I am running with this story now that Brno has become the 27th place in the world to visit out of 52 this year, according to New York Times.
I am very proud of this city. It has completely revamped itself from its communist mantra lasting until 1989. It is en par with the great cities of Vienna, Geneva, Prague and Budapest.
The architecture in the downtown area of Svoboda’s Square and the pedestrian zones is Art Nouveau, Empire and Neo-Classical. These styles are visible on the building of Janacek’s Academy of Music in the university district adjacent to the main square.
I was born in Brno, graduated from the Technical University of Brno in 1986 and I visited this gem in 2013. My friends live and work in Brno. I cherish the memories in my heart. Enjoy this city as much as I have.
I have safely returned home after travelling around several European countries including France, Spain, Czech Republic and Switzerland.
This is the eighth installment in my adventure travel series when I decided to step back into the past to fuel my memoir “Greenwich Meridian, where East meets West.”
Lost in Brno- Czech Republic
I had one entire day on Sept. 25th to relive it all in post-revolution Brno, while my friend Jane worked her post-revolution work for an Austrian firm.
“Just follow the tram tracks into town,” she said.
Now, that was easier said than done. Brno was and is a pulsing metropolis that has cleaned itself up, so it is completely en par with Prague, Paris and Geneva. As I got into town, I found myself caught in an entire web of pedestrian zones surrounding a big park; they all seemed to lead onto Jost Boulevard.
Lowell, MI- On this day three years ago, I boarded the WordPress flight 101 to destination unknown.
I came across WordPress just by pure coincidence as I was doing research for my memoir “Greenwich Meridian” about the family immigration saga.
The Hawkins Chamber site had a WP like box. In order to like it, I had to get on the platform. So, I did because I needed Internet presence anyways according to the agents whom I approached about the book.
Inspiration: the spiral staircase at the Dali in St. Petersburg, FL
It was an easy pick compared to the other complex blog/web building sites. Plus it was free.
Looking back at those three years, there were definite milestones when I wanted to just plain quit without explaining anything to anyone. There was this strange voice that kept whispering into my ear, “Give it up, you can’t do it. Go back to the store.”
I actually even attempted going back to the store where I worked in the nineties, but the manager discouraged me.
“You can do better,” he said. “Keep trying what you’re doing. You will master it.”
Initially, there is a steep learning curve on WordPress, just like with anything new. I compare to a child learning to walk. All those bumps and falls and getting up, crawling along the walls for support, and then suddenly a bang. The child stands up and takes his or her first steps.
I spent hours behind the computer with tutorials and the support team as my wall. I was dealing with an avalanche of information trying to sort through it all.
Inspiration carved in rock.
“Why don’t you let someone else do it for you?” asked my husband Ludek shaking his head when he saw me crunching my teeth and pulling my hair out.
“Like who,” I said. “And mainly where am I going to get the money to pay a person for a decent job?”
No, answer.
My persistence prevailed. I finally had the first post ready “About” on Jan. 14th with a Jan. 15th date.
The WP team welcomed me along with other newcomers into the community graciously with the slogan, “Thanks for flying with Word Press.” I still didn’t know what to expect just like when you take off on a plane for a long journey across the ocean.
As time ticked away, more things became clear. Having a traditional publishing background with knowledge of QuarkXPress and InDesign, the real design on word press became easier.
I have to say that I never had serious trouble coming up with copy. And as serious, I mean not being able to pound out a story or a post every day. Traditional newspaper journalism was a lot like an army boot camp.
“A story and a photo a day will keep the editor away,” we used to say at the Ionia Sentinel-Standard newsroom.
Easier said than done and that goes for both worlds; ink and the grid.
I find it helpful to have the right mindset even before I get out of bed. The right mindset was, is and always will be that, “Content is the king.”
I always think about that before I sit behind the screen and as I look at the Stephen King calendars filed in my library, year after year, until they finally stopped publishing them in 2014.
“The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that things can only get better,” wrote King.
I agree. Whenever I have trouble coming up with ideas or writing, I start procrastinating. To avoid procrastinating further, I go for a ride, take a walk, and swim a few laps if I am lucky enough to find a pool or dip myself in a hot tub.
