Nicole Pohlman came into college with the motto “Believe and achieve all dreams” engraved on her class ring from Delphos St. Johns. Less than two semesters in, she can check “publish first book” off the list of aspirations.
Pohlman is the author and illustrator of The Little Fly Who Couldn’t Fly, the story of a little guy who perseveres past bullies and self-doubt with some encouragement from his dad. The idea came to her while she was watching a fly at her summer job.
“I was in a factory, third shift–11 p.m. to 7 a.m. I saw this fly on one of the worktables and I would shoo it away, swat it, but it just would not move away from the table,” Pohlman said. “So, I actually wrote the whole thing on a napkin at 3 a.m. And that is kind of where it first took off.”
The English major has always wanted to be a writer and her end-goal is still to write novels, but putting her ideas together for The Little Fly Who Couldn’t Fly has been rewarding and illuminating. She had to fight her way through a host of internal and external doubters to get where she is, both in terms of her chosen career path and her first book. Sometimes, she felt like the fly.
“There were moments where I thought I could not publish it, Amazon would not accept it, and I always said, ‘I can't. I can't.’ and that is exactly what the fly says. I had my doubts along the way, but in the end, it all worked out and it is out there. So, I felt like I was the fly throughout the process, but I have come to realize that it is possible.”
In addition to her writing projects and school work, Pohlman is the managing editor of the campus literary magazine and has been digging deep into a whole different side of English and writing through the poetry club and a poetry class.
Pohlman is also making time to promote the message of her book to her young audiences. She has already done a reading at her Delphos elementary school and encourages the new readers to look at flies and themselves in a positive light.
“Now when I see a fly, I never shoo it away. I see the fly and I think of where I have come from and where I have flown and what I have done. And I hope that this is going to be a story that children can remember, just like when I see my ring I think, ‘I know I can.’ I hope that when children see a fly, instead of shooing it away, they think, ‘I can. I may be small, but I can.’”
More about The Little Fly Who Couldn't Fly
The Little Fly Who Couldn’t Fly is available at select local outlets and through Amazon.
Nicole Pohlman will be doing a reading at the Community Day of Ohio State Lima’s annual Scholastic Book Fair. Look for her at 2 p.m., Wednesday, April 5, 2023, in the Perry Webb Student Life Building. The reading and the fair are free and open to the public.