Category Archives: writing

blog design, blogging, coaching, consulting, support, WordPress, writing

Coach Leigh Ann Dickey

July 13, 2015 emmapalova Leave a comment

Coach Leigh Ann Dickey shares her passion for design & blogging, inspires others

Name: Leigh Ann Dickey

Occupation: registered respiration therapist, self-employed, website design

Education: associates degree in health sciences-respiratory therapy, certificate in health coaching from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, Oct. 2014

Residence: Gainesville, Georgia

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Lowell, MI – Leigh Ann Dickey wanted to share her story of losing 35 pounds when she joined the nutrition school. Dickey started out with a page on facebook, Instagram and a blog on WordPress two years ago using tutorials and mentors.

“I developed a nice site,” she said.

Coach Leigh Ann Dickey loves helping people.

Dickey was offering a weight loss product. But when she sustained a head injury on her bicycle, Dickey took the site down.

Since she has always liked design Dickey wanted to master WordPress. She already had a great feather in her cap; 12 years of HTML coding. Dickey completely coded her animal charity site herself from the start.

She took a WordPress class to get up to speed in 2013 & 2014. Dickey joined the Learn to Blog in 2014, but found out that she already knew a lot of the stuff from the WordPress classes.

The biggest challenge of blogging for Dickey was targeting her niche.

“I felt tossed around,” Dickey said in a Skype interview last week. “I was posting and sharing trying to target my niche. I went all over the place.”

She tried health & fitness, business coaching and design. It wasn’t until recently she found that her real passion was teaching and coaching. So, Dickey launched her Soulpreneurs this week. Soulpreneurs is a membership site on the Genesis framework.

But, before that Dickey started a WordPress support group on facebook.

“It used to be enough to have a facebook page two years ago, but now you have to create a group,” she said.

Two years ago with a budget of $150, Dickey could increase traffic to her facebook page to 3,600.

However, two years in an online business is eternity.

“That was old school,” she laughed. “Start a facebook group not a page. Find like-minded people. Join other groups inside of facebook.”

Dickey offered a lot of advice for newbie bloggers. Number one on the advice list is determining your niche.

“It all starts with ourselves knowing what we enjoy doing,” she said, “And then turn that into business. People should ask themselves what is it that they enjoy doing all day long.”

According to Dickey, the advantages of realizing what you really like to do are the following:

You best will know a lot about it.
It will be easy to develop products and services around your niche or like.
Then you have to boil it all down to specific types that is; rather than pets narrow it down to dogs and then go further, different breeds and such.

In response to what she likes about blogging, Dickey was very spontaneous.

“I enjoy the process of creating that plays into my geeky side telling the story,” she said. “I enjoy helping people.”

Blogging was a life changing experience for Dickey who had suffered a head injury.

“Blogging helped me get past something and I relate that to overcoming obstacles in business and in life. It’s just human nature to get that feedback.”

The second part of Dickey’s story with more valuable advice will appear later this week. Stay tuned and feel free to comment with your advice.

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blogging, content writing, writing

Greenwich Meridian memoir update

June 26, 2015 emmapalova Leave a comment

The featured image is the Greenwich Meridian memoir on the screen surrounded by various memorabilia like the economy class menu of the Czechoslovakian Airlines. I flew with them in 1989 for my second immigration to the USA.

Blogging anchored, Greenwich Meridian memoir evolves forward

By Emma Palova

EW Emma Writing

Lowell, MI- Now, that I am firmly anchored in the blogging world with Emma Blogs, LLC, a portfolio of blogs, I resumed working on the Greenwich Meridian memoir in mid-May. The blogging part may seem like a detour to many, not to me. I feel like I can take the book to its finale. I didn’t have that feeling before.

It took me a year-and-a-half to set up the blogging portfolio under the umbrella of http://emmapalova.com. Fellow blogger Leigh Ann Dickey said it took her two years to prove herself. So, don’t believe the hype out there like “Get a blog in 60 seconds,” or in five minutes, in an hour or in a day. And definitely, don’t pay any money for that pitch.

It just doesn’t happen. It’s like saying you’re going to learn calculus in a day. You may get the template like you would get a college-ruled notebook to start your math, and then what? Do you start with fractions, trigonometry or double integer?

Of course you start with the About page in the world of blogging. After all, you know the best what you are all about. Add a picture, it’s worth a thousand words.

Many blogging colleagues out there don’t know what their niche or target audience are. How are they supposed to pick a theme? Should they post every day and what should they post to attract that ever elusive traffic?

Maybe Stephen King asked himself the same question before his big Carrie break, “What should I write about so I make it big?”

I know I ask myself that question every week before posting, “What am I going to post this week or what is the next chapter outline?”

