Tag Archives: Shifting Sands: Secrets

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Into Paradise

August 15, 2019 emmapalova 1 Comment

Heading to Paradise in Upper Peninsula

By Emma Palova

Lowell, MI – I am getting ready for my next book stop in Paradise located in Upper Peninsula in Michigan. The tiny village nestled on Lake Superior’s Whitefish Bay annually hosts the popular Wild Blueberry Festival-Arts & Crafts Fair on Aug. 15, 16 & 17 with close to 100 vendors peddling everything from Lake Superior agate pendants to books.

My new book “Secrets” from the Shifting Sands Short Stories series is a collection of 15 short stories with the main historical fiction story “Silk Nora” set in the turn-of-the-century Belding.

One of the stories “When Layla met Corey” is set in Mackinaw City, which is a gateway to Upper Peninsula.

The book made its debut at the Lakeshore Art Festival in Muskegon in July.

An artist’s dream

Paradise, a community rich with nautical folklore, logging and Native American History attracts thousands of visitors and vendors due to close proximity to Tahquamenon Falls.

For its natural wonders and wilderness, Upper Peninsula has traditionally drawn writers, photographers and artists from all over the USA. Among the most famous authors were: Earnest Hemingway and John Voelker.

Where inspiration abounds

A recent wave of emerging Michigan authors is sweeping the shores of the Great Lakes from Lake Michigan to Lake Superior. They write from Michigan with Michigan settings and locations. They market themselves under the umbrella of Michigan Authors. Follow them on http://www.MichiganAuthors.com

This is by far, not my first visit to UP or Paradise. I have fond memories of vacationing Up North, both from years ago with our kids and most recently with our granddaughter Ella.

I love the wilderness of UP and its natural pristine beauty, as well as the spirit of the Great Lakes.

For info about the Wild Blueberry Festival in Paradise go to: http://www.WildBlueberryFestival.org

To be continued

book marketing, book promotions, books, fiction, giveaway, inspiration, publishing, Shifting Sands Short Stories, short stories, Uncategorized

Kindle giveaways

July 3, 2019 emmapalova 1 Comment

Watch for Kindle giveaways of my books in the Shifting Sands series: Short Stories and the new book 2 Secrets.

If you could write a review of the book on Amazon, that would be great. Pm Emma on Facebook messenger for pdfs.

Post reviews on customer reviews on Amazon:

Here is a link to reviews:

https://wordpress.com/block-editor/page/emmapalova.com/296074

author events, book marketing, book promotions, book release, book signing, excerpts, festivals, fiction, historical fiction, local author, local authors, Michigan authors, newsletter, publishing, Uncategorized

June Newsletter

June 7, 2019 emmapalova Leave a comment

Happy summer!

Shifting Sands: Secrets
My new book “Secrets” in the Shifting Sands Short Stories series is ready for July 1 release. You can now preorder on Amazon. Just enter Emma Palova historical fiction. Below in the book section are listed links to book 1 and book 2 on Amazon.
The core of the book is the long short story “Silk Nora” that takes place at the turn-of-the-century Belding. You will be swept away by the historical setting of the “Silk City Girls” dormitory known as Belrockton. The major characters are Nora, her friend Mathilda and the matron of Belrockton- Doris from Sussex in England. Other characters include newspaper man Harry and band player John.
The cover “Face of Gossip” and the main story “Silk Nora” were inspired by my multiple visits to the Belrockton Museum over the last two decades.
A story from the hosiery mills was picked up by the Associated Press and major newspapers in Michigan ran it.
I will be with the new book at the Muskegon Art Festival on July 5th and July 6th inside the author’s tent on Clay & 2nd Streets. I will be at “Books Alive” in Ludington on July 19th, followed by a series of book signing events at LowellArts with exact date TBA.
Fall events will include the Belding Labor Day twilight parade on Sunday, Sept. 1 at 9 pm.
My major event will take place at the historic Belrockton in Belding on October 6th in the afternoon. The museum is open from 1 to 4 pm on the first Sunday of each month. For up to date news follow me on EW Emma’s Writings on http://emmapalova.com SecretsThe new book is a collection of 15 short stories. Thematically, the stories range from the action-packed 40 Hunks where driver Jose transports 40 Mexican men to labor in Michigan orchards to the core of the book which is historical fiction “Silk Nora”.

