Category Archives: literature

2022 in the rearview mirror, 2023 ahead

Looking back and forward

I believe that our past sets us up for our future. However, we can only master the present.

January

The year started strong with a full For the Love of Books Podcast author guest list focused on diversity. This year in January I will be focusing on marketing, lifestyle changes, and author events.

I also worked on the revisions of Shifting Sands: The Lost Town. This year I will be finishing the sequel The Quest for the Lost Town.

What is lost can be found.

Unknown

We were in full production mode at @Moravian Sons Distillery stilling plums and apples. Check it out.

February
Czech garnets

The podcast was all about romance. This year the podcast will be all about the romance because love or the quest for it never dies.

We flew to Venice, Fl for winter break, and met up with our French family. This year I am still undecided. I will be participating in Pages Promotions Winter Festival 2023 organized by the one and only Diana Kathryn Wolfe-Plopa.

https://www.pagespromotions.com/store/p175/Winter_2023_Virtual_Book_Festival_Author_Registration.html#

My first physical author’s event will be the Lansing Women’s Expo on Feb. 10, 11 & 12.

We kept stilling at Moravian Sons Distillery.

March

My podcast theme was and will continue to be spring. Michigan has long winters, and the anticipation of spring is important. I always start my seeds in the sunroom.

In March, I added to my author guests the amazing UP authors thanks to author Mikel Classen and publisher Victor Volkman.

We celebrated our son’s birthday on March 1. This will continue. March also marks Lent. Each year during Lent I do tons of Lenten readings. The catholic religion has always inspired me with its mysteries and dogmas.

I will be participating in the Grand Rapids Women’s Expo from March 17 through March 19 at DeVos Hall.

April
Easter in Czech Republic, Vizovice, Moravia

Our fifth grandchild Henrik was baptized on Easter Sunday April 17 at St. Rose’s church in Hastings.

I started writing for The Lowell Ledger. I’ve been writing for our hometown newspaper on and off for the last 27 years. The paper is one of the sponsors of the podcast show featuring Indie and small press authors.

My comeback story was Torched in Lowell (LOL). I have just modified the headline; it was actually Torched Glass Art Studio opens in Lowell. My second one was Ripple, and what a ripple it has been. Maybe the headline should have read Rippled in Lowell (LOL).

The definition of ripple is the continuing and spreading results of an event or action. After less than a year in business, the restaurant is closing its door this Friday due to unfortunate circumstances, to say the least. No kidding, another Mexican restaurant opened next door in the old Backwater Cafe building. I have yet to do a story on this bizarre sequence of events.

May
My birthday at Cedar Springs Brewery with our fifth grand child, Henrik

It is my second favorite month after June. My birthday marks this month since I was born on the Czech national holiday to the shooting of fireworks. The new regime changed the holiday to May 8. Go figure. We always manage to celebrate somehow, only the Covid years shut down my birthday celebrations.

June

People for Palmer Park in Detroit.

Palmer Park Art Fair 2022

June starts my summer cycle of authors’ events. I was at the Art in the Park in Palmer Park Detroit on June 4 & 5. This year we’re planning on attending the Czech and Slovak Festival in July instead to present our traditional fruit brandies.

Muskegon Lakeshore Art Festival wasn’t as productive as in previous years due to high gas prices and inflation kicked in. Hopefully, this will taper off by the time LAF comes on June 24 & 25.

To be continued………..

Copyright (c) 2022. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.

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NaNoWriMo Day 4

Even though the clouds moved in, we still held onto the upper 60s with rain in the afternoon. The November weather definitely made its mark on the start of NaNoWriMo.

Like on a real roller coaster, I pushed the story forward with a jerk to the ‘Singapore is Ours’ declaration by the protagonists and left it with a new chapter opened. I logged in 2020 words. Again I like the number, but I wish I could have pulled off more.

I am going to flip back to the beat sheet plotting method rather than the roller coaster, which is more like a labyrinth. This morning it led me to these dead-end streets and side streets.

In my other role as a journalist, I am working on a story about a hometown salon celebrating its 10th anniversary. The salon survived the Covid horror and competition from other salons.

You can buy my books locally at Shabby Chicnanigans next to Curtis Cleaners and Bettie’s Pages on Main Street just in time for holiday shopping.

Thanks Michelle.

Shabby Chicnanigans opens next to Curtis Cleaners

Copyright (c) 2022. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.

Podcasting in October: Prepping for NaNo

By Emma Palova

Listen in to the following authors on major podcasting apps through the end of October for a chance to win your next favorite read.

These independent authors are as diverse as the plants on the earth and the stars in heavens. They are bold as they navigate the treacherous waters of self-publishing.

They will inspire you and motivate you as we approach the National Novel Writing Month known as NaNoWriMo in November. NaNoWriMo is a 50K word marathon with an average of writing speed of 1,667 words per day.

