by Keri Rozansky | Mar 17, 2025 | Blog
Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!
Rather than go into a deep dive of the history of the day, here are some fun facts:
1) St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated annually on March 17th, the day of St. Patrick’s death in 461 AD to Roman parents. He was English, not Irish.
2) St. Patrick was born in 385 AD in a place believed to be Banna Venta Berniae, a town in Roman Britain, but his exact place of birth is uncertain.
3) St. Patrick’s Day commemorates the arrival of Christianity to Ireland in 432 AD.
4) St. Patrick was kidnapped by Irish raiders at the age of 16 and tended sheep for them before escaping to become a priest.
5) St. Patrick used a Shamrock to teach pagans about the Holy Trinity. The shamrock is the official flower of Ireland and associated with St. Patrick.
6) The Irish have observed the religious holiday of St. Patrick’s Day for over 1,000 years.
7) The first St. Patrick’s Day parade was held in Waterford in the Republic of Ireland in 1903. The first U.S. St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated in Boston in 1737. Over 100 St. Patrick’s Day parades are held across the U.S. annually.
8) Almost 12% of Americans claim Irish ancestry, and more people of Irish ancestry live in the U.S. than Ireland.
9) The first New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade took place in 1762 and is the oldest civilian parade and largest in the U.S. The New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade includes over 150,000 participants and over 3 million spectators along the 1.5-mile parade route. The parade takes mover 5 hours to complete. The shortest St. Patrick’s Day parade is in Arkansas, and is only 98 feet.
10) More than 1 million people take part in St. Patrick’s Day Festival (March 15-17) in Dublin every year.
11) Corned beef & cabbage is a traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal, but the meal is typically an English dish, not Irish.
12) From 1903-1970, St. Patrick’s Day was a religious holiday in Ireland and most pubs were closed. It was then reclassified as a national holiday and drinking has now become a strong tradition associated with the day.
13) Over 450 churches in the U.S. are named for St. Patrick, including St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.
14) St. Patrick’s Day is not celebrated on March 17 when the day falls during Holy Week. This has happened in 1940 and 2008. In 1940 it was celebrated on April 3 and in 2008 it was celebrated on March 15. The next Holy Week occurrence will be in 2160.
15) Finding a four-leaf clover on St. Patrick’s Day is considered lucky. There is only a one in 10,000 chance of finding a four-leaf clover at any time.
Do you know anyone with a birthday on St. Patrick’s Day? How do you celebrate the day? Let’s talk on Facebook!
by Keri Rozansky | Mar 12, 2025 | Blog
I’m still learning this whole self-publishing (and self-disciplining) thing when it comes to my writing. Sometimes laziness gets in the way, and sometimes life itself gets in the way. I thought with my final edit before passing things along to beta readers would be the final edit before sending it to my editor. FALSE. On so many levels! My beta readers gave me excellent feedback, and I made a list of the things that were mentioned most and did a bit of a rewrite to include those suggestions. But now it means I’m editing again! Yes, again! With the next book I’ll definitely have my house in order, with all the things I’ve learned along the way this time around.
I hate working against firm dates, as it’s not flexible for the emergencies of life, or when you just want to relax on a week’s vacation in a warm spot away from the frozen tundra that is Michigan in the winter.
So I beg of you to bear with me as I push my publication date, yet again, to sometime in Q2 of 2025.
My beta readers are special people. They saw plot holes and loose ends I’ve overlooked or felt like they didn’t need a definitive answer. If the story in my brain didn’t think it was too important and was just a distraction technique, I didn’t think to follow through with a conclusion. Until the beta readers said they needed a resolution. Resolution provided.
This extra work also added extra words. So I’m going through and trying to cut some of it out without damaging the integrity of the story. I’ve already been told my work is extra long for a potential category I may list it under, so I’m also working to get it closer to that word count as well.
But that’s what editors are for right? Even if I edit this to the best of my ability, my editor is going to find some things that make no sense to have in at all, thus cutting hundreds to possibly thousands of words.
Once I get that advise back, it will be back to editing. I’ll hand it back for a proofread and polish, and once that’s done, Midnight Splash will hit the market!
There are more tantalizing tidbits coming your way in the coming weeks and months, too, so keep an eye on the blog and my Facebook page for announcements!
Is there anything you’ve done you thought you had completed, only to find out there is a step or two you’ve missed? How did you go back and fix things, or did you push forward to completion and then go back to fix it? What kept you motivated to finish? Let’s talk on Facebook!
by Keri Rozansky | Mar 5, 2025 | Blog
As I talked about last week, this year is my son’s senior year and is full of “lasts.” One of these lasts is coming up. Starting with the spring show of his freshman year, my son has been part of his school’s theater program. This will be his seventh and final show – it could have been the eighth, but he wasn’t able to participate in the fall show. He’s been on stage for some amount of time in at least three of those shows so far. The other four, including the one coming up later this week, he has kept himself hidden in a backstage role.
