcomed its touch, tilting her head back and lifting her mass of auburn hair.

Yes…come to me…

How she'd made it outside, she didn't know. Pain pricked the skin of her legs. She'd stumbled through something, scraping them in the process. Sharp sticks? Barbed wire? She couldn't tell, but the blood running down her calves felt hotter than it should, almost fevered.

But he was there. Wherever she was, he was there. More than a large, dark shadow now, she could feel him hard against her as he pulled her into massive arms, lowering his lips to hers. He tasted salty, as if his skin was covered with seawater, and she recoiled.

Natalia…

Now that I've whet your appetite for all things spooky romance, here's my offering:

Included in this giveaway are a tote bag with the cover of WINTER SOLSTICE on one side and SECRETS OF THE LOTUS on the other, a paperback copy of Hyprink's The Best of All Sins: Stories of Love & Heartbreak featuring my award-winning story LIFE AFTER, a $25 iBooks gift card and some swag, including the beautiful postcard my friend Shannon LuQuire of Trade Ideas, Inc. put together for me with blurbs of my two published books and a sneak peek at my as-yet-unpublished book THE SIXTH FOLD. Sorry, the pumpkin is not included as it belongs to my daughter!

Two steps to win!

1. Follow my blog. (Humor me. I know you won't always read all my posts, but every now and then I do come up with some cool stuff, and I've got some great stuff planned for December, including another giveaway!) If you already follow my blog, you can skip this step.

2. Leave a comment on THIS post with your name and email address. I'll throw your name into the hat.

Winner will be announced the morning of November 1. For a full list of participating blogs in this blog hop, check out Lisa Sanchez's blog here: Lisa Sanchez. Lots of other giveaways out there! Good luck!

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Announcing: Romance Girls Gone Goblin Halloween Blog Hop!

Good morning, boys and girls. How is your October going? I've had a pretty active one, myself. A couple weeks ago I went to Las Vegas for the first time ever. I have to say, Las Vegas is way different from anyplace I've ever been. I'm not what you'd call a world traveler, but I have spent some time in different cities, including New York, St. Louis, Baltimore, San Francisco and even an unforgettable month in Bristol, U.K., followed by a week in London. None of these cities ever made me feel like a provincial, small time North Carolina girl.

Las Vegas did that. Yep. I came to the quick realization that I could never really belong in Las Vegas, nor could I pretend to. I enjoyed my time there, but it was as an observer instead of a participant. The closest I came to participating was putting five dollars in a slot machine, watching it grow into a hundred dollars, then shrink back into nothingness. But even though I walked among the other participants of Las Vegas for several days, I never really felt like I belonged there. I felt like everybody who looked at me knew that, too, but it didn't really matter. In Las Vegas, the only people actually looking at other people are observers like me.

[image error]But now I've recovered and it's time to move on. For me, that means getting back on the blog thing! This year, Halloween means even more to me as I'll be participating in Romance Girls Gone Goblin Halloween Blog Hop! Hosted by fabulous romance author Lisa Sanchez, the hop starts on October 28 and continues until Halloween, so check back here for giveaways and links to other romance authors also eager to give you stuff! For more information about the blog hop, click on the cool image to the right, and I'll see you back here on October 28!

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Rainbow Chasers: A Tribute to Steve Jobs (with a HONEOWP announcement at the very end)

This week, two extraordinary things happened. The first ever quadruple rainbow was photographed and Steve Jobs, visionary founder of Apple, passed away. In my mind, these two events are linked by more than the time period, however.

In an article I found about the quadruple rainbow, I found the term "rainbow chasers", and that phrase has caught my imagination in a sort of magical way. I've mused about what it would be like to chase rainbows. It's an actual job, too. Check out the Urban Dictionary's definition. What a wonderful way to introduce yourself. I'd love to be able to walk up at a dinner party or a PTO function or really just about anywhere, shake someone's hand and introduce myself as "Michelle Garren Flye, rainbow chaser."

But in a way, I am a rainbow chaser. And Steve Jobs was one of the most successful rainbow chasers of our time. In his own words:

"You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do." — Stanford University Commencement Address 2005

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903596904576520690515394766.html#ixzz1a6UcP55X

So, in honor of Steve Jobs and the rainbow chasers who went before him (Walt Disney, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Einstein), I offer a new definition of a rainbow chaser: Someone who recognizes the joy of constantly striving toward the goal of perfection in their life and work. And in honor of Steve Jobs and the future rainbow chasers who may have been inspired by him, I designate my next HONEOWP Charity as Rainbows International Grief Support Organization for Children.

What Makes a Super-Couple? A Study of Soap Opera Characters

Hi. My name is Michelle and I am a soap opera addict.