Other than King, I always think about German Martin Luther posting 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg in 1517 according to the student custom. The theses were a catalyst to a change.

Blog posts carry those same signs of a changing world. A shorter, faster world of pixels that has no time for long “expose” articles. Readers want to know everything and immediately.

Without the “how to” knowledge, blogging can feel like sailing on vast seas after you lost your compass. You started out right, what next?

Stay tuned for more.

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blogging, editorial calendar quarterly, writing

Summer 2015 editorial calendar

June 25, 2015 emmapalova 1 Comment

Editorial/marketing calendar for July, August, September

Dive into summer fun with Emma

The editorial/marketing calendar for Emma Blogs is flexible and I invite anyone who wants to contribute whether with stories, photos or ideas.

As you can see the topics range from blogging to vacationing, and everything in between. I am looking forward to the new summer series, Living in the country vs. living in the city. I bet anyone can attest that both have their advantages and disadvantages. So, feel free to write about your take on where you live and why. It will be hilarious.

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

Also sign up for Emma Blogs July newsletter for blogging/design tips and How to get story ideas and bring them to fruition.

July

Blogger of the month

Creativity

Independence Day

Vacationing

Summers in Czech

Riverwalk 9, 10, 11/local

Summer series

Living in the country vs living in the city

August

Summers in Czech on the ranch

Vacationing

Mom’s birthday

Lowell youth fair/local/Aug. 6-13

Summer series

Living in the country vs living in the city

September

Fall fest with Fallasburg village bazaar /local Sept. 1&20

Fairs/expo Brno

Socialist brigades for students and army

Summer series

Living in the country vs city

Schools/universities

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astrology, names, writing

Czech calendar names-part II

April 17, 2015 emmapalova 1 Comment

Names show personality traits

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Note: I often write about different names in the Czech calendar and in our multi-cultural family. In the memoir “Greenwich Meridian” I write about the people behind the names. Recently, I found out that each name has certain characteristics that may be a perfect fit or a perfect misfit. This is a second part of a mini-series about calendar names. The first part ran on April 10. Look for the greeting card logo. I focused on female names first.

Another name in the family is Julie. That was my late mother-in-law. I have very fond memories of her. Julie lived to be 92 years old, she was up and running until the very last minute when she passed away peacefully in her nap. She took care of our daughter Emma, while I was studying at the Technical University of Brno.

The name has bold characteristics. According to Soul’s Touches, Julie is a dragoness, who is both sensitive and attractive. She takes deep interest in men into late years, caused by the vibrations of Mars. When she falls in love, she tears down bridges, and rebuilds them again. But, most of all she’s a woman. As a mother, she can be both loving and strict. The name is right for all zodiac signs except for Scorpio. Julie celebrates her name day on Dec. 10.

Mother-in-law Julie Palova was very beautiful.

Anna, was my grandmother and her daughter Anna is my aunt and godmother. The characteristics for the name are: a true woman, loving, devoted, but living her life through others. It is a troubled life of labor & worries, a constant circle of obligations and feelings of being in debt to all. Anna is foremost a mother and a wife.

The astrologist does not recommend this name, because it carries the premonition of a hard life. Anna celebrates her name day on July 26 in the Czech calendar.

While penning my memoir “Greenwich Meridian” © copyright Emma Palova, I realize how true these name attributes are.

Martha is the name of my paternal aunt, as well as first and second cousin’s names. According to Soul’s Touches, the name carries traits of satisfaction. Even though Marthas do not reach the most coveted goals, they end up usually married. Martha is foremost a woman. She matures emotionally later in life, quite often divorces. Not recommended in Gemini, Libra and in Capricorn. Her name day is on July 29.

Mary is my mother’s cousin name, and we probably had a lot more Marys in the family.

Mary is a universal name used in all languages. She is motherly, devoted and hardworking.

The traits: always willing to learn, intelligent, sensitive and strict. Only a bad coordinate with the last name and birth date can worsen her life’s path, according to Soul’s Touches.

The feast of Saint Mary falls on Sept. 12 and it is celebrated around the world with festivities and pilgrimages to sacred places like Hostyn, in Moravia.

Lenka is the name of my second cousin, the daughter of Mary. The name has bad karmic vibrations. Lenkas do not have an easy life or a happy life. There are only a few exceptions depending on the birth date and coordinate with the last name. The biggest problem can be in relationships. The astrologist writes, “When a relationship ends and Lenka asks why?” I answer “Because you have bad vibrations. I would recommend to shorten the name to Lena at the birth registry.”

The name is influenced by Mars, Sun, Venus and Saturn. The Saturn negatively impacts Venus. That’s where the bad karma comes from.

