Welcome to the St. Patrick’s Day Blog Hop, organized by the fabulous Carrie Ryan. We’ve got the pot of gold from the end of the rainbow for one lucky winner today – oops, well, not really, but you can check out the fabulous prizes HERE, including winner’s choice of a Kindle Fire or a Nook Tablet! Links to all posts are below!
More prizes – a $10 gift certificate to All Romance Ebooks, comment here on ur blog to be entered. And for an even larger prize – sign up for our Newsletter (check out the left side column for the sign up form) to enter our April 1 drawing for a $20 gift certificate so you can load up that E-Book reader after you’ve won it!
So leave a comment here to enter for the grand prizes plus a $10 certificate. Sign up for my Newsletter to enter for a $20 certificate. THEN go to the other 120 authors and do the same on theirs. EACH blog has a giveaway and is part of the grand prize. You can enter on each post and have your name in the pot 120 times to win the grand prize!
Contest ends at 11:59 PM EST.
St. Patty’s Day ~ Green or Orange?
My earliest St. Patrick’s Day memories are from elementary school – probably third or fourth grade, when I had no clue and got pinched by a classmate for not wearing green. My mother didn’t seem to know too much about it either – but then that makes at least some sense, given that as far back as we’ve been able to track her genealogy, there don’t seem to be any Roman Catholics. French Protestants (Huguenots) and Scotch Irish (Presbyterians) didn’t cuddle up too much with Christians who honored Rome, a trend reaching at least back to the sixteenth century.
Those factoids, once I came to understand them, gave me quite the dilemma: get pinched, or be disloyal. I opted to go green, but I remember feeling at least a tinge of guilt.
I think it was my grad school years in Chicago that turned the tide. There is nothing quite like being downtown for that parade and seeing an entire river turn green – it’s simply a celebration, and no one really cares what anyone else’s heritage is. I’ve worn green on March 17 ever since, and even learned to make boiled dinner with beef brisket (on tonight’s menu!).
As much fun as I’ve had with the wearin’ o’ the green, I feel I always must pause to honor the deep tensions and centuries of struggle between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. A Universalist who honors all paths to the sacred, I find my heart breaks for persons and nations who fight one another for religious reasons. I’m relieved that Ulster is finally relatively peaceful and hope it will be lasting.
Hubs and I take these values into our fiction (no surprise there!). We champion the underdog and write characters who do the same. Our most recent release is part of a book filled with such characters – the Lesbian Erotic Fiction anthology Sapphic Planet, where we have a short story, “Accidental Contact.” Here’s the book blurb and our story blurb – and you can link to a couple of excerpts HERE and HERE.
Sapphic Planet
BLURB
Welcome to the Sapphic Planet, a literary realm where women are free to love one another without fear of prejudice or reprisal. Inside these pages you’ll discover nineteen stories written specifically to tease and titillate your senses.
From a frolic in the rain with a Bathing Beauty, to a concerned sibling showing his sister some Brotherly Love, and everything in between – whether you’re in the mood for steamy romance or unrequited lust, we’ve got a story guaranteed to satisfy your cravings.
This anthology showcases just a fraction of the talent from the writers of Sapphic Planet, a group specifically created for authors and aspiring authors of quality lesbian literature. Now sit back, relax and enter our world. Afterwards, while waiting to catch your breath, take a moment to visit us online at www.sapphicplanet.com
“Accidental Contact” is a lesbian cougar story. Natalie and the much younger Bridgette are real estate agents who’ve often traveled together for business seminars. Now they’re snowbound in New York City in a hotel room with only one bed. Will Natalie dare to make her move?
HERE’S THE LIST!
While our family has always been aligned with the orange side, we wear green on St. Pat’s. Dad’s family came from Ireland with the famine, Mom’s side from Scotland. An interesting mix, to say the least! Besides, green goes so well with my red hair and green eyes. 😉 Have a fun hop! I’ll have to check out Sapphic Planet soon, after I get a few edits out of the way.
What a mix – lots of stories there, I’ll bet! Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy Sapphic Planet & good luck with the edits!
Fab!!! Everyone is Irish on Saint Patty’s day! That’s the fun of it!
xx
A!
Erin Go Bragh! I don’t really look good in Green so I’d side with Orange!
catherinelee100 at gmail dot com
I love a dark Kelly Green – hardly ever wear orange, actually!
I’ve never heard of people wearing orange guess I learn something new every day huh lol.
Happy St. Pattys Day!
~*Drea*~
dreabecraft(@)aol.com
LOL! not so much here in this country, but you can bet it’s been worn heaps in Ulster. Comes from William III (William of Orange).
Green or orange? Franky, I wouldn’t be caught dead in either. Sooo not my colors though I do like these colors in other things 😉
Erica 🙂
Happy St. Patty’s Day
~Sara
sarabook7237@gmail.com
Happy St. Paddy’s Day! carrieannryanwrites(at)gmail.com
I don’t mind green, there’s a little green in my hubby’s brown eyes so… 🙂
Thanks for the chance to win!
Hillary
hillacurr@gmail.com
Well more aligned with the orange side with my family, but I always wear green for the day and look forward to cooking corn beef and cabbage.
