All posts by emmapalova

Emma Palova, born in Czech Republic, is an author, a writer, a screenwriter, a journalist, a photographer, a designer and the founder of Emma Blogs, LLC, based in Lowell, Michigan. Currently, she is working on her memoir "Greenwich Meridian" which she intends to turn into a screenplay. Palova started her blog EW Emma's Writings at http://emmaplova.com in support of the publication of her memoir in January, 2013. The blog has grown into a passion and a company that designs blogs for other people under the umbrella of Emma Blogs. Palova is a prolific online publisher open to new ideas and to new horizons. A natural innovator, Palova loves to create progressive brands into the future. Check out her inspirational post "Desert epiphany" and the authors page on About_me and on Facebook. I am looking forward to seeing you around the greater Grand Rapids area and on my blog. I am seeking an agent or a publisher for the memoir that I intend to publish for my mom Ella's 80 birthday on Aug. 23. I celebrated my fourth anniversary on the WordPress publishing platform on Jan. 15th, 2017 with more than 1,000 followers and 500 plus posts. Love always, Emma

30 Day Blogging Challenge #12

Putting one foot in front of the other aka #creativity against violence

By Emma Palova

Very appropriate theme as we come closer to the end of the year 2015. We have completed the year by putting one foot in front of the other.

We’re more than half-way through the content challenge and we’ve attracted the attention of a lot of people.

Was that our goal? Not really.

Dali's clocks
Dali’s clocks

During this creative challenge many bad things have happened around the world from Paris attacks to San Bernardino.

I took it upon me to call this challenge #creativity against violence.

The hope is to inspire other people to do the same thing, because peace cannot be enforced.

Together we can and will make a difference. Collectively, we have posted 3,000 pieces of content since Nov. 17. I’ve reached with this post 319 posts on the WordPress platform.

Nothing is going to stop us in creating. No guns, no amendments or fear.

Actually one of my best posts Day #3 “Thoughts on Fear in the Wake of Paris Attacks.”

Equally good is Day #18 “Creativity versus violence.”

Now, I am all caught up with all the posts.

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Copyright © 2015 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.

30 Day Blogging Challenge #19

Take charge, express yourself

By Emma Palova

Connecting things is like making new things happen. You don’t always have all the tools and you don’t necessarily need them. Look at Facebook, it wasn’t a new idea. It was a better retooled idea.

You start from nothing, a blinking cursor on a white page. Or you start with a thought for the day.

A book for Josephine in Czech.
A book for Josephine in Czech.

I usually have to regroup or restream myself before I write. I do that by driving to the nearby Murray Lake. Nature has always inspired me.

We have a beautiful winter in Michigan. For the first time since I’ve lived here, we have no snow in December. People were playing golf at the Arrowhead Golf Course next door yesterday. This girl has lived in Africa and Texas without a snowy Christmas. Never missed it for a moment.

I am grateful that I can be a part of this content challenge that it will hopefully make a difference in this world.

I am hoping to use #creativity against violence along with all my friends, real and on social media. I do have respect for all the amendments, that’s why I use the pen to bring hope and joy.

I hope to inspire other people to do the same thing, and that is to create. It doesn’t matter what, how big or how little. Just create at any time and anything. Take charge, express yourself.

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Copyright © 2015 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.

30 Day Blogging Challenge #18

Moving forward

By Emma Palova

Okay, I am over the shootings and the violence. I cannot change anything. By looking at it, I am a part of it. I’ve become a part of the problem, because I am not willing to do anything about it. I’ve become a part of a violent society.

My Alma Mater taught me better. Do something about it.

I led a heated debate at the Parnell General Store about, “What is the purpose of the gun?”

315 posts
315 posts

We didn’t come to any conclusion. Just like the situation in the Middle East, it has no resolution.

We even had a Rumanian born American Sniper there who said weapons are necessary to kill. He killed his first person when he was 10 years old.

The owner of the store brought out an unloaded shotgun Erica.

You have to respect the weapon.

On the other hand I have a respect to the pen.

I’ve always had that. And I use it on daily basis to give hope to others.