I covered only a few female names in the family, and a fraction of female names in the Czech calendar. From time to time, I will be coming back to this subject, because it fascinates me. Most descriptions fit like a glove depending on the zodiac sign, and sometimes on the last name.

Trending names in Czech are: Tereza, Natalie, Anna, Adela, Eliska, Karolina, Katerina, Barbora, Lucie, Kristina, Michaela, Nikola and Veronika.

Next week I’ll write about the characteristics of male names in the family.

See you then. Hope you find your name a great fit.

Sources: “Soul’s Touches” and “Greenwich Meridian”

Here is a link to American family names:

jmenaprijmeni.blog.cz/1309/americka-prijmeni-zebricek-top-100-a-vyznamy

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blog design, blogging, business, content writing, editorial calendar quarterly, WordPress, writing

Emma Blogs Newsletter

April 3, 2015 emmapalova 1 Comment

April newsletter brings blog news in a capsule

Hello to all,

The April newsletter is here. It’s been on my radar screen since I’ve established Emma Blogs, LLC. Every month, the newsletter will feature news from the blogs portfolio, blogging tips and editorial/marketing calendar. Features will include en excerpt from the story of the month and a featured blogger. You can submit who do you think should be featured and why, as well as a story,a poem or a photo with links to your blogs. You can also submit a story about your niche business with a link.

The deadline for submission for the May newsletter is April 20. Happy blogging.

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blog design, content writing, decorating, Easter, ethnic, Uncategorized, WordPress, writing

Memoir highlights Czech & Slovak Easter traditions

April 3, 2015 emmapalova 1 Comment

Easter 2015

Moravian villages adhere to old Easter customs — Moravian villages adhere
to old Easter customs

Easter evokes memories of Czech Republic

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

In my memoir “Greenwich Meridian,” I write about Czech and Slovak traditions that I have witnessed while living in Czechoslovakia with a touch of nostalgia. Some of them disappeared along with the old regimes, but most have survived mainly in villages and small towns preserved by enthusiastic small groups of people. Festive costumes for the holidays and special events reflect these traditions, as well as music, dance, food, and customs specific to each village and town.

We lived in Zlin, Moravia, which is the central part of former Czechoslovakia embedded in traditions. Both as a child and an adult, I lived and visited with my grandparents in Vizovice, a treasure trove of traditions.

cousin Bronislav Pink — Cousin Bronislav Pink ready for “schmigrust”

Easter celebrations in Czech and some other European countries are longer by one day, and that is Monday.
We have always indulged in lavish preparations for the long Easter weekend. That meant having enough meat, desserts, eggs, and beverages for three days. There were long lines just like before any major holiday. I spent a lot of time standing in lines and listening to what the old broads had to say.
“I am not going to tell him how much I spent,” a woman wearing a scarf and a fluffy skirt shook her head defiantly.
The other one with an apron over her dress smelled of burnt dough.
I thought, she must have burnt her kolache, a traditional festive pastry with plum butter.
The broad leaned closer to the first one and whispered something into her ear. Then they both laughed, until their bellies and chests were heaving up and down. I learned a lot standing in lines. The longer the line, the more I learned.
So, the culmination of it all is Easter Monday known for its “schmigrust,” an old whipping custom.

On that day, early in the morning ,large groups of boys and young men head out into the streets with their braided knot-grass whips or oversized wooden spoons decorated with ribbons. The day before, they spent many hours skillfully braiding their whips out of willow twigs or scouring the house for the biggest wooden spoon.
The boys go door to door, reciting traditional Easter carols like “Hody, hody doprovody,” asking the lady of the house for painted eggs. Then, they whip all the present women in exchange for decorated eggs and ribbons. Single women, and girls tied ribbons on top of the whip. I always wondered about the whipping custom, long before I ever set my foot out into the world. One day, grandma Anna finally explained it to me.
“It is supposed to resemble the whipping of Christ before he died,” she said.
“But, grandma that’s evil,” I cried.
Grandma just shrugged, and turned away. Later in life, I knew better than to question a tradition.

Women of the house offered shots of plum brandy, usually home-made or acquired through bartering to the “schmigrust” groups. Even family members took part in this ritual. Uncles and cousins visited for coffee, festive desserts such as kolache, shots and meaningful conversation.
On a good year, and especially when I was a teenager, we got anywhere around 100 passionate revelers. Sometimes, I ran out of ribbons. The boys and young men, competing against each other, took pride in the number of ribbons they got. The craft stores had to stock up with meters and meters of ribbons, plain or embroidered. The hens, of course, felt obligated to produce more eggs.