Once I physically exert the inner frustration, the writer in me is reborn. I shake everything off and step into a new world of creation. The destination remains unknown.
To be continued with “Milestones” and “If I could turn back time.”
I am going to work on this daily prompt by Daily Post because it is so close to my heart especially at a time when I am starting the second half of my memoir “Greenwich Meridian” about the family immigration saga.
Stay tuned for the full story as I develop it to fruition.
The first years of immigration in North America. Pictured are Ludek, Emma and Jakub P. on the shores of St. Lawrence River in Gaspesie, Canada.
If you could return to the past to relive a part of your life, either to experience the wonderful bits again, or to do something over, which part of you life would you return to? Why?
Lowell, MI- If we only knew what people really like, the creative business would be much less trickier. It’s not just that we as creators don’t know, but sometimes the receiving side doesn’t know either.
I found out this from my experience while trying to select a movie to stream from YouTube. My husband and I go through hundreds of movie selections both in English and in Czech. Quite often we end up not knowing what we want, and we switch lazily back on the TV programming to do the picking for us. It’s easier than making up our own minds.
Thai wind 1 by Kacey Cornwell, Art Prize entry
But, taste is also a matter of the moment that keeps constantly changing. On the other hand there are nights, when I immediately know what I want to see even before turning on the screen. Luckily, we usually agree on the choice.
That brings me to my major goal for 2016 and that is to write what people like to read.
“What is it?” I ask. “Does it mean that I am catering to a trend?”
Not, necessarily. Gauging what people like and don’t like is important just like in the food industry. Recently, I found out that the frozen Ristorante pizza is not as good as DiGiorno. They look the same, they cost the same, but they don’t taste the same. Ristorante is missing something. What is it? It’s like with a good story or a bad story. What is missing and why is it bad?
Finding that missing ingredient is in the psychology or knowledge of your character and your reader. They have to match up. We need a perfect match.
But, writing isn’t just point-blank, let’s say, for the firearm hunter of deer but for the entire hunting category. Just like the pizza example appeals to a wide group of people, if not to most. But remember that both are frozen.
When I think of writing to a certain interest or maybe a trend, I always think of an entire group or a segment of population.
“Okay, who is going to read my next short story, “270 Degrees to Beach Pines?”
It could be the largest segment of American population. That is the baby boomers. The short story is about aging and what a tragic comedy it is; watching it, living it and trying to cheat it. Totally, Shakespearean or Marquez style. It will be humoresque and very light, almost as light as the “Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Kundera.
It should feel like a feather in the wind, like a butterfly’s kiss as it slowly dissipates into thin air.
Lowell, MI- I’ve noticed a pattern of interest in different stories over the years. There is a good old journalistic saying, “If it bleeds it leads.” That goes for traditional media.
That is true for news stories on major TV networks and in newspapers. People are hungry for crime, tragedy and its impact. They’re glad that it didn’t happen to them. It’s psychology at its best.
Second comes in weather, and glamour takes the third place. Sometimes these two are interchangeable.
The digital world is different, where technology posts take the first followed by everything that is connected to IT. Then comes everything else.
In my own little world of EW Emma’s Writings, this is how my posts fared from bottom to top on a scale of 5 to 1.
5- Alphorns at the Grand Rapids Octoberfest in September 2015. It was a well-rounded German event with Erdinger on tap and schnitzel with potato salad on the menu.
4- The page About local entrepreneurs & artists takes the fourth place. It profiles regional inspiring people from entrepreneurs to staple artists in the West Michigan area.
3-The Kropf Apple Farming legend. A touching story about an apple farming family spanning four generations while overcoming the big Chinese apple juice dumping crisis in the late 90s and early 2000s.
2- The home page/archives takes a second place. People like checking this one out periodically. That’s why periodic posting is important. It’s a very popular station.
1-Top post with 113 views on Sept. 28 about local entrepreneur Nancy DeBoer. The post about the owner of Station Salon, a popular beauty shop in Lowell, won out of 160 posts in 2015.
The above ranking of top posts shows me that human interest stories have the most views.
It warms my heart because I came to the same conclusion in print media after years of experience. On a long term basis, not at a particular second, people prefer the human over the dead, success over failure, tenacity over weakness, continuity over the beat of the day.
