By Jonathan Burger, Craven Arts Council & Gallery, Inc.
Michelle Garren-Flye is the owner of The Next Chapter Books & Art, editor of The Next Chapter Literary Magazine, a multi-published author of romance, children’s books and poetry. In 2021 she was named the Heart of the Pamlico Poet Laureate. Her most recent projects include UnSong, a book of illustrated poetry, HourGlass, an adult comic book based on her poetry, and 100 Warm Days of Haiku, an illustrated book of haiku. Her newest project, Hypercreativity: Poems, will be published summer 2022. For more information, visit http://michellegflye.com.
Where are you from and how did you end up in New Bern?
I am originally from Brevard, N.C. It’s a small town with a vibrant artist community that helped it recover from an economic slump and turn into a tourist destination. Sort of like New Bern. So it makes sense that from the moment I moved to New Bern eighteen years ago, it felt like home. It has been the perfect place to raise my kids and now I own a business, I’m involved in the theater, and basically am realizing a lot of dreams I didn’t even know I had because of New Bern.
How did you get your start in writing? Did you have formal training or are you self-taught?
I have written since I was a kid. Short stories, poetry, whatever. I used to read more than I wrote. Now it’s the other way around. I’m not really happy if I’m not creating something. The only formal training I’ve ever had, though, is as a journalist. I do have a now unused degree from Chapel Hill in that.
You’ve written poetry, children’s books, romance and even a comic book. Do you have a favorite medium or style of writing? (and why or why not?)
I guess my favorite has to be what I’m doing now. Illustrated poetry. I loved Shel Silverstein when I was growing up. I’m not sure why he’s pigeonholed as a children’s poet, either. His poetry has a lot to teach you no matter how old you are. It took me a long time to realize I could draw, too, but then my daughter introduced me to the iPad and it opened up a whole new world to me. I draw and the poem just takes form in my head. Most of the time, anyway. No system is foolproof, I guess.
Does your writing have a central theme, or several themes?
My romances sort of had a “second chance at the dream” theme, but my poetry is different. It’s my own thoughts and dreams and feelings, and those can be different from one day to the next. Right now I’m sort of feeling a “new life” theme, maybe because I love spring.
You’re the owner of Next Chapter Books & Art and editor of The Next Chapter Literary Magazine. What relationship do you see between those roles and your work as a writer?
Well, I stepped into Next Chapter Books & Art after it was already well established and was very fortunate to do so. I’m working on changing the focus from “used books and some local authors” to “local authors and some used books”. I love selling other authors’ work. I love that they trust me to do a good job of it. As a former librarian, I love getting questions from customers about what local author books they might enjoy. I take a lot of satisfaction out of selling any local author book, and if it happens to be mine, that works.
As for the literary magazine, it’s my way of showcasing the work of so many amazing, talented people in this area. We are fortunate to have Nicholas Sparks hail from here, but I like to encourage people to look beyond that. We may not all have Mr. Sparks’s luck in the publishing industry, but there are a lot of us in this area who have something to say and the talent for putting it down on the page.
And of course, there’s the fact that my store is an inspiring place for me. I love working there. I am almost always working on something, and a few times I’ve been startled from working on something on my iPad to look up and find a customer patiently waiting for me to check them out. That’s maybe not so great as far as customer relations goes, but so far nobody’s actually gotten mad at me.
Is there a writer whose work you admire or inspires you?
So many. Dead and alive. Jane Austen’s sense of humor. Alice Hoffman’s sense of the magical. I love Gabbie Hanna’s book of illustrated poetry dandelion. All of Robert Frost’s work. And I’ve been studying haiku, so Matsuo Basho. I’ll make myself stop there.
What specific work, award, or honor are you particularly proud of, and why?
I don’t enter a lot of contests, and when I do there’s usually someone better than me who’s also entered it, so I don’t have a lot of awards. But I did, on a whim, enter the Heart of the Pamlico Poet Laureate contest a couple of years ago. It was delayed due to Covid, but this past September I was awarded that honor. I am very proud to be a representative for poetry in our area, and I’m having a lot of fun with it.
In one sentence, what is art to you?
Art is the ability to share inspiration in a way that helps others see things differently.
Do you have advice for people who want to be a writer or are just starting out?
Make your own way. Don’t expect to do it like somebody else did. Your journey in both writing and publishing will be a very personal one with twists and turns that are your own. Whenever someone asks me how I got published or why I self publish now when I started out being traditionally published, I can’t really answer. It’s my journey littered with my right and wrong decisions, and knowing it won’t really help someone else much. So research and be willing to make your own path.
Besides Next Chapter, where else can people find your work or keep up with what you’re working on?
As much as I hate to admit it as a bookstore owner, I have a reluctantly symbiotic relationship with Amazon. So yeah, you can find anything I’ve written that’s worth reading there. And I keep a fairly active blog at http://michellegflye.com. I also have both author and business pages on Instagram and Facebook that are updated regularly.
Craven Arts Council & Gallery • 317 Middle Street • www.cravenarts.org • 252.638.2577