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Copyright © 2015 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.

30 Day Content Challenge #20

Happy holiday season to all from the Lowell Showboat with Santa and his elves. May you have a peaceful holiday with your family.

image

30 Day Blogging Challenge #17

Creativity versus destruction & violence

By Emma Palova

The content challenge that started on Nov. 17 has been marked by consistent violence. I find it bizarre, that at a time when we’re creating content, 2089 pieces of it, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg created a $51 billion foundation for the next generation, other people decided to destroy.

It saddens my heart to see so many people killed. Starting with the attacks in Paris, shooting at the Planned Parenthood Center and now San Bernardino, California.

Google Earth image with sun light.
Google Earth image with sun light.

Even for president Barack Obama, the speeches after shootings have become routine.

Is this the way to live in fear of routine shootings?

We’re living like in the Middle East where you never know if you’re not going to get blown up in a coffee shop. And now people suggest to arm ourselves. On Day #3 I wrote about Fear in the wake of Paris Attacks. The post was about how fear supports consumerism. And here we go again. Buy more arms.

I will never shy away from saying that violence breeds more violence. We have just saw it over the last three weeks.

Violence is not the answer to anything, neither is increased consumerism.

I face violence with more creativity, my own and others. The government should use diplomacy and they shouldn’t be sticking their nose into other country’s business.

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Copyright © 2015 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.

30 Day Blogging Challenge #11

Lighting of candles without the candle burning down, Buddha

By Emma Palova

I share happiness and the great human experience through my writing. Sometimes it’s sad, at other times it’s happy. That is life.

Art has always helped me get through difficult times. When I am upset, I turn to art; my own and others.

When my husband Ludek had to leave for a job in Wisconsin, I turned to painting.  I painted pictures of koi fish in our pond up there in the garden.

Kathleen Mooney, abstract artist
Kathleen Mooney, abstract artist

 

Most often poetry does the trick. Nicole Varga’s poetry has calmed me down after the upsetting shooting on Dec. 2 at San Bernardino, California.

 I also love poetry by the Rumanian poet Valeriu dg Barbu and Emily Dickinson as well as Charles Baudelaire.

There is something calming about art and poetry. Throughout my journalistic career, I met many artists, but one really stands out in my mind. Her name is Kathleen Mooney. She owned a gallery in Lowell. Mooney is a member of the International Society of Experimental Artists (ISEA).

After traditional painting, she turned to abstracts.

When I asked her which is more difficult, Mooney answered immediately:

“Abstracts.”

“What inspires you?”

“Symbolism.”

Yes, Mooney finds inspiration in symbols and in words.

I personally think that is incredible. Somehow, all the arts are integrated into one big sphere.

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Copyright © 2015 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.

30 Day Blogging Challenge #10

Nov. 26 Thanksgiving Thursday spent with the family in Hastings

Thankful

By Emma Palova

I am thankful for the country I live in. I became a naturalized American in 1999 along with my daughter Emma Palova-Chavent at the Gerald Ford museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I received so many congratulations and the Ionia Sentinel-Standard did a story on me. Kara Hennigan wrote the story. That made me both; the writer of stories and the subject of some of them.

I was born in former Czechoslovakia and I studied engineering at the Technical University of Brno by default and by punishment. We left the country illegally in 1968 just before the Soviet invasion. I wasn’t allowed to study any humanities.

Mom Eliska wanted to go back in 1973. We returned to the homeland and we were punished for doing so.

That is what my memoir “Greenwich Meridian” © is about.

On a writer's retreat in Venice, Florida
On a writer’s retreat in Venice, Florida

The book is about our journey back and forth across the Greenwich Meridian.

We left the country again; dad Vaclav in 1976, mom Eliska in 1980 and I left in 1989 after the Velvet Revolution. My husband Ludek left the Czech homeland in 1988 for Austria.

Crazy?

It’s been a turmoil. When I interviewed my own parents two years ago during a writer’s retreat in Venice, Florida they both said they would never do it again.

“It doesn’t matter anymore because everyone back home is dead,” Vaclav said.