Well, I'm addicted to one soap in particular. Days of Our Lives. My mom watched it when I was a toddler playing in the living room with blocks and baby dolls. I took a brief hiatus during elementary school (although I did enjoy it when I was sick), and then the advent of the VCR and then the DVR allowed me to become re-addicted. Nowadays, I watch it on Hulu while I'm on the treadmill. I almost never miss an episode.

It's exciting times in soap opera world. You're either fixing your formula so you can compete with the talk show hosts or you're getting cancelled. Days, or DOOL as my fellow addicts and I affectionately refer to it, has chosen the first, and far more preferable, route. After years of sub-par plots, untalented (and very young) actors and a startling preference for violence over romance, the Powers-That-Be seem to be listening to the fans. They've pared down the cast to the most talented, and now they're bringing back some old fan favorites and giving some others more meaty storylines.

This all got me thinking. Soap operas, at least since the eighties, have been known for creating "super-couples". These are the couples in soaps who are truly together "until death do they part." If you're a fan of soaps, you know these couples are never going to be torn apart, no matter what. Well, sometimes they get divorced or accidentally fall in love with somebody else for a while, but only if they think the other one is dead while they've really only been kidnapped. Or maybe they did die but were brought back to life for nefarious purposes by an evil genius. Either way, love will conquer all in the end.

But what makes these couples so indestructible? How do they have such powers for forgiveness and love that they can overcome finding someone else in their spouse's bed after they've fought their way out of a dungeon to get home? I've come up with a (sort of) formula for this, just in case anybody out there would like to attempt to replicate this heaven on earth in real life.

First, they must both be incredibly attractive, but probably in different ways. For instance, the woman is a debutante or a professional while the man is sort of a diamond in the rough. A nice scruffy beard is a plus, but just a permanent five o'clock shadow will do. And while the woman is absolutely clueless (at least at first) as to the effect she has on the man, the man should definitely believe he is God's gift to women. (If there are any guys out there reading this, this attitude most definitely does not work in real life. Trust me, you won't be able to pull it off like an outwardly alpha/hidden beta male can.)

Second, the man must be an alpha male, but with a tender side that the woman uncovers by accident. He's often brusque and rude, especially in her presence, but if given the opportunity, he will save little children and kittens (accidentally in her presence).

Third, our couple must experience an element of danger. Life-threatening (mostly for her) danger is best, and if it can be brought about by him, all the better.

Finally, the woman must be so attracted to the man, she will never, ever give up on him. Even when he's rude and endangers her life, she will turn a blind eye and a deaf ear. After all, she knows there is more to this guy. She's witnessed his bravery when small children and kittens are at stake. And besides, the five o'clock shadow is too sexy to leave.

On second thought, I don't think I would recommend reproducing these characteristics in real life. However, if you'd care to live in a fantasy for a while, try reading a romance or two. Like these:

Excerpt from SECRETS OF THE LOTUS:

Josie let him take her hand. "No, I guess not. How do you know for sure when somebody can't hurt you anymore?"

Dan's thumb moved gently over the backs of her fingers in an absent but comforting gesture. "I suppose it's when you no longer feel like they have the ability to reach into your chest and grab hold of your heart."

"I'm not sure I ever felt that way about Eric."

"You're lucky." He was still looking at her hand.

"Then you have?" She was surprised, she had to admit. She hadn't thought he ever let women get that close to him.

Dan dropped her hand abruptly. "Only once. We should go before I get a parking ticket."

Startled, Josie watched as he pulled on a sweatshirt and headed to the door.

"Coming?"

"Sure, yeah." She picked up her bag. "Sorry." She followed him, wondering which of his many conquests had elicited such intensity of feeling from him and if that woman fully appreciated

what she'd left behind.

Excerpt from WINTER SOLSTICE:

"Has anyone ever told you you're very sexy when you're feeling guilty?" John asked.

Becky looked up to find him smiling. With a rush of violence, she wanted to hit him. In fact, she did raise her hand to strike him, but he forestalled that by stepping forward, one arm sliding around her waist, the other hand behind her head, pulling her to him, his lips first gentle on hers, then more demanding. As she relaxed in his arms, he drew her even closer, the hand behind her head sliding down to the nape of her neck in the lightest of caresses.

It was the first time they'd kissed in nearly two weeks. It felt incredible to be in his arms again. She realized how much she had missed being with him and reveled in the heat between them, wanting more, but knowing this embrace would have to end.

He released her with obvious reluctance, tapering off the one long passionate kiss to several slow and deliberate kisses, finally stopping completely.

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

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?

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

Take one today. Remember. I am.

Laboring on Labor Day

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.