Excerpts from “Silk Nora”Signs of progress were touchable everywhere from the interior six bathrooms at the Bel to a space designated for women in the saloons of the bustling city. At the time, the city of Belding had four hotels.
Known as the “Silk City Girls” the young women spent much of their time weaving silk on spools. Silk at the time was on high demand as the major feminine fabric due to the existing shortage of woolens and cottons.
Nora and Mathilda worked together long hours at the silk mill earnings 47 cents an hour. The Belding Banner called the girls “Sweethearts in Silk” blasting propaganda about their happiness with headlines such as “The Silks with Happiness Woven into Them.”
The girls sat at their stations on the floor of the factory in orderly rows. The downstairs of the Richardson Mill was used for making stockings.
Sentiment played a part in the founding of the silk industry in Belding by the Belding brothers. After prospering in silk manufacturing in New England, they built a plant in Belding, where they had made their start as door-to-door textile salesmen.
Mathilda traveled home to Alpena twice a year for the holidays, while Nora stayed year- round at the Bel. She had a beautiful view of the Flat River and the boardwalk from her room. Nora was an avid reader and she frequented the dormitory library.
Nora easily made friends with other girls, both at work and at the dorms. She cut her hair short, a sign of times.
Matron Doris Applebaum managed the Belrockton dormitory and the girls who lived in it. She came from England to take the job at the “Bel” when it opened in 1906. Doris kept her English accent and manners.
“Girls, I will make you into ladies,” she said at the dinner table. “You already have the right foundation otherwise you wouldn’t be here in the first place. You’re a diamond in the rough. I will make you shine.”
The silk girls respected this English lady from the county of Sussex on the English Channel seaside. Doris was single and constantly happy. She competed for the Belrockton job with other ladies from around the world and won.
She took a special liking of well-mannered Nora.
“We’re going to be friends,” Doris said resolutely to Nora at their second meeting, since Nora arrived in Belding. “We have a lot in common. You come from New England, I come from the real England. But you have better food here.”You can pre-order the new book at:
https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Shifting-Sands-Emma-Palova-ebook/dp/B07SH9YGQH/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Secrets%3AShifting+Sands&qid=1559745646&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

Book 1 in Shifting Sands Short Stories series, 2017

Follow me on my Amazon author’s page at:

https://www.amazon.com/Emma-Palova/e/B0711XJ6GY

Upcoming author’s eventsInterview with author Donald Levin on https://donaldlevin.wordpress.com/ on June 20
Muskegon Art Fair …..July 5th and July 6th
Ludington ……………..July 19
LowellArts……………….TBA
Radio shows TBABelding Twilight Parade…. Sept. 1
Belrockton, Beding………….Oct. 6
Girls Nite Out…………………..Oct. 17
Christmas through Lowell…..Nov. 15, 16, 17

Map to Lakeshore Art Festival
https://lakeshoreartfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/2018-LAF-Brochure-F-D.pdf

author events, book marketing, book release, Uncategorized

“SEcrets” summary & Timeline

May 2, 2019 emmapalova 2 Comments

By Emma Palova

The new book “Shifting Sands: Secrets” is a collection of 15 short stories: “Silk Nora” and “Booksafe Code” are historical fiction stories. 40 Hunks is a fast-paced action story, where bus driver Jose transports 40 Mexican men to labor in Michigan apple orchards.

Stories “Six Palms by the Tiki” and “Devil’s Elixir” explore the themes of aging and disease. “When Layla met Corey” and “Oceans Away” reflect longing for love inspite of distance.

Book cover for “Secrets” aka the Face of Gossip.
National Novel Writing Month.

The characters in stories “Chief,” “White Nights” and “Secrets in Ink” sell their souls to the devil.

In “Waiting for Snow”, Colin aka “The Trainman” and store owner Hayden explore dimensions of time, while waiting for snow in Paris.

In “Being Faustina” and “The Writer, the Nun & the Gardener,” the characters deal with different forms of death, including suicide.

In stories “Raspberry Rage” and “Cupcake Wine,” the characters struggle with addiction.

“Secrets” will be ready for the market in May.

Excerpt from 40 Hunks

It was the letter from the US Department of Agriculture giving him permission to cross the border to the US with the 40 men sleeping behind his back. Before they boarded the bus, Jose had to make sure they were the right men. Most of them didn’t have any IDs, so he trusted them and tried to match up the names with the list from the government.

The list wasn’t exact, but Jose knew once they entered the US territory, they would be assigned a permanent work guide. From there on, it was none of his business what would happen with these men. The guides were correction officers borrowed from the regional correctional facilities in the US.

The border patrol in Nogales searched the smelly bus and studied Jose’s driver’s license and the piece of paper.

“How do you know who’s who?” barked a sweating guard with an AK47 across his shoulder, at Jose.

“Vaguely. I know that I have 40 men,” said Jose also sweating.

The guard boarded the bus and walked in the aisle examining each face, holding the piece of governmental paper in his hand. He stopped and looked closely at one man. The men were wide awake now. He leaned over the hulky man taking in his odor.

