Lowell, MI – On the opening day of this year’s National Novel Writing Month 50K word challenge, I logged in 1,663 words in spite of the fact that I had to have a painful dental procedure done in Grand Rapids. I still have a numb jaw and I have trouble swallowing, kind of like those people in America’s Funniest Videos.
So, I broke up my daily writing session into two parts: morning and afternoon. My NaNoWriMo project is the completion of the Greenwich Meridian: Where East meets West memoir about our family immigration saga from Czechoslovakia to the U.S.
What helped me immensely to move this forward, was that mom Ella penned her memories in a pretty cursive in Czech in a hard cover diary with yellow roses. It has a dateline: Big Rapids-Florida, 2019-2020. Wow , and it’s dedicated to me: “To my daughter Emma.”
Mom even included a complete timeline titled “Life in a Nutshell” from 1959 to present.
Mom’s diary
Here; enjoy an excerpt from chapter “In her own words.”
I was a pharmacist, and it wasn’t that the profession was narrow and had nothing to offer, but I didn’t want to nurture vain ideas of travelling. So, Sunday afternoon trips to the dam in Luhacovice or Bystricka were the only means of breaking up the gray of ordinary days.
The first bigger trip was our honeymoon to the Krkonose mountains in the old Tatra and mother’s departing comments: “I hope the poor car will make it.”
When we arrived in Harachov, we sent a message to my parents: “We’ve arrived under Mount Blanc.” At that moment, it never occured to me that one day I would indeed be looking at the majestic highest mountain in the Alps.
After five years of marriage, we had two children: Emma and Vasek. I was working part-time in a pharmacy in my hometown Vizovice and my husband Vaclav was teaching physics in Brno. He would come for the weekend to Vizovice, because I couldn’t find a job in Brno and we had no place to stay there. We were on the waiting list for an apartment, that we got in 1965. We didn’t have a car or money to furnish the apartment. My husband found out that the president of the university in Khartoum, Sudan was hiring English-speaking professors to teach different subjects. Vaclav’s English was excellent and he got the job.
Copyright (c) 2019 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
I am as ready as I can be for the National Novel Writing Month 50K word challenge starting tomorrow Nov. 1 with my Greenwich Meridian: Where East meets West memoir project.
However, Halloween is not only followed by the NaNoWriMo blast off , but also by All Saints Day and All Souls’ Day in the catholic calendar on Saturday. I always go to the mass at St. Pat’s for one or the other to reflect and for inspiration.
Usually, the Book of the Dead is on display. An evening candlelight procession goes to the cemetery.
The feature photo is an optical illussion “All is Vanity” from Belrockton in Belding. It is hanging next to the “Face of Gossip,” which is on the cover of my new book “Secrets” from the Shifting Sands Short Stories collections.
Follow me on my NaNoWriMo journey to the completion of the memoir about our family immigration saga to the U.S.
I will be signing my new book at the Lowell Area Historical Museum (LAHM) on Nov. 15, 16 & 17 during Christmas through Lowell.
Following is an excerpt from the memoir “Greenwich Meridian: Where East meets West.”
I lived history twice: Prague Spring in 1968 and the Velvet Revolution in 1989. During the first one, I was a kid, so I don’t remember the Soviet tanks invading Czechoslovakia. However, the second event that changed the course of history for the entire Eastern Europe, I recall as if it had happened yesterday. I documented it myself in a diary with a blue hard cover and bought an important publication published by the Czech Press Office: “Chronicle of Velvet Revolution” in 1989 for 10 crowns. It is the most important document that I own, other than the American passport.
The communist block, which Czechoslovakia was a part of, started collapsing in neighboring Poland under their leader Lech Walesa. I remember, we had no dairy products, as they were all being shipped to Poland. While it was an act of camaraderie, the Polish people didn’t unload the train with the food and let the products spoil, and we were without cheese.
After that it seemed like a domino effect with one block collapsing and making the others collapse.
Sometime in the summer of 1989, I spoke with a friend
attorney about matters pertaining to my pending departure to the U.S.- I had to
get rid of all possessions, including my citizenship, pay for my education and
such. After discussing matters at hand, Mr. H said:
“The bell is tolling for them,” he said. “Can you hear it?”
I stared at him in awe; we were used to speaking in riddles to protect ourselves.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I can’t say.”
It stayed at that, but I immediately knew that he was referring to the bells tolling for the death of communism. To this day, it puzzles me how he gained this insight three months ahead of time.
Copyright (c) 2019. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
Meet the Author event at the historic Belrockton museum in Belding was one of my favorite events in 2019, due to the fact that it is home to the main story “Silk Nora ” in the new book “Shifting Sands: Secrets.”
