It was a wild year to say the least with its ups and downs, unfinished business and finished business.

Moravian Sons Distillery Tasting Room

We got done the tasting room which was a task that took us two years. We opened it on Sept. 20, 2025 inside The Old Theater located at 315 W. Main St. in downtown Lowell, MI. It was no small feat that we are all proud of. The unique partnership with the theater has proven to be successful if I bypass small gliches along the way.

Sales of liquor and cocktails

Our sales continue to grow in the area liquor stores,- The Log Cabin, Belding and Caledonia Marathon, Parnell General Store, Cannonsburg Bottle Shop, GRAMS Knappa Corner, Belmont, Cascade Libation Station and many more including Big Rapids.

World premiere of Christmas Eve at the Snowflake Falls Diner

Now, this wasn’t my success but I helped make it happen. Our dream was to get a play into the 1928 The Old Theater. Thanks to my Lowell Ledger connections I know a lot of people. So when the opportunity came I approached Grand Rapids playwright Brent Alles to write a play specifically for the theater. I must say that for once in my life I lucked out with one of the most talented people I have ever met. Brent did an awesome job above and beyond my greatest expectations.

Thanks to the cast and crew of this amazing play, and to the TOT owners Lisa and David Reed. You’ve made this holiday season unforgettable.

Unfinished business-The Quest for the Lost Town

The Quest for the Lost Town is on its way as I am finishing the last flight through the manuscript. I really can’t wait to get this book on the market at The Third Coast Festival in Grand Haven on March 21, 2026. It was a complete rewrite of the first manuscript which I finished during NaNoWriMo in 2022.

NaNoWriMo doesn’t exist anymore but my manuscript does, and that means a lot to me. I hired a professional editor and I don’t regret it for a second. Thank you Maggie of Fine Line Editorial for your awesome work.

Book sales in 2025

I did better than in 2024. I would like to thank the following communities that have hosted the perfect storm events: Lakeshore Art Festival in Muskegon, (June) Saugatuck (July and September) twice since the book is set in Singapore near Saugatuck, Rockford Art in the Park, (September) Lake Odessa Art in the Park, (August) Paradise Wild Blueberry Festival (August)and last but not least Lowell, MI. (December)

I missed out on the biggest show of the year Christmas Through Lowell at Lowell Area Museum due to sickness.

For the Love of Books Podcast

I continued to grow my podcast show in episodes, quality and audience. I am especially proud of the episode about AI and copyright in April and the most recent episode with deaf author Raymond Luczak with the help of an ASL interpreter Adam Bartley.

Deaths that have touched me

Two come to my mind immediately: friend Jan Thompson and walker friend Frank Holwerda, 92. To my solace, I managed to say goodbye to both of them. I said my goodbye to Jan at the Memorial Day Celebration at the Oakwood Cemetery in Lowell, to Frank right before my trip to LA in October on the trail where we met.The third death is the most painful one- my best friend’s husband Jan (John) died on Oct. 26 in Czech Republic at the age of 70.

Successes

I accepted my award from International Impact Book Awards (IIBA) on Oct. 4 in Hollywood in a beautiful ceremony reminiscent of a fairy tale.

Gratitude

Ongoing gratitude to my husband Ludek for his support of my work. Living with an author is not always easy and I know it. A big thank you to The Lowell Ledger for supporting my work. I am grateful for my parents Vaclav and Eliska Konecny for being always there for me in Big Rapids.

I am pretty sure I haven’t covered everything but merely scraped the surface of the year 2025.

As time allows I will fill in the gaps in the year that seemed to go by so fast since we rang it in at Easy Street Restaurant.

I am grateful for my author friends who continue to enrich me, and for our new friends as well: Marty and Laurie Chambers from Lowell, Terry and Dawn Woods from Smyrna.

As you get old, you expect less and less new things to happen. Yet, they do whether we want to or not.

Great expectations, class of 1976

The featured photo is of our class of 1976 from ZDS Stipa in Czech Republic. It will be our 50th reunion next year. I think I’ve only been to one reunion after five years, so we were young, restless and beautiful.

The ocean separates us not just by distance, but also by having a different view of the world than 50 years ago.

Have I evolved? I hope so in many different ways. Most of the teachers are not alive anymore. Some classmates have passed. Three of us live outside of the Czech Republic: in USA, Canada and Sweden. My mathematician dad says that statisticaly it’s a lot.

I don’t know how to describe us now. I haven’t seen most of the classmates. They will stay forever young in my heart and soul. I suppose I want to keep that illusion of never getting old in front of each other, just individually. I might regret it but I will take that chance because I don’t want to be disappointed.

Back to The Quest for the Lost Town

Maybe the town of Singapore is eluding me and doesn’t want to be found underneath all that sand. I am on page 111 of the last flight through the book. In some aspects I surprised myself how I handled certain scenes. There were times when I didn’t know how to continue or what’s going to happen next. It usually came back to me the next day.

Am I happy with the result? Yes, I am. Am I relieved? Yes, I am. I can’t say that it was a smooth ride, because it wasn’t. What kept me going is my passion for historical fiction, its twists and turns. There were many distractions along the way including my procrastination. But, also the support of other authors helped. Will I write more? Yes, I will.

I have another manuscript which I finished during NaNoWriMo in 2023. In a way, I am grateful for NaNoWriMo and the three books. Two I did on my own without the program and its impeccable discipline.

I will continue some other day.

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