Jean
skpetal at hotmail dot com
I always wear green. I love St.Patricks Day.
twoofakind12@yahoo.com
Sweet!
Green because it matches my eyes.
coybutsweet@gmail.com
Thanks for the great giveaway!!!
red_tigergirl2(at)hotmail(dot)com
Green
Happy St Patrick”s day
all the best
isabelle(dot)frisch(at)gmail(dot)com
Green, definitely. It’s one of my favorite colors. 🙂
Email subscriber: vanillaorchids69(at)gmail(dot)com
Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
Pam
vanillaorchids69(at)gmail(dot)com
Thanks for being on the blog hop!
menina.iscrazy @ yahoo.com
Happy Saint Patrick’s day 🙂
brandon_savannah@yahoo.com
Always have worn green for St. Patty’s day although my hubby much prefers orange as it is his favorite color…but he wears it year round!
books4me67 at ymail dot com
We don’t celebrate St. Patric Day in my country, so I don’t have any memories to share. When I see the TV relations from other countries there are many drinking and singing people wearing funny hats. I think for most it’s just an excuse to get drunk. However I like the other symbol of Ireland – clover.
A four-leaf clover brings luck. I loved looking for them as a child.
Joan
0401romance[at]gmail[dot]com
I am a wee bit o’ Irish. I always hated getted pinched in school if we forgot to wear green.
Happy St Pattys Day !
~Kym
flwrs4ever(at)yahoo(dot)com
My hubs has a wee bit o’ Irish in him too, but he’d never heard of the pinching part, so thanks for confirming that!
I try to wear green on ST Patrick’s Day, if I can remember. lol
Thanks for doing the giveaway!
I do try to put on something green for St. Patrick’s Day. I have on a green sweater now 🙂 Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
Cambonified(at)yahoo(dot)com
I’m not Irish, but I usually wear something green just cause.
acm05atjuno.com
I wear green on St. Patty’s day if I remember. Fortunately nobody pinches me if I forget. 🙂
ashley.vanburen[at]gmail[dot]com
Thanks so much for the great giveaway!
slinkydennis at yahoo.com
I signed up for your email.
Thanks so much for the chance to win!
Our family wears green!
sqwalker2@hotmail.com
Thanks, Lisa – so that enters you in all three contests! Good luck with the e-reader grand prize!
Adriana
been wearing green all week!
caity_mack at yahoo dot com
Green! I didnt know some wore orange. Huh. Cool. Thanks for sharing and for the giveaway! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
I signed up for your newsletter.
shadowluvs2read(at)gmail(dot)com
Thanks for the post! I prefer green over orange – color wise 😉
bas1chsemail at gmail dot com
Definitely green
Happy St Patty’s Day
June
manning_j2004 at yahoo dot com
Looks like a lot of votes for green! I’ve never actually worn orange on March 17th – seems disrespectful, somehow. But there are huge Orange parades in Ulster in the summer months, with a past history of sectarian violence but largely peaceful now.
Anyway, green tomorrow!!
Adriana
Green-Catholic! Great post! Signed up to follow you pretty much everywhere, lol. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
jennyrlowery@yahoo.com
MMmm, I LOVE the sound of that :)!
I would have to go with green, orange just doesn’t go with my red hair dye!! lol I signed up for the newsletter.
proudarmymom32(at)yahoo(dot)com
Green.
Green…but because its my favorite color 🙂 Happy Saint Pattys Day!
viajeradelmar@aol.com
No green and definitely no orange for me. I don’t like either color.
Thanks for the giveaway!
ainfingeratcomcastDOTnet
Happy St. Paddy’s Day.
Now I don’t celebrate it so to everyone else have fun!
Thanks for this giveaway!
redfirewood888(AT)yahoo(DOT)ca
Ollie aka DarkBloodyVamp
I think green is more Irish, but I do not nor have I ever owned any clothes that were green or orange!
OceanAkers (at) aol (dot) com
GREEN!! I love green. That and Orange looks funny on me.
Mel
bournmelissa AT hotmail DOT com
Follow via email
Thank you so much for participating in this hop!
Gena Robertson
robertsongena@hotmail.com
Thanks for the chance to win.
Morganlafey86(at)aol(dot)com
thanks for t he hop and then hop you in joy the hop and then
the gift you are giving sway
desi the lbonde at msnd ot com
Dark Green
Lmackesy at gmail dot com
Happy St. Patrick’s Day & thanks for the amazing giveaway!
elizabeth @ bookattict . com (subscribed)
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I signed up for the newsletter.
bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com
Until today I had never heard of wearing any other color than greem…wery interesting.
Thanks.
mmafsmith at gmail dot com
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Nice story.
trb0917 at gmail dot com
Thank you for the giveaway!
I usually wear green…this is my first encounter with the green vs. orange question.
Green. Its my favorite color.
bacchus76 at myself dot com
So, who is the winner of this contest?
Whoops!!! And the winner is *** Drum Roll *** Menina has won a $10 gift certificate to All Romance E-Books! Thanks so much everyone for stopping by and commenting – and I hope you’re all entered in my newsletter contest for a $20 certificate. Sign up by March 31 to enter!