I will be at the Lowell Area Historical Museum during Christmas through Lowell tour on Nov. 15, 16 & 17. Stop by for an autographed copy of the new book and book 1- Shifting Sands: Short Stories.
The book is also available locally at Springrove Variety in downtown Lowell.
Also, I would be grateful for your reviews on Amazon. I need to reach 25 reviews for a basic ranking of the book.
The review does not have to be long. You can just basically answer three questions: What did you like about the book and why, what didn’t you like about the book and how has it changed you, if applicable.
Lowell, MI – Today, during my morning writing session, I ventured into our U.S. naturalization, as well as answering the most important question for a writer.
How has America changed me?
Michigan authors at the Lakeshore Art Festival 2019 in front of the Authors Tent.
I have broadened my horizons from a naïve person with a narrow perspective on the evils of capitalism to a responsible American citizen, who votes and participates in democracy. Rather than complaining about things, I take action to change them, when possible as in the case of my authorpreneurship.
I am proud to be a part of the Michigan Authors movement sweeping the shores from Lake Michigan to Lakes Huron & Superior. See http://michiganauthors.com/
I was naturalized in August of 1999 in a beautiful ceremony at the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids along with 96 other people from around the world. I received congratulations from all over Michigan, because the Associated Press syndicated the story about my naturalization written by Kara Henigan for the Ionia Sentinel-Standard. Here is an excerpt from the Ionia Sentinel-Standard Aug. 19, 1999.
Ludek’s naturalization in October of 2018.
Emma Palova of Lowell, was among the new naturalized American citizens. She tells other people’s stories for a living as a writer for the Sentinel-Standard, but on this day, she shared her own tale, a tale of a dream fulfilled.
“The United States has always symbolized freedom for me, coming from an oppressed, communist country,” she said. “And it still does, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”
Citizenship was not a necessity for her
livelihood.
“It was my goal and my dream,” she said.
“It is kind of a closure.”
My husband Ludek was naturalized last year in October, also at the Gerald R. Ford Museum. Ludek takes his citizenship very seriously, and always asks me about candidates, proposals and follows the debates.
The story about his naturalization appeared in the Lowell Ledger on Oct. 24, 2018.
At his ceremony, magistrate Hon. Ray Kent
congratulated the new citizens with these words:
“Write the next great chapter in the history of this
country.”
That statement is still ringing in my ears as I write this chapter of the memoir. Ludek has already voted in the last school election. Voting is a privilege. Back in communist Czechoslovakia, we could only vote for one party- the Communist Party. It defeated the purpose of voting at all.
Tomorrow I will dive into the tentacles of the Velvet Revolution in 1989, led by dissident playwright late Vaclav Havel.
Copyright (c) 2019. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
Proud to report that I am in the prep phase for the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) 2019 at full speed. During the month of October , I logged in 12,195 words. My goal is to complete the Greenwich Meridian: Where East meets West in November and follow up with revisions.
It is a memoir about our family immigration saga from former communist Czechoslovakia to the US.
NaNoWriMo is a great tool for any writing project that you may have. First of all, it gives you daily accountability of writing by logging in daily word count. The challenge is to write 50,000 words in the month of November.
I had to do a lot of prep work, because I also have author events in November with my new book “Secrets” from the Shifting Sands Short Stories series.
I will be at the Lowell Area Historical Museum during the Christmas through Lowell tour on Nov. 15, 16 & 17 signing my books. So stop by to pick up an autographed book. I will be offering writing and publishing tips, as well.
Locally, my book is available at Springrove Variety in downtown Lowell.
I am extremely excited about this Christmas event. I’ve done it before with my first book “Shifting Sands: Short Stories.” I was at the Red Barn Market with other vendors including my daughter-in-law Maranda, who has “Little Dreamers Sleepovers” party business.
I would still like to get in one more author’s event before the end of this year. And what a year it has been. Watch for my post “Year in Review 2019.”
“Keep your head in the clouds and your hands on the keyboard.” Marissa Meyer
Back to the keyboard
By Emma Palova
Lowell, MI- I am back behind the computer after a summer filled with author’s gigs, book marketing, anniversary parties and granddaughter Ella’s departure for Fixin, France.
The fall solstice weather is also much more conducive to being tied to the chair without any distractions; that includes minimum social media and Internet browsing only for research purposes and logging in daily word count on the NaNoWriMo website at https://www.nanowrimo.org/
Emma’s book signing during Fallasburg Village Bazaar at the one-room schoolhouse.
However, I have one more big author event to go to before I embark on my second National Novel Writing Month 50k challenge starting on Nov. 1 with prep work in October.