“Who are you?” he asked with his face distorted in an evil grimace.

Jose walked up to the two men in the back of the bus.

“Hey, amigo,” he said to the guard. “They don’t speak English.”

The guard shoved the piece of paper with the list of names in front of the hulky man ignoring Jose.

This is the timeline for the “Secrets” 2017-2019:

Prior to the November #NaNoWriMo 50K word challenge, I wrote the first two stories: ” Chief” (2017) and “White Nights.” (2018)

I penned the core of the book during the #NaNoWriMo novel writing month in November 2018 with word count of 56,433. That is nine stories.

After the November 50K writing challenge, I wrote four stories: “Devil’s Elixir,” “When Layla met Corey, “”Waiting for Snow” and “Six Palms by the Tiki”. I finalized the manuscript during #Camp NaNo in April.

I would not be able to do any of this without the support of the National Novel Writing Month projects of daily writing. Thank you.

Book signings and appearances

I am planning book signings and author appearances.

I will be at Lowell Arts in June/Aug. during the Livin Easy exhibit.

Muskegon Art Fair on July 5 & 6th

Ludington Books Alive on July 19

Belrockton in the fall -October

Girls Night Out -October

I am also looking for book reviewers. Please email Emma at emmapalova@yahoo.com for ARCs.

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April Creativity

April 30, 2019 emmapalova 1 Comment

April delivers not just showers and snow

By Emma Palova

On this last day of Camp NaNo, I sent off the remaining four stories from the manuscript “Secrets” to editor Carol Briggs a few minutes ago. Thank you, Carol.

“Shifting Sands: Secrets” is a collection of 15 short stories: “Silk Nora” and “Booksafe Code” are historical fiction stories. 40 Hunks is a fast-paced action story, where bus driver Jose transports 40 Mexican men to labor in Michigan apple orchards.

Stories “Six Palms by the Tiki” and “Devil’s Elixir” explore the themes of aging and disease. “When Layla met Corey” and “Oceans Away” reflect longing for love inspite of distance.

Book cover for “Secrets” aka the Face of Gossip.
National Novel Writing Month.

The characters in stories “Chief,” “White Nights” and “Secrets in Ink” sell their souls to the devil.

In “Waiting for Snow”, Colin aka “The Trainman” and store owner Hayden explore dimensions of time, while waiting for snow in Paris.

In “Being Faustina” and “The Writer, the Nun & the Gardener,” the characters deal with different forms of death, including suicide.

In stories “Raspberry Rage” and “Cupcake Wine,” the characters struggle with addiction.

“Secrets” will be ready for the market in May.

Excerpt from 40 Hunks

The border patrol in Nogales searched the smelly bus and studied Jose’s driver’s license and the piece of paper.

“How do you know who’s who?” barked a sweating guard with an AK47 across his shoulder, at Jose.

“Vaguely. I know that I have 40 men,” said Jose also sweating.

“Who are you?” he asked with his face distorted in an evil grimace.

Jose walked up to the two men in the back of the bus.

“Hey, amigo,” he said to the guard. “They don’t speak English.”

The guard shoved the piece of paper with the list of names in front of the hulky man ignoring Jose.

This is the timeline for the “Secrets” 2017-2019:

Prior to the November #NaNoWriMo 50K word challenge, I wrote the first two stories: ” Chief” (2017) and “White Nights.” (2018)

I penned the core of the book during the #NaNoWriMo novel writing month in November 2018 with word count of 56,433. That is nine stories.

I would not be able to do any of this without the support of the National Novel Writing Month projects of daily writing. Thank you.

Book signings and appearances

I am planning book signings and author appearances.

I will be at Lowell Arts in June/Aug. during the Livin Easy exhibit.

Muskegon Art Fair on July 5 & 6th

Ludington Books Alive on July 19

Belrockton in the fall -October

Girls Night Out -October

book release, Camp NaNoWriMo, fiction, inspiration, Shifting Sands: Secrets, short stories, Uncategorized, writing

Day 4 Camp NaNOWRIMO

April 4, 2019 emmapalova Leave a comment

The Camp NaNoWriMo in April is an extension of the National Novel Writing Month in November. We’ve entered the fourth day of the camp already.

I penned the core of “Secrets,” which is a sequel to Shifting Sands: Short Stories, during the November NaNoWriMo project.