Copyright (c) 2015 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
I would like to wish a happy New Year 2016 to all from Emma Blogs, LLC. May all your wishes come true.
On this last day of the year I always look back at the previous one. Year 2015 was very good and productive on both professional & personal fronts.
Happy New Year 2016
With this post and thanks to the 30 Day Content Challenge, I have reached 346 posts.
I sought out new clients, the Fallasburg Historical Society (FHS) and created the Fallasburg Today campaign. I continue to work with CJ Aunt Jarmilka’s Desserts and with new prospects and that is Lynn Mason 2016 campaign, Tri River Historical Museum Network, Americas Voices and more.
The 30 Content Writing challenge by Learn to Blog was inspiring and it transformed me in many ways. The challenge taught me the discipline of everyday writing.
The challenge encouraged me to explore new avenues such as writing for children, writing about fear and persistence. It was a powerful force in a sense that 400 people were writing and posting on that same day.
During the challenge I made many new friends such as Pittsburgh Grammy, Peter Safe, Annie Conboy, Jan Booth, Deanna Burton, Nan Raden and Nicole Varge, Lisette Jenkins, Kathy Thompson just to name a few.
Then I participated in a heated political debate in the group Czechoslovaks on Facebook. It warrants a separate post. Watch for it soon.
Another surprise came just last week. Bene Hofmann, a German architecture student contacted me via FHS Facebook page. Hofmann will be building a model of the Fallasburg Covered Bridge for a school project. So, I wrote about that as well.
Peggy Topolski contacted me that her husband wen to the one room school in Fallasburg. I will be doing a story on that.
Twenty people came to look at the historical buildings in the pioneer village during the first annual Fallasburg village bazaar.
So, to wrap it up as the clock keeps ticking, I found out that social media marketing really does work. It has its own bizarre ways, but it works.
Lowell, MI- Ah, the holidays at our household. Even though I was born in former Czechoslovakia, I have a feeling we must have had Italian ancestors. I should check our family tree that’s more like a shrub.
Whether celebrated in the old country or in the USA, holidays are rough. The preparations are endless and exuberant. By the time you are prepared, you are exhausted.
Prague Christmas markets
It’s kind of like with security. You can never have enough preparations because something always goes wrong. And the good old saying “the more the merrier” works its magic.
For any gathering my parents arrive with my brother. They get out of the car already fighting.
Mom brings food and we make food. The food is a combo of Czech and American dishes. We eat with a fork and a knife. Mom likes to be the center of attention at any gathering. The focus must be on her.
Beware if not or don’t dare to invite other guests because she wouldn’t be able to show off. I made that mistake last summer that I invited other people than family to a birthday party.
Traditional Czech Christmas pastries.
We eat and drink. We eat more and drink more. Mom stands up from the table and gives a speech. Usually, it’s something self-centered.
“I was the most beautiful one at the party,” she said, “and she talked too much. She wouldn’t allow me to say a word.”
That was directed at a guest whom she invited to her home.
“She told me her entire life story and I couldn’t speak,” mom said.
My brother is getting increasingly drunk sneaking in an extra drink downstairs when nobody is watching. Dad doesn’t say much. He likes it that way.
Mom either hits on my brother or on me. Most often on both of us. And then comes the pinnacle in front of all:
“I should not have had either one of you.”
And we fight and we fight more. We raise our voices and mom cries.
Depending on the occasion of the gathering my husband joins in. He laughs out loud. Our son is the peacemaker. He should have been a diplomat.
If it’s Christmas, our son plays Czech carols on the saxophone, I play the piano. My daughter-in-law is also low key. She’s not a Czech.
On top of all of this we’re supposed to have a super moon as if family and alcohol were not crazy enough.
We depart in peace, only to do it all over again.
Happy holidays and a great new year 2016 from Emma Blogs, LLC, Fallasburg Today and CJ Aunt Jarmilka’s Desserts.
A tribute to chief challenger Bradley Will of Learn to Blog
By Emma Palova
Lowell, MI- I must say I feel lighter today and that’s not because I didn’t have anything to eat.
I just finished watching the “Best Year Ever Webinar Replay” and completed the 30 Day Content Challenge.
Just like the challenge, it was very inspiring right before the holidays. I would like to officially thank Bradley and the ambassadors for all of this. You made me a different person.
