Love is in the air
 Happy Valentine’s Day As I look outside my studio window, I see snow falling on my lovely garden. The hydrangeas now have white caps and soon they will look surreal like in the summer and fall, except they won’t have any green leaves. Considering that we live in Michigan and it’s the end of January, it was inevitable. And a lot folks wanted it. At times it seemed like in one of my short stories “Waiting for Snow” from Shifting Sands: Secrets where the main character Colin is literally praying for snow so he can use his toys. On the contrary, I always hope for a miracle that somehow, we will skip snow. The only things that carry me in the deadbeat of winter are warm visions of Valentine wishes, roses and chocolates. However, no warm Florida this year still due to COVID-19 and since I often travel around Valentine’s, I don’t want to miss sending love wishes to my parents. Ella and Vaclav. They are the main characters in my new book “Greenwich Meridian Memoir.” Dad usually buys us a box of chocolates and flowers.  The memoir is an epic story about our emigration from former Czechoslovakia to the USA spanning half a century and two generations. Winter virtual book fest  But this year something new popped up on the horizon. It’s the third Virtual Book Festival featuring more than 50 authors in February. The theme is “Blind Date with a Book” organized by Pages Promotions, LLC. It is the brainchild of author Diana Kathryn Wolfe-Plopa. “Since the advent of COVID-19, and all the in-person book festivals being cancelled, I wanted to find a way to help other authors connect with readers,” said Plopa, “and to help other authors connect with readers, as well.” Plopa said she’s always had a passion for the Indie Author and this was one more way to show that spirit. “Just because we’re Indie doesn’t mean that we’re “less than” the trad authors,” she said. “We deserve the same level of promotion and engagement as they get…the only problem is we have a much smaller budget. So that’s why I decided to go virtual.” Plopa has held physical festivals in the past, so this seemed like the next logical step. And the idea for the theme came from watching old clips of the old Dating Game TV program on YouTube. “I thought it would be a fun, different, and kinda wacky way to introduce authors and their books to readers in a way that might capture their attention and get them to buy,” Plopa said. Join us by clicking: http:// #ppvirtualbookfestival https://www.facebook.com/events/153849246500703 http://www.pagespromotions.com/virtual-book-festival.html#/ Excerpt from “Waiting for Snow” It was January in the new year of the Earth Pig, and there was still no snow on the ground. Green stalks of grass and weeds were peeking out of the ground and laughing in the wind at the parked snowmobiles with no riders. Other equipment like snowplows and snowblades was idling too. The eager machines just sat still waiting in the front and backyards. Mother Earth was refusing to cooperate on one side, on the other side she released her wrath on the coastal states. The Midwest was sleeping its winter dream dipped into dry freeze and after the holiday blues. A man in the tiny community of Paris put some water in his coffee maker. The year-round Christmas tree was still lit and cast colorful lights on the modest kitchen with a broken cabinet underneath the kitchen sink. He stored a bucket with a rag there for his chores; now this was a habit from the old country in Europe. The first morning cigarette of the day was the best one. He deeply inhaled and let out the smoke in gray circles. One wall of the mobile home was an entire mirror divided into three separate sections. He often walked to the mirror to look at himself. But just before looking in the mirror, Colin had to look outside. He pulled aside the checkered racing flag that was covering the window overlooking the front yard with a view on Paris Road. Colin had to move through a set of obstacles to get to the window. These were large train layouts taking up the entire living room. Colin’s mom called it a fire safety hazard, so would the firemen. The green and yellow grass lacked the coveted white cover. Colin carefully stepped outside on the wooden steps to make sure there was no snow. He went to the green snowmobile with the new permit and a full tank of gas. Paris sat on an extensive trail system close to a county park with a welded miniature of the Eifel Tower. The community had a motel, a pizza parlor and a general store “Papa’s;” all located on the trail. Colin, always wearing a train conductor’s black hat, called himself “The Trainman.” Links to Emma’s book campaign Something Something podcast https://www.stitcher.com/show/something-something-podcast-2/episode/something-something-about-emma-palova-80034301 Minddog TV with Matt Nappo https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/minddogtv-your/meet-the-author-emma-palova-ExFcyr6KoLW/ LA Wave http://wavepublication.com/author-shares-compelling-story-of-immigration-in-new-memoir/ WGVU Morning Show with Shelley Irwin https://www.wgvunews.org/post/greenwich-meridian Grand Rapids Magazine spotlight https://www.grmag.com/people-places/city/local-author-spotlight-emma-palova/ Big Rapids Pioneer https://www.bigrapidsnews.com/insider/article/Czechoslovakia-to-Big-Rapids-Author-nbsp-tells-15728920.php The Lowell Ledger https://www.thelowellledger.com/new-memoir-by-emma-palova-about-family-s-escape-from-communism Emma’s books on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Emma-Palova/e/B0711XJ6GY%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share    |
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