From my camp cabin log:

Since, I have two goals for my camp 2019, I am moving ahead to
finish the last story in the collection “Secrets.” I will be done with that
shortly. Then comes formatting.
No.2 goal is to recast the familly immigration saga “Greenwich Meridian: Where East meets West. Instead of discarding 11 chapters, I will just
shuffle content around. I have to get the memoir going in the right
direction. I don’t want it to be a list of facts.
I hope for all us campers that we can get done what we have set out to
do; the camaraderie and support help. I have
family here from Europe, so it’s hard to get in my actual “butt in chair”
time.

excerpts, fiction, food, inspiration, Lent, passion, publishing, Shifting Sands, short stories, Uncategorized

Lenten soups

March 21, 2019 emmapalova Leave a comment

Lent, a time to reflect

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Lent is a spiritual time of reflection for 40 days before Easter observed by Christians around the world. It begins with Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday, April 18 this year.

It is marked by the color purple and fasting. On Lenten Fridays, Christians should abstain from meat and excessive drinking.

One of its traditions are Lenten soups served by many local parish communities such as The Franciscan Life Process Center. The following soups, donated by the area restaurants, will be offered on Lenten Wednesdays:

March 20th Cannonsburg Catering Potato Soup Dilly Bread Cannonsburgcatering.com

March 27th Applause Catering Broccoli Cheese Oatmeal Bread Applause-catering.net

April 3rd G RCC Culinary Program Beef Barley Cinnamon Bread http://www.grcc.edu

April 10th Vitale’s Ada Minestrone Extreme Garlic

With its deeply embedded traditions, Lent has inspired many of my stories and writings. My favorite soup, not only for Lent, is Mediterranean lentil soup with lemon and turmeric.

Excerpt from “Shifting Sands: Secrets”

Amora decided to further think about a night walk under the moon in pursuit of a glimpse of the giant silk moth.

In the meantime, she would do some research about the luminous winged wonder, and find a clock that wouldn’t be as noisy.

Worse even yet in the cottage living, you couldn’t release any stink either; like frying a fish on a Lenten Friday or on any Friday. Being a good Catholic, Amora made sure she never ate meat on Fridays. Unlike Margot, who both ate meat and drank on Lenten Fridays, Amora stuck to her acquired routine.

Undisciplined Amora had to build up her routine like a bee flying from a wild flower to an order trapped in her own beehive.

“Are we going out on Friday, Amora?” Margot asked when they were gossiping on the balcony.

“We shouldn’t,” Amora said. “It’s Lent. You should know that, you’re Irish.”

They decided to go anyways to the old Irish Pub with dubious reputation in downtown. They settled at their favorite table in the corner.

“Will it be the usual two Killarneys for the ladies?” asked the waiter.

“Just one,” snapped Amora. “It’s Lent.”

“For you, mam?” the waiter looked surprised at Amora.

“No, for her,” Amora pointed at Margot.

“Slainte,” Margot smiled at the waiter. “That’s cheers in Irish.”

The waiter brought the reddish beer and a glass of water full of ice. for Amora. Margot disciplined herself and ordered fish and chips like Amora.

“At least it’s cheap,” Margot said eating her chips. “Tell me all about him.”

“Who?” Amora was shocked.

daily writing, editing, fiction, historical fiction, inspiration, Shifting Sands Short Stories, Shifting Sands: Secrets, Uncategorized

Happy editing

March 1, 2019 emmapalova Leave a comment

Make editing fun

By Emma Palova

Lowell, MI- I liken the editing process to Adalimumab’s 130 patents. You never know what you’re going to discover during revision.

https://www.tumblr.com/emmapalova/183141624090/revision

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Beach treasures

February 21, 2019 emmapalova Leave a comment

Life on the beach beats in a different rhythm

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Venice, FL- The morning tide washed ashore treasures galore: large speckled cockles, coquinas, calico scallops, whelks, sturdy white jewel boxes, twisted conches, translucent jingle shells in shades of orange, olive and bubble shells.

The yellowish cocquina and turkey shells were still attached holding on tight to each other. The mollusks have long jumped out of the shells digging themselves into the sand.

The warm westerly wind combined with the cold Norte whipped a white foam on top of the waves breaking and crashing to the shore.

The perfect morning cup of jewels hiding inside a large cockle shell was still filled with water. A skilled paddle boarder navigated the wild waves falling only once, and climbing back up again. A sailboat rocked in the waves.

A dead seagull found its resting place on the beach. A trio of pelicans delighted in the wind flying ten feet above the water.

A slippery wrack of branches and seaweed washed ashore will serve later as a buffet for the birds. Wrack communities are native to Florida beaches; it is stuff cast ashore by the sea.

The encounters on the two-mile long morning walk on Venice Beach range from brief hellos to “How long are you going to stay?”

People walking on the beach were not only couples or families, but often a parent with an adult child. Life on beach takes on a different rhythm; time constraints disappear.

The beach walk has inspired the last story in Shifting Sands: Secrets, a sequel to Shifting Sands: Short Stories.