For more on Easter desserts go to CJ Aunt Jarmilka’s Desserts on http://jkarmaskova.wordpress.com

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blog design, blogging, business, content writing, editorial calendar quarterly, WordPress, writing

Monthly newsletter

March 31, 2015 emmapalova 1 Comment

Hello to all,

I have created a monthly newsletter so all can stay in the loop. It highlights news from my Emma Blogs including the flagship EW Emma’s Writings site on http://emmapalova.com

I will always feature in it: the current editorial calendar and excerpts from the editor’s picks for each month. The editor’s pick for the month of April is the story “IW Hiker babe walks 4,600 miles in memory of daughter.” I will also include valuable blogging tips both in content and in design. Eventually I will add marketing tips as well.
You can find the story on the company blog/website Emma Blogs on http;//emmablogsllc.wordpress.com
Blogging is a constantly evolving story. You can send your story with a link to your blog. Why did you start blogging?

Happy Easter and blogging to all from
Emma and the EW team

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blog design, blogging, business, editorial calendar quarterly, Uncategorized, WordPress, writing

Full spring calendar link

March 21, 2015 emmapalova Leave a comment

Spring editorial/marketing calendar ready through June

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

The full editorial/marketing calendar is on the company site Emma Blogs, LLC on http://emmablogsllc.wordpress.com

The last event in March is the local Lowell Expo on March 28th at the Lowell High School from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The calendar gives you a preview of stories and themes coming from the end of March through June. It is not set in stone, I always make it as flexible and versatile as possible.

It also gives an idea for marketing around the themes relevant to each month. It doesn’t exclude anything.

That’s the beauty of the Internet compared to print media; the speed and the versatility, as well as the turnover of stories. You can make it weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually depending on your blog and business.

I prefer quarterly because it gives enough leeway yet it helps stay on track and up with tasks. The calendar also depends on the frequency of your postings and the format of them.

Overall, it is worth spending time working on it rather than haphazardly writing about anything at hand. The calendar also organizes your overall strategy and thoughts into more manageable segments.

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blog design, blogging, business, content writing, writing

Editorial calendar spring

March 20, 2015 emmapalova Leave a comment

Check out the new editorial calendar for spring from the end of March through June on Emma Blogs, LLC. The calendar has listings of events and activities in the area from Expos to festivals, and customer appreciation days.

Earth Day on April 22

The new site with the editorial calendar and newsletter is the company Emma Blogs, LLC site on http://emmablogsllc.wordpress.com

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celebration, community, events, Uncategorized, WordPress, writing

Happy Saint Pat’s

March 17, 2015 emmapalova 1 Comment

Saint Pat’s Day

Happy Saint Pat's from the EW team on http://emmapalova.com — Happy Saint Pat’s from the EW team on http://emmapalova.com

This is one of my favorite writing themes. And that is Czech names in the calendar. Each day is dedicated to a different name. Of course some are more popular than others. Probably the most widely celebrated name day is March 19th which is Joseph’s/Josephine’s day.

Since Joseph is a very popular name in Czech, everybody celebrates much like Saint Pat’s here in the USA. It doesn’t mean that the day is an official holiday, but it is very similar to huge Saint Pat’s celebrations in Chicago and Canada.

And even though they don’t color their rivers green or march in parades, March 19th is still a big deal. Usually women bake for the day, and plum brandy known as slivovice flows freely, even at work.

The men sit in pubs and other public hospitality establishments. Other names like Emma have been incorporated into the Czech calendar from other countries. The name Emma originates in France.

A lot of names come from Russia like Sasha or Sergej or from other surrounding countries like Poland and Germany.

In many cases, there are more than one name dedicated to each day because of the influence from the Western countries. There are cards for each name day. That’s a lot of cards.

Among the most popular modern names for men are Jakub and Luke, even though it keeps changing constantly. For women I have yet to find out. But it also could be Katerina and Marta.

Chicago river turns green on Saint Pat's. — Chicago river turns green on Saint Pat’s.

Also each church has a patron saint. The most popular ones are Saint Mary’s. They have their own feast celebrations such as Saint Mary’s in Stipa that celebrates the feast on September 12th which is Mary’s day.

The communities celebrate the patron saints with wakes, carnivals and fairs. Different carnival companies come to towns, and the feast is preceded by a dance.

Locally, in Parnell there is Saint Pat’s Church that celebrates the feast last weekend in June. It is a major fundraiser for Saint Pat’s School.

It usually features a polka band on Sundays and chicken dinners. The dinners are very popular, and people come from all over. The parish women bake desserts, and there is a display of old cars, 50:50 raffle and cards on Friday and Saturday nights.

Of course there is a beer tent and an auction. The patron feasts are important to all the parishes as a way to celebrate the saint.

For more info go to stpatrickparnell.org

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