True, our most recent trips to Czech were for the purpose of attending funerals.

However, we all started a new life in the USA. It is a life of accomplishment, satisfaction and love.

Our son Jake has a beautiful family and he is very successful with the Faygo company. He studied at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. Our daughter Emma lives in France with her family. Both her husband Adrien and Emma are medical doctors.

I learned to blog on WordPress, the biggest publishing platform in this world.

I consider myself privileged.

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Copyright © 2015 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.

30 Day Blogging Challenge #16

Source: 30 Day Blogging Challenge #16

30 Day Blogging Challenge #16

When the inner fire goes out

By Emma Palova

I am meditating on today’s theme “When the inner fire goes out and meeting another human being rekindles it.”

This is a big one because it has happened to all of us. We are sharing a common human experience.

It has happened to me many times in life and then I suddenly met a person who sparked the fire in me again. I recall them all. They were editors, fellow writers, business owners, store managers and directors.

Kathleen Mooney's abstracts.
Kathleen Mooney’s abstracts.

Most recently it has happened to me on the Internet with the 30 Day Content Challenge. I went into the challenge on Nov. 17 after finding out about it only on the previous day totally burnt out from years of writing.

I could have plain ignored it like I have other challenges. But, this seemed important.

Why was it important to me? It wasn’t to showcase anything or to prove to myself that I can do it. It wasn’t for the exposure either. It was because of the special bond these challenges create, they teach you discipline and you are helping others move forward. By helping others you are also helping yourself.

My weakness is the lack of discipline in everything. I like freedom without boundaries. But, that creates also problems. I can overeat, overwork and overdo. And after that I need rest to recharge my batteries. It’s like a vicious roller coaster.

Yes, the 30 Day Content Challenge rekindled my inner spirit. I found new passion for writing, met new people, made new friends on Facebook and twitter and I got new followers on EW Emma’s Writings.

So, in the end even though I wasn’t seeking exposure, I got it.

I found gratitude to those who led the challenge and helped out.

I found the writer in me who will never go away even when I try to throw that character out.

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Copyright © 2015 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.

30 Day Blogging Challenge #8

Passion, heart, soul and inspiration

By Emma Palova

The cursor is blinking in front of me on a blank page. I am writing the third post today and that is Day #8 to catch up with the 30 Day Challenge.

The prompt for Nov. 24 was passion and pouring your heart and soul into everything you do. This theme is close to my heart as I never do anything without passion including my E Diary that is EW Emma’s Writings blog on WordPress.

Featured Image -- 128596
Abstract art by Kathleen Mooney inspired by quilting.

I am passionate about writing whether you write for money or for free. I’ve done both. All fiction writing is done on speculation. You don’t know if you’re going to publish and make money or if people are going to buy your book. Blogging is a little different because you’re already creating a following that will hopefully transfer onto your other work. And you are publishing electronically. You have a sense of timelessness.

On the other hand, writing for money creates pressure, stress and the need for speed. Writing is therapeutic if not done under pressure, according to psychologists.

I am a passionate blogger as I create blogs for clients as well as my own. At times, it can be challenging finding something to write about. I am resourceful and search for inspiration wherever and whenever I can get it.

People and nature inspire me, art inspires me, jewelry and metal.

I am also a passionate entrepreneur. I use to sell real estate for Westdale. I started the company Emma Blogs, LLC in January of 2013 with the first blog and I have grown it to a portfolio of 12 blogs. With heart and soul into it, I use different themes for my blogs. I like the magazine theme and Lovecraft, Radcliff, Skylark themes and many more.

I am a firm believer that everyone should at least once during lifetime own their business. I heard this from an Internet guru Alan Teelander and from Mike Spranger, owner of Springrove Variety in Lowell, as well as other people like Pete Haefner, owner of an accounting firm.

Having a business is like growing flowers; you see it grow and flourish or wither. You take care of it, it takes care of you. During the three years, I’ve learned so much from organization and discipline to marketing and social media marketing. I’ve met so many interesting people on the Learn To Blog group and through the challenge. I feel enriched.

 

 

Copyright © 2015 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.