by Keri Rozansky | Jan 29, 2025 | Blog
I’m Pam Moore, Turner’s mom and Brad’s wife. I never really asked for either of those roles. My father got his old-fashioned traditions from his father, who got them from his father. That meant men ruled the world, and women had to ask for permission to succeed. That’s not how I felt about things.
My dad never wanted me. He wanted a boy to pass on the family business and carry on the bloodline – so old fashioned of him. So I had to make my own way and be successful on my own. Lord knows my mother had bent to being the dutiful housewife and mother my father’s way dictated. I did everything I could to stand against it.
When he told me I wouldn’t be inheriting the business until after I was married to a worthy man, I lost it. I had been captain of the swim team, a straight-A student, and everything else a parent could want in a top-performing child of any sex. Again, I put my foot down. I told him that if that were the case, I wouldn’t be getting married at all and he would either have to close the business or pass it to me as would be my right as the only child. He didn’t say a word, only huffed and stormed away.
My fragile mother came to plead me to change my mind. I wouldn’t. I had only just started college and wasn’t looking to get married anyway. Then my father burst in. He told my mother to get out, and she dutifully shuffled away in front of my dad’s glaring eyes. She was such a mouse of a woman. Just about as disgusting as my father’s old-fashioned ways.
Then the old man showed ever more of his contempt for women. “Pamela, I’ve decided.”
“Decided what, Father?” I said. I still had to play the subservient role now and again, but I always added some spice, as he called it. Then he dropped the bomb. “I will arrange a marriage for you.” I think my eyes popped out of my head and surely my jaw hit the floor. This was the most ancient thinking I had heard him spout in my life. “Arranged marriage? Ha! You won’t find a man good enough.” He rambled on and on about there being plenty of men good enough to take on this family and its business, and who would assure to give him grandchildren to carry on the traditions and family business.
“You most certainly will not! You can’t force me to marry anyone.” Okay, I was 19, I probably didn’t say “certainly,” but you know what I mean. He was not going to be running my life this way. Then, then he told me he had found some qualifying – qualifying! men to suit the role already. “And who might they be, Father?” He said he was still working on it, and there would be a testing period for each one. He wanted to know the boy was serious, that he wasn’t just in it for the money or control. My father never wanted love for me, just a weaker man he could force his ‘traditional’ values on, one that would keep me home barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen while the man ran our lives.
I was having none of that. I questioned him again about who they were. He said the first one was arriving soon. “Soon? Like, today?” I asked. He said yes with the straightest poker face, even a professional would have been jealous. He told me to make myself pretty and be downstairs in the living room in an hour. I decided to play along. I showered, dressed in my least favorite dress, slapped some makeup on, and prepared to be auctioned off like a pig.
Just as I got downstairs, the doorbell rang. I ignored it and went into the living room while the housekeeper answered the door. “Hello, Master Valentine,” I heard the housekeeper say. Jim? Seriously? My father was trying to set me up with him? I liked Jim and all, but he and Emily had been all over each other for the past ten years. How could he have even agreed? Whatever. Jim and I sat and had a late lunch and talked about Emily. He was going to propose soon. I asked why he was here and he said he heard his father talking about it and asked to be ‘considered’. It was his way of getting to me so he could tell me and show me the ring. It was beautiful. I knew she’d love it.
I could go on until I get to the prize I actually won, but that would take too long. So now you know why I am the way I am. If you don’t like it, oh well. Maybe you’ll learn more if you read the book coming out about my family’s life in just a couple months.
I know the author likes to interact with her fans on Facebook, so maybe you should go there and ask more if you really want to know.
by Keri Rozansky | Jan 22, 2025 | Blog
One of the lessons of the Fresh Start program was to create a reading list. Much of the books are related to some of the themes and goals I’ve set for my life this year, but there will be some that will be for entertainment, and possibly research for upcoming stories. I added all three of the Dragon Heart Legacy books by Nora Roberts, even though I have read the first two and only part of the third. It’s been so long since I’ve read them though that I feel the need to re-read the first two. I’ll be taking a trip to my local library.