I love that he’s been part of the program. I enjoyed my high school theater experience and it is full of memories I will never forget. I firmly believe that belonging in the theater program for him meant belonging overall. When we moved from Arizona, he didn’t have any friends. Even his cousin lives a little over an hour away. It was up to my son to make friends on his own. Without a base of friends from his old school, things started out a little rocky. By the end of the year he had made two very good friends. One departed for another school, while the other is still a good friend after all this time.
My son worked his way ‘up the ladder’ if you want to call it that. Or rather, up the stairs. The shows where he had worked backstage up until this year he’s been part of the stage crew that sets and resets props and scenery. This year, he’s been promoted up the stairs (of the theater seating area) to the sound booth above. He’s responsible for sound and music cues, as well as turning the overhead and body mics on at the right moment. When he told us about this promotion at the end of last year, I had only considered it in relation to the two theater productions in fall and in spring. But it extends far beyond that, to running sound for choir and band or orchestra concerts, too.
When we went to the visit day at his chosen college a couple weeks ago, although he’ll be studying architecture, the theater school would love to have him, too. He can work in an on-stage or off-stage capacity, and I hope he takes advantage of it when he can.
This week, tomorrow actually, starts his last show of high school, but hopefully not his last.
Were you a part of your school’s theater program? Were you an athlete? Part of another club or organization? Let’s talk high school memories on Facebook!
by Keri Rozansky | Feb 26, 2025 | Blog
It’s my son’s senior year, which means there are a lot of “lasts.” Last week was his last “winter break” of high school. You may think “winter break was in December and January!” His private Catholic high school calls the December/January break “Christmas Break.” In February, they have President’s Day/Winter Break.
We took advantage of this time and took a vacation. We went back to Phoenix to visit some friends, for my husband to business, and to tour the college my son has chosen to attend next fall. I had checked the website for a tour event, possibly one where he could view a class. Instead, I found the opportunity for an event with a lot more information and experiences focused on encouraging students on the fence to apply and those students whom have applied and/or been accepted to affirm their decision.
The trip started out a little rocky. We drove to the airport in a snowstorm, only to be delayed by nearly 2 hours on our takeoff to our layover destination of Dallas. We had planned some relaxation time in Dallas, which we didn’t get to due to boarding being closer than if our flight had left on time. We didn’t reach Phoenix until around 10 p.m. Our potential ride wasn’t going to be available, so we called for a self-driving vehicle to pick us up. They’re all over the place! Despite what you may have heard or seen about them, the ride was smooth and we arrived at our destination with no problems. We enjoyed it so much we booked one to take us to the airport the day we left.
We had a day to chill and do nothing before our schedule became packed. We attended the college event, where my son even got to meet with a current student and talk for a while. He was more sure than ever of his decision. We went around to some places we hadn’t been to in a while, but could only manage to meet up with one of our friends. My husband had a work meeting with a client, which my son (who will be going into architecture) got to sit in on. When the meeting finished he said “it’s like playing!”
I’m (not) ashamed to say I didn’t get any writing or editing done. I had my laptop with me, but I don’t think I even turned it on.
I finished up the week with some relaxation. Whenever we make the trip to Phoenix, I schedule some time at my favorite salon and spa. I got a new haircut, a manicure, and spent the day relaxing at their facilities which include an indoor hot tub, outdoor pool, relaxation room, waterfall pool, and more.
By the time I was done at the spa, we didn’t have much time between then and our return trip to the airport. The self-driving car picked us up and delivered us without a problem for our late-night flight. It was close to 4 a.m. local time when made it to our car in the airport parking garage.
It was a great time and we can’t wait to go back!
What’s the most recent trip you’ve taken? Did things go perfectly or were there mishaps along the way? Let’s talk on Facebook!
by Keri Rozansky | Feb 19, 2025 | Blog
I’m a bar owner, not a writer. The most I do is write emails to suppliers who won’t deliver when they promise. I looked, and some of the people who have taken over this blog have talked about themselves, their worries and doubts, and whatever. Pam talked about how she hated certain things about her life. Me, I just don’t care.
Like I said, I’m a bar owner, not a writer. Yeah, me and Pam have a past, but that’s really none of your business, is it? Has it influenced our current relationship? Sure, but so does that twit of a husband of hers.
What I want to know is why the hell that Ellison detective guy seems to think I have anything to do with anything. Pam coming to my bar to visit a friend and have a drink, and that idiot Phineas Greene living only a few blocks away shouldn’t have anything to do with what he’s investigating. Ever hear of coincidence, Ellison?
Damn cops want to make whatever connection they can to get their investigation over and done with. Why don’t you look at the real criminals? Next you’re going to ask me how I know who the real criminals are, and where to find them. Nope, not gonna tell ya. That’s for you to figure out on your own.
I’m done with this. If I keep going, it’s going to give me a heart attack with how angry it’s making me. Next you’re going to say I could have said no. But from what I hear, everyone is being forced to do this. Who’s next? How the hell do I know, but I wish them well. If they’re not a writer they won’t know what the hell to say or do either.
Anyway.
Bye.
