The National Novel Writing Month enters its first full week. You can still hop on, but don’t wait too long. The average writing rate per day is 1,667 words.
The search for ghosts at the Fallasburg village begins tonight. Watch for the results of the paranormal investigation conducted by the Michigan Paranormal Alliance on Emma’s Blogs and in print in the local newspaper, The Lowell Ledger.
Visit with us today at the Fallasburg village from 10 am to 5 pm. Just cross the Covered Bridge at a speed of no more than walking, and you will be transformed in time.
Find your treasure among unique vendors. Visit the one-room Fallasburg schoolhouse for a step back in time.
I find the Motown Writers Network full of great tips and writing advise. What really caught my eye was the post about author branding.
As I step into the role of an author, I realize more and more how branding is important. What kind of author am I? What is my target audience? How will my title “Shifting Sands Short Stories” stand out among millions of book titles? What does it have in common with my other work?
As a journalist, I ask this question quite often, “What sets you apart from others in your industry?”
Yes, writing is a business. So, it has to be branded.
“Just like me going to work every day,” said #WGVU morning show host Shelley Irwin in last week’s interview.
Regardless the trade, many people struggle with the answer to this question including the campaigning politicians.
As of today, I can say that the following sets me apart from other authors and other titles: I am a Czech-born author who was naturalized as a US citizen on Aug. 19, 1999 at the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids.
At the time I was featured on the front page of the Ionia Sentinel-Standard in the article “U.S. citizenship a ‘natural’ step for Lowell woman. I was a reporter for the paper, and I received hundreds of congratulatory phone calls. The Associated Press syndicated the naturalization story.
I collected and put together the short stories that I have written over a span of more than two decades. So, I call that also a “history preservation” project. I wrote the first stories from the immigration circle of stories on my Smith Corona word processor in Montreal, Canada in the early 1990s.
History is my other love besides writing. Naturally, I plan to include a historical fiction piece in the sequel to Shifting Sands Stories.
I consider the Greenwich Meridian memoir about our family immigration saga from former Czechoslovakia partly a historical piece., although not fictional.
With my passion for languages, I also teach ESL. I am learning Spanish, so I can visit Hemingway’s Finca Vigia in Cuba.
I’ve already visited the Hemingway House in Key West. The descendents of his six-toed cats are there. His writing studio was connected by a catwalk to the main house.
Author branding
I see myself as a romantic author with Hemingway’s hardiness. I portray every day characters in their struggles; whether in love, disease, aging, under duress or in pursuit of perfection.
Some of the characters like Vadim in “The Death Song” are macho men, totally immersed into themselves.
The struggle for perfection is best portrayed in the character of math professor Martin in “The Temptation of Martin Duggan.” His own son is his only imperfection. Everything else in his life is perfect, otherwise he wouldn’t survive.
As in real life, the endings are not always happy. See “The Death Song” or “Honey Azrael.”
Authors (left to right) Jeanie Mortensen and Emma Palova of Lowell share a giggle.
Following is part of Hemingway’s acceptance speech sent to Stockholm, since he couldn’t travel to accept the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. I find it inspiring.
“Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate the writer’s loneliness but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone and if he is good enough of a writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day.”
I’ve also written a screenplay registered with Writers Guild of America, West. Personally, I consider screenwriting easier than writing novels. I write a short story first and based on that I write the screenplay. Writing has to be very visual.
Join our local LowellArts group #lowellwrites. Contact Debra Dunning Duiven at 897-8545.
“Today is unique. Be careful what you do with it. It will never repeat itself no matter who we are. I like to think that by writing every day, I can help someone accomplish the same goal.”
Emma Palova
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In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Fireside Chat.”
I would like to have over WordPress poet from Rumania Valeriu Dg Barbu to discuss his eloquent poetry. I would ask him where he gets his ideas and what inspires him Rumania poet Valeriu Dg Barbu
“Valeriu do you miss your old country?” I ask.
I miss mine sometimes when I see posts from the group “I love Czech Republic. ”
Was I a coward to have left a lot of the things that I value behind?
Am I living an illusion or a dillusion? Would I go back if someone asked me to?
What would have happened if I had stayed?
Will I ever be able to overcome this dilemma?
How about you Valeriu?
Follow me on EW Emma’s Writings on http:// emmapalova.com
The average writing rate per day is 1,667 words.
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