Tag: Wishing on Willows

Pinterest Wars with Becky Wade

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

pinterest failOkay, so wow. It’s March. March, people!

Anybody else having a slight panic attack about this?

Because I am.

It’s hard to believe, but my second novel, Wishing on Willows, will be birthed into the wide scary world in just 15 short days!

Holy buckets of gravy, where has the time gone?

I have some fun stuff coming up to celebrate the new release.

A couple local book signings. A presentation at the public library. An online Wishing on Willows Extravaganza on launch day – March 19th, from 6-7 pm CST – in which I will be video chatting with readers, answering questions, and giving away six fun prize baskets!

And then there’s the title of this blog post….

The fun-ness (this ought to be a word, don’t you think?) that is happening between me and one of my new favorite authors, Becky Wade.

Have you read My Stubborn Heart yet? 

If you haven’t, get thee to a bookstore.

I promise you will laugh and sigh and find yourself unable to put the book down! No questions asked, one of my favorite reads of 2012.

Anyway – Becky and I discovered that readers who like her book tend to like mine and vice versa. So we thought, hey! We should team up and do something fun together.

And voila! Pinterest Wars were born.

8 challenges.

One per week.

I’ll throw down a challenge the first week.

She’ll throw one down the next.

For eight weeks.

We’re starting next Monday – March 11th.

Here’s where it gets even more fun.

We’re inviting you to participate!

We will post a new Pinterest challenge every Monday on this blog and our Facebook pages (make sure to follow me and Becky on Facebook).

We will have the rest of the week to attempt whatever is on the picture – it could be a recipe, a craft, a hair style, a posed picture like the one above, whatever!

Then on Friday, we will post our attempts on this blog and our Facebook pages and you will choose a winner!

Just for the record, Becky and I are not crafty people. Which means this ought to be funny. Like pictures from this website kind of funny.

Even more fun – we’re inviting you to participate! We want you to do the challenges with us and post your results on your Facebook! Make sure to tag us in the picture so we can see them.

For every challenge you participate in, we will write your name on a piece of paper and put it in a hat. At the end, we’ll be drawing some winners and giving away our new novels!

Wishing on Willows by moi, releasing March 19th.

Undeniably Yours by Becky Wade, releasing May 1st. (I’m absolutely itching to get my hands on this one!)

So mark your calendars for next Monday and join us for the first challenge! It’s going to be nothing if not interesting!

Let’s Talk: What’s one thing you’ve tried that was an epic, hilarious fail? Perhaps a meal or a craft?

Don’t forget, if you pre-order Wishing on Willows, my publisher will send you a complimentary download of seven devotionals written by me!

I’m guest posting over at Jennifer Major’s blog today about one of the best, most unexpected blessings that has come from being a writer.

My friend Caroline asks me three super fun questions on her blog, Under God’s Mighty Hand.

The Love Lie

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

love hands

“I love him. I’m just not in love with him anymore.”

I heard these words on a show recently and they totally rankled.

I think because they feel like a cop out. An excuse to bolt the minute love isn’t fun anymore.

And I think it feed a lie so many of us believe.

That romantic love is, above all else, a feeling.

And when that feeling disappears, well then….perhaps it’s time to move on.

Okay.

So don’t get me wrong.

People can experience feelings of love. No doubt.

Especially when a couple first starts to fall. Those early days when being apart physically hurts. When you can’t wipe that goofy grin off your face. When the mere thought of your honey makes you swoon (do boys swoon, or is that strictly a female phenomenon?). When you read Song of Songs and think Solomon stole the words right out of your heart.

The feeling of romantic love is a strong, heady thing.

The lie comes in when we believe those feelings are meant to last. And when they’re no longer there, we’re meant to separate.

I’m not saying these feelings go away completely or that after a certain amount of time, we’re incapable of experiencing them.

I’m just saying feelings are so fleeting. So fickle. And love is so much  more than that.

Love is a choice.

Love is an action.

Love is commitment.

And commitment takes work. Hard, determined work.

This is the kind of love that gets a couple through the valleys and the storms and the sometimes mundane, sometimes stressful everyday act of living.

This is the kind of love that makes a couple two halves of the same whole.

These are the couples on the dance floor at a wedding, with fifty plus years of marriage in their pocket.

I don’t know about you, but I find that picture so much more romantic than even the most passionate beginning. A true testament to the word love.

Let’s Talk: Agree or disagree? Have you heard anything that’s rankled you lately?

First Love

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

writing journeyThe very first thing I ever wanted to be when I grew up was a writer.

I don’t remember the exact moment the love affair begin, I just know that I was a kid in love with stories. Especially penning them.

Back in the day, when computers weren’t really a thing yet (if that doesn’t make me sound old, I don’t know what does), I’d lay in my daybed (yes, I had one of those) and write until my hand ached.

I’d fill up notebook after notebook with half-finished stories (I was never too great at finishing them) and read each one to my parents and my Aunt Peggy.

It seems even then, I not only had a burning desire to write, but to share those words with others