Belrockton Dormitory , home of the Belding Museum
107 Hanover St. Belding, Oct. 6, 2019 1 pm – 4 pm
I am especially looking forward to this book signing of “Shifting Sands: Secrets” inside the original dormitory that housed the silk city girls when Belding was known as the” Silk City of the World.”
The making of “Silk Nora”
The long short story “Silk Nora” is the main story in book 2 in the Shifting Sands Short Stories series. By genre, it belongs to the historical fiction/historical romance catefories. So a good way to search for the book online is by using the keywords #historical fiction #historical romance. In physical bookstores, the book can be found in the fiction category.
The story digs deep into the history of the silk city girls’ dormitory “Belrockton” in Belding at the turn-of-the-century.
The Classical Revival-inspired building was erected in 1906 at a cost of $30,000 . It provided accommodations for 100 single female workers and staff. It was better known as the “Bel” and it is the last dormitory left from the three buildings. Much like the Richardson Mill is the last structure left from the three silk mills in Belding.
As a reporter for the Ionia Sentinel-Standard in the early 2000s, I visited the museum on multiple occassions. But, it wasn’t until two years ago, when I spotted a picture of a woman in a hat during the museum’s fashion hat display in the fall of 2017. She was very elegant and beautiful with a nostalgic look on her face.
That woman in a hat served as a model for creating the main character Nora in the historical fiction story “Silk Nora,” which is the main story in the new book “Shifting Sands: Secrets.”
I also explored extensively the interior of the dormitory including the girls’ rooms. There was another picture in an oval frame. This was a photo of Mathilda Adrian, who lived in the dormitory. Right next to the oval photo was her marriage certificate to John Mahar dated April 1917. And a double love story was born.
This discovery inspired the character of Mathilda, who became Nora’s best friend. So, at this point I had the main characters, and then I added Doris, the matron and the men into the story. All the characters are woven into Belding’s history of the silk industry started by the Belding Brothers in 1860 by selling silk from house to house.
Creativity of Belrockton staff
The creativity of the Belrockton Museum staff, Jane Forth, Barb Fagerlin, Jan Mehney along with others inspired my own creativity.
T he creative displays at the museum from Hotel Belding such as the receptionist’s desk helped me recreate the scenes of social life at the hotel.
The displays of girls’ rooms complete with mannequins, the movie theater, grocery store, fueled my imagination.
When I discovered the optical illusion picture of the “Face of Gossip” at the dormitory bathrooms, I was totally flabbergasted by the chain of coincidences that made the individual pieces fit into a complete story.
To be continued
Copyright (c) 2019 Emma Palova. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
Find your treasure this weekend among the 30 vendors at the Fallasburg village bazaar this weekend on Sept. 14 & Sept. 15 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Directions from Lincoln Lake Rd coming from Lowell
Take a right onto Fallasburg Park Rd, once you come to the Kent County Fallasburg Park sign hang a right onto the Covered Bridge Rd. Cross the Covered Bridge into the village to shop more artists.
Directions from McPherson Bridge fork
Take a right on McPherson, cross the concrete McPherson Bridge and turn right onto Covered Bridge Rd. into the Fallasburg village.
Emma’s Book Signing at the one-room schoolhouse from noon to 5 p.m. on both days.
You will be charmed by the historic ambience of the village and the historic buildings: the schoolhouse, the Tower Farm, the Misner House and the Fallass House.
Vendors
Two Hot Tamales- Food truck, Authentic Mexican Food
On the anniversary of 9/11, I usually rerun this post in remembrance of those who lost their lives. To this day I remember exactly where I was on that dark day deeply embedded in American history.
Where were you on 9/11 in 2001?
By Emma Palova
I was reporting on the finance committee of the Ionia County Board of Commissioners that Tuesday morning.
The treasurer read a boring roll of numbers.
All of a sudden the county administrator, who was sitting behind the computer, gasped and held his breath. He turned the screen toward us.
I ran up front to look at the surrealistic picture. It was the inferno of the Twin Towers collapsing, the flames, the blaze and the billowing smoke with sunshine on top of it all.
I looked at the administrator and back at the screen trying to understand what was happening.
“We’re at war,” he repeated the words of the broadcasting station.
We all left the Ionia Courthouse building early and scared.
It was pure fear not knowing what was going on.
I can still feel my skin crawling, as I broke into cold sweat running one block down Main Street in the dead silence of the downtown.
My camera was dangling on my side. I felt like I didn’t know what I was running away from or where I was headed.
I don’t think I’ve ever had that kind of a feeling in my life. It was creepy. It was everything rolled into that one moment.