A book for Josephine in Czech.
I uncovered things about myself that I didn’t know throughout the #30 Day Content Writing Challenge.
The thoughts for each day guided me in a forest of thoughts and ideas. I made new discoveries like the story about a Magnetic Island down South. I made new friends with Nicole Varga. Gary and Pete Safe.
Even though the challenge was marked by constant violence, it was productive and creative. I found out that by making myself write every day, I could be helping someone else accomplish the same goal.
When I missed posts, I caught up thanks to Pittsburgh Grammy and Gandhi quotes. I wrote a simple children’s book in Czech.
I found out that I can efficiently write about fear in the wake of Paris attacks on Day #3 of the challenge.
“I keep feeding my mind, I am not that one-dimensional blogger,” Will said in the webinar.
Well, I feel the same way that everyday writing made me stretch my mind and expand my personality. I am not a one-dimensional blogger either. I am everything I want to be.
“Sometimes it takes other people to point out our blind spots,” Will said.
Yes, it does.
“Turn back to art,” was Will’s advice.
Art has always been my favorite haunt, my favorite hideout. So, I am going to finish the challenge on that note.
Collectively between 500 people, we published 3,200 posts.
“The results left me stunned,” Will said. “Inspiration stems more inspiration.”
The opposite is also true that violence breads more violence. And we all fought it back with creativity.
“Be around great people.”
Thanks to you Bradley, I was around great people. Some of the best in the industry. They motivated me and carried me through the challenge.
I also learned about rather giving than taking and that money doesn’t bring you happiness.
Everyday writing is like keeping a diary. It is very therapeutic and explorative.
It takes a lifetime to get to 13 seconds of winning a battle
By Emma Palova
Lowell, MI- This one rings close to home because it is such a strong theme for the challenge. It took me a lifetime to get to where I am now. I am doing what I love and hopefully other people appreciate it.
Throughout the process, I reinvented myself several times. I went from being a civil engineer by default of returning to Czech Republic to a writer on the WordPress platform.
Dali’s clocks
In between, I did many different things. These included English instructor for French executives in Montreal, a factory worker packaging health aid boxes, a clerk in Women’s Department, a journalist for print media, a journalist for digital media, a journalist for Czech media and a social media marketer for Fallasburg Historical Society.
Then, I taught myself WordPress. Last year, I started my online business Emma Blogs, LLC. Now, I am doing the 30 Day Content Challenge.
What’s next? I don’t know. That’s the beauty of life.
I will definitely continue to write and run the business. But, I am thinking about going back into the regular work process. Whatever that means at the time of the Internet.
Any change is a good thing for all of us. I do love change. That’s why I like to watch water outdoors. It keeps constantly changing with light and motion.
I am glad that I took on the challenge. I’ve learned a lot about myself. On some days I did great, on other days not so well.
Some themes were inspiring, other ones not so much. So, on those not inspired theme days, I went on my own. As I always do.
Lowell, MI- Who doesn’t like a good challenge? Writing is not challenging for me. Writing is a way to express myself, my feelings, my thoughts and to deliver a message.
It doesn’t always have to be writing for the sake of information.
Spiral staircase at the Dali in St. Petersburg, FL
I started writing in grade school. Later, in prep school we had to write compositions in Latin. I remember the one about the Cyclops. I got a C on it and rightfully so, I didn’t know what they were talking about. I only know that they had one eye in the middle of the forehead.
But, it taught me a lesson that writing in any language is good for you. You let go of your feelings and take part in life.
Imagine what the world would be without books. I lost focus long time ago, because it all goes into my writing. I can manage to read blogs and short stories, but no books. That’s the price you pay after years of writing. I’ve written in English and in my native Czech language. I’ve written in French as well and in Latin.
I have no regrets. Writing challenges have taught me the discipline of every day writing. The challenges also prove to you that you can write on any topic presented and at any time of the day.
It doesn’t have to be a long piece either to deliver the message. I prefer to the point writing and not beating around the bush.
Who has the time to contemplate a 100-page paper?
My advice to anyone who is afraid of a challenge is to stand up to it and say, “Hello what can I do to help out?”
I feel that by writing every day I am helping someone else achieve the same goal.
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