Start training now by clicking the following link.

https://nanowrimo.org/nano-prep-101

You too can become a published author. A long journey starts with the first step. Take it this November.

Join us this Wednesday at 7 p.m. EST on ZOOM for “Power Your NaNo 2021” discussion with authors Jean Davis, Sara Shanning and Kristine Brickey.

Click on the link below to join.

https://us05web.zoom.us/j/89926480626?pwd=K1BiRldLWGlxUVNqOW9UZUFOY2VVZz09

https://emmapalova123.podbean.com/

Copyright (c) 2021 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.

Festival Pop Up Book Shop

Check out the Pop Up Shop during the Pages Promotions Virtual Book Festival open in February.

The idea for the PopUp Book Shop was simple.

“I wanted to make it easy for readers to find the books they fell in love with at the Blind Date events,” said festival organizer Diana Plopa of Pages Promotions, LLC.

The PopUp Book Shop is a single URL that connects readers with everyone at the Festival.

“By making it easier, I am hoping that more readers will buy Indie Author books, ” said Plopa.

http://www.pagespromotions.com/feb21shop.html#/

The virtual PopUp Book Shop will only be on the website until the end of the Festival. It will go away on March 1.

Just like in a regular bookstore you search by genre.

“Hopefully this will spur people on to buy rather than procrastinate,” said Plopa.

For those who books from different sources, book plates with authors’ signatures are available.

Find your next favorite book. Meet your next favorite author at the festival. Tonight will be a night of horror and the paranormal.

Copyright (c) 2021. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.

Greenwich Meridian Memoir goes live on Amazon on Nov. 12

Join me for Virtual Book Launch on Sunday Nov. 15 at 5 p.m on Facebook
 Greenwich Meridian Memoir goes live on Amazon
Above is a scene from Africa; mom Ella is standing by the irrigation equipment. On the right, in the first row, second from the right, is dad Vaclav at the Archbishop’s Gymnasium in Kromeriz.

A book is born

I am happy to announce that my new book “Greenwich Meridian Memoir” goes live on Amazon on Nov. 12, 2020 in both formats: Kindle ebook and paperback.
The epic story of love and emigration from former Czechoslovakia to the U.S. portrayed by the main characters Ella & Vaclav Konecny, Emma  Palova & Ludek Pala, plays out on the backdrop of two major historic events: the 1968 Prague Spring and the 1989 Velvet Revolution led by late president Vaclav Havel.
In the aftemath of the Soviet occupation of the country in 1968, dad professor Vaclav Konecny, made the pivotal decision to leave Czechoslovakia. What followed was a thread of events that propelled the characters across three continents and into dangerous situations.
“What I consider unique about the book is that all of the players contributed in their own way to the memoir,” Palova said.
My dad wrote the chapter ‘How Professor of Math Escaped Czechoslovakia.’ It is an account of his physical escape from the country, and his plans for how he plotted the whole escape. 
“Can you visualize a math professor taking a painted dinghy across the Black Sea to Turkey?” Palova said. “That was his plan B in case plan A of escape didn’t work.”
The second generation of characters Emma & Ludek followed the Konecny lead and plotted their very own escape out of the country, that put Ludek at peril as he crossed the Karawanks Mountains from Yugoslavia to Austria and into the Traiskirchen refugee camp.
“It’s been a long process in the making,” said author Emma Palova. “The publishing has been delayed several times due to the COVID-19 situation.”
I finally made a decision in late September to go ahead with the publishing since nothing has changed with the pandemic. I hired my awesome publicist team “Anthony Mora Communications” to present the book in front of the world.
The book will also publish in Romanian and Italian languages by Editura Minela, Romania. The publisher is Valeriu Dg Barbu.
The cover was designed by graphic artist Jeanne Boss of Rockford.
The book was edited by Carol Briggs of Lowell.
I would like to express my deepest thanks to everyone involved in this very complex publishing process. I hope you enjoy the book, as I am planning to write a screenplay based on the memoir.
We are looking for a Czech translator of the memoir, so our fans, friends and family living in the Czech Republic, can enjoy it as well.

In the newsThe Lowell Ledger published the article about our escape on the Czech Independence Day, which was a total coincidence.

AUTUMN VIRTUAL BOOK FESTIVAL

Check out the recording from the first annual Autumn Virtual Book Festival organized by Pages Promotions, LLC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUlgFTP-lBs

 VIRTUAL BOOK LAUNCH NOV. 15 AT 5 P.M.Join us for the Virtual Book Launch on Facebook this Sunday for a live discussion with author Emma Palova about her new book. The event will be moderated by Jakub Pala. Post your questions in the comment section for a chance to win a free signed copy of the “Greenwich Meridian Memoir.”
Following is a link to join:
https://www.facebook.com/events/3751102538242043
 LINK TO THE BOOK ON AMAZON

https://www.amazon.com/Greenwich-Meridian-Memoir-Emma-Palova/dp/B08MSVJKFR/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
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