But, the art of self-preservation prevailed.
Back at the Ionia Sentinel Standard newsroom, we all watched the news coverage.
Yes, it was the beginning of hell. And no one knew when it was going to end, how and where.
To quote the next day papers:
“It was a day of infamy.”
Copyright (c) 2017. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
Lowell,
MI – Short like a summer romance, the book tour started in Muskegon with the
Lakeshore Art Festival, where I officially launched my new book 2 “Secrets”
from the Shifting Sands Short Stories series.
It was my first time at the festival in Muskegon, and I was impressed by its magnitude. Two busy days brought many surprises like the guy who asked me to sell my book to him in two minutes. I had the marketing pitch ready, and I did sell him the first book faster than he expected. Then came a lady with a cart who had to have a book from each Michigan author. There was only a little time left to network with other authors. Thank you Diane for buying our books.
MichiganAuthors are sweeping the shores of the Great Lakes from Lake Michigan to Lake Superior and Lake Huron in a new wave of renaissance in literature.
Michigan authors at the Lakeshore Art Festival 2019 in front of the Authors Tent.
But
I did manage to connect with authors Jules Nelson of “Shadows”, authors Andrew
Smith, Jean Darla Davis and Ludington author Joan H. Young. We filled two big
tents, and people did support #MichiganAuthors. The cost was $100 for two days.
Somebody asked me if my book was the original book “Shifting Sands” about a dune in Muskegon. And then better yet, my daughter Emma discovered the Pigeon Hill brewery in Muskegon with their Shifting Sands IPA.
The
next gig was in my hometown of Lowell during the annual Riverwalk Festival. We
were in the Riverwalk parade at noon, and in the afternoon, I was at LowellArts
signing my books during Livin’ is Easy exhibit. I had a big yellow and black
painting of a horse behind my back that matched my yellow dress.
Somewhere in between was The WGVU Morning Show with Shelley Irwin and a podcast with America’s Community Voices Network with hosts Ronald & Donald Brookins. I will be reading passages from my new book “Secrets” on their podcast show.
Books Alive! In Ludington was a Downtown Development Authority (DDA) event, and it was incredibly hot. There could have been 14 authors bearing the heat. People were not buying a lot of books, more like ice cream and pop, while loading up on free stuff.
Traverse City, organized by Dan McDougall was very cool, since it was inside a mall. The traffic was good, and I made new friends with fellow Michigan authors; I also stopped at the Horizon Books in downtown Traverse City. My book is available at the bookstore now.
Then again, I joined the horse on the canvas inside LowellArts on Aug. 10.
But definitely the best event was in Paradise located in Upper Peninsula, Michigan. Paradise is a tiny village nestling on the shores of Lake Superior on Whitefish Bay. The Wild Blueberry Festival with Arts & Crafts show lasted three days. People flocked to it from all over Michigan and Canada. It’s about an hour drive from the Mackinac Bridge.
Our
booth was located on a dune above the lake. Priceless. We could see Canada on
the other shore. The traffic was busy all three days. I had bratwurst with wild
blueberries, and a great little helper Ella, 8. She even got commission from
book sales. Ella learned the marketing pitch and worked it all Saturday long.
“The
main story is historical fiction from Belding, MI when it was known as the Silk
City Capital of the world,” she said.
The book cover with the optical illusion of the “Face of Gossip” attracted a lot of attention. Other people were fascinated my own immigration story from former communist Czechoslovakia, when I showed than an article about my naturalization.
“You did the right way,” the lady said.
We were stationed next to Redfish Artworks booth of creative and original art, by Bill and Angela Kuhn. On second day, I knew their pitch for their arrowheads, just like they knew mine for the book.
“I
am a flint knapper,” Bill would repeat 100 times a day.
We
all had a blast and sold a lot of products.
“Are
you coming back next year?” Bill asked.
“Yes,
we loved it.”
We were only a short drive from Tahquamenon Falls surrounded by beautiful nature from all sides. There were four other authors at the festival, and people were buying books.
I would consider both Belding parades, where the main story “Silk Nora” is set as the last summer events on my tour. Both parades started by the former Ballou Basket Works Factory and proceeded through downtown with hundreds of spectators.
Labor
Day weekend is known as Belding’s homecoming.
Thank you, Belding, for a great homecoming.
Watch for a post about my upcoming fall book tour.
I will be at the Fallasburg Village Bazaar on Sept. 14 and Sept. 15 from noon to 5 p.m. Come for a book and an authograph. There will be plenty of vendors to find your treasure.
Check out the Kindle Countdown deal starting on Sept. 10 through Sept. 15 on Amazon at:
authoremmapalova 