– The One Thing — By Gary Keller
– Unfu*k Yourself: A Motivational Self-Help Book – Gary John Bishop
– Spark Joy: Marie Kondo
– Financial Peace – Dave Ramsey
– The Fitness Mindset: Eat for energy, Train for tension, Manage your mindset, Reap the results by Brian Keane
– Weird Michigan by Linda S. Godfrey
– Smart Journaling: How to Form Life-Changing Journal Writing Habits that Actually Work for Reaching Any Goal and Getting Your Life on Track by Mackenzie Reed
– The 80/20 Principle (Richard Koch)
– Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print by Dave King
– The Fourth Wing (Rebecca Yarros)
– The Little Book of Hygge/Lykke (Meik Wiking)
– Spark Joy: Marie Kondo
– Inheritance, by Nora Roberts (Book 1 of Lost Bride series)
– The Mirror, by Nora Roberts (Book 2 of Lost Bride series)
– The Seven Rings, by Nora Roberts (Book 3 of Lost Bride series)
– The Awakening, by Nora Roberts (Book 1 of Dragon Heart Legacy series)
– The Becoming, by Nora Roberts (Book 2 of Dragon Heart Legacy series)
– The Choice, by Nora Roberts (Book 3 of Dragon Heart Legacy series)
– Framed, Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions by John Grisham & Jim McCloskey
Have you read any of these? Do you have any recommendations? Let me know on Facebook!
by Keri Rozansky | Jan 15, 2025 | Blog
Christmas and New Year have come and gone. How’s you’re New Year going so far? Ours is going fairly well, as we get back into the groove of activities and obligations that were put on hold for the holiday season.
There are some big plans going forward, many of which I can’t talk about yet, so check back often for updates. One of the big ones is my son’s final semester of high school. As you’ve read about here before, he’s a senior this year. He’s gotten through his college acceptance period and is now weighing his options. He started school again last week and is determined to keep his grades up and finish strong – there are no signs of Senioritis with this kid.
It’s been a long time since I was a high school senior, but I do remember the last semester being a good one, and a somewhat daunting one. It includes all the fun end-of-the-year and end-of-school activities like senior parties, graduation parties, prom, and more. He’ll participate in his last high school theater production. He’ll make two of the biggest decisions of his life – what college to go to and what field of study to pursue as a career, and some decisions related to those decisions.
Before we all know it, graduation will be upon us. We will sit on the bleachers of the school football stadium and watch as he and his classmates cross the field in their black caps and gowns. We’ll celebrate with fun and rewards. Then we’ll face the reality that he may be leaving the nest only a couple short months later.
Do you remember your high school or college graduation? Let’s talk on Facebook!
by Keri Rozansky | Jan 8, 2025 | Blog
“New Year, New You!” is a marketing tactic for gyms and fitness clubs, meal prep/delivery services, clothing retailers, and more. “This year, make a resolution to…” followed by a sales pitch for everything from home cleaning services, furniture stores, and even higher education institutions advertising shortened degree or certificate programs to entice adults looking to further their education.
I don’t make “resolutions” anymore. At one point, I realized they were a setup for failure. Saying you resolve to, for example, exercise five days a week, the first week you only exercise four days you feel defeated and stop trying to pursue that resolution. Many people don’t stop to think about the thing that held them back that week. Did a colleague have an emergency and need a shift covered? Did you neglect to account for an appointment you didn’t transfer to your calendar? Did you just not feel like it? There are an array of reasons, all legitimate, that you may not have been able to exercise on that fifth day. But it’s nothing to get down on yourself about, or simply stop because you didn’t succeed.
Instead, I make goals. As a writer, this year one of my biggest goals is to publish my debut novel by the end of the first quarter. It may seem far away, but as I learn more and more about self-publishing, I realize there are other things that I will have to do myself. I won’t bore you with the details here, but I learned a few things that need to be added, and some steps that need to be taken before I can push “publish” on Amazon, or put my book up on another publishing platform.
Another goal is to expand my Substack page to offer paid member bonus content. That will take some doing, as I have to brainstorm some things that are worthy of such status. What would you pay for? Behind-the-scenes? A tour of my workspaces? Special short story content? The best ideas will come from responding to what you, my readers, want.
Still another goal of mine is to continue writing business blogs, and add more. Last year, I ended my relationship with company that provided blog and website content for property management companies. I was able to pivot fairly quickly into writing a blog for a custom home design company. That company wants me for an additional blog for another branch of their company under another name in another location. No, this won’t necessarily take away from this blog or my novel writing. I write, then I schedule each blog to release on a certain date at a certain time (typically every Wednesday at 2 p.m.)
There are still other goals that will likely roll over into 2026 as well – yes, I have an entire year planned. How, you ask? A program called Fresh Start that is hosted by one of the writing communities I am a part of. It’s a free, week-long course that meets via daily Zoom calls from the day after Christmas until New Year’s Day. It covers everything, from setting goals (both writing and personal), gives tips and examples of effective methods, and offers you ways to keep yourself accountable. The workshop teaches you how to account for all of your “static” time, like your 9-5 job outside of writing, appointments, family activities, school, and all the other parts of life that can’t be put on hold.
I found this program last year, and it changed my life. While my plan was to publish my debut novel by the end of 2024, life got in the way. But I made it further than I ever have before, and I learned that goal setting and amending is the way to go rather than resolutions. I found a planner I love that I will be getting every year I possibly can until the company stops making it.
I plan to continue applying the principles to every part of my life to get even more done for 2026.
How do you prepare to achieve your goals in the upcoming year? What are those goals? Let’s talk on Facebook!
by Keri Rozansky | Jan 1, 2025 | Blog
Happy New Year! Welcome to 2025! Did you celebrate last night? What sort of promises about the New Year did you make?
My 2025 is going to be new and interesting. In May, my son will graduate high school. In August, he’ll start his college adventure. In between all that there will be so much more. I reached several of my writing goals last year, only moving the goalposts a couple of times. I did not see that as failure, like many others feel when they break a new habit they promised themselves at the beginning of a new year.
I’ll continue to strive to complete goals, even through minor setbacks. It was those minor setbacks that kept me from moving forward in years past. “I’m not going to be able to write this week” so I fall out of the groove and drop the ball, never to get back to a good place again. Then life takes over and the writing gets pushed completely to the side.
What are some of your goal – not resolutions – for 2025?
Let’s talk on Facebook!
by Keri Rozansky | Dec 31, 2024 | Blog
Happy New Year’s Eve! It’s the evening before the beginning of 2025. How was your 2024? Did you achieve some or all of your goals? If not, that’s okay. I started some things just to see if I could do them, without the aim of becoming an expert. I started things to see if they’d actually have some sort of effect on my life. Planning is not my strong suit, but I’ve put my nose to the grindstone this year to try to get things done. I’ve tried to at least plan my grocery trips to get the things I’ll need for a couple weeks’ worth of dinners. There are very few instances of running out for an important ingredient before I can start preparing the meal. Planning specific meals on specific days doesn’t always go the way I planned – except for Tuesday night Pizza Night. That’s a mainstay of our week, no matter what else may be on the menu.
I also made plans and executed them to take my debut novel further than it’s ever been. Keep a lookout for it in Q1 of 2025! I’ve tried to dive into the outline and first draft of the next book, and I’m still pushing myself on that. There may be a third book in the works that wants to take over.
What other plans do I have for 2025? Of course carrying on with meal planning and writing, but there are some other plans I’ve made, too. I don’t like the word “resolution.” It always seems like something that has to be done or else the day or week or other time constraint is a failure. The “fresh start” course I took with one of my writing groups before the dawn of 2024 was amazing for my motivation. It went very in-depth about planning out goals for the year, breaking them up into manageable chunks all the way down to daily tasks. Some plans that will change what you all are seeing here:
– A goal of blogging once a week. New blogs will be released every Tuesday. I’ll have some special blogs for holidays or other occasions, too, to celebrate things big and small. Success! My schedule forced me to move blog releases to Wednesday, and on the special holidays, but it gets done. Also, I’m working smarter, not harder. While a blog pops up every Wednesday, the blog that shows up in the middle of the month was likely written at the beginning of the month. I brainstorm ideas, write them, and then schedule a release date. It relieves the stress of doing it every week, and frees me up for other things, like finishing my novel and moving on to a new one.
– A renewed dedication to my short story writing. You all may have noticed I’d started some paranormal short stories on Kindle Vella. I’ll be continuing with these, and I’ll be posting when new episodes are released. I worked on this for quite a while. Until Kindle decided to change things. Short-short stories like the ones I was publishing, were no longer being monetized. My stories were an average of six episodes, sometimes a little more. Unfortunately, Kindle wasn’t monetizing anything past the first ten episodes rather than the first three. They had their reasons, but it was no longer worth my time.
Some plans will allow me to reach for my dreams more than ever before:
– A renewed dedication to my novel. When it’s not my full time job, it’s not something that gets prioritized. This class has shown me how to make sure my writing gets the attention it deserves while also being able to accomplish the many other things I need to accomplish. The renewed dedication has paid off. While some of the goalpost deadlines had to be moved for various reasons, my debut novel will be ready for publication in early 2025.
What are some of your goal – not resolutions – for 2025?
Let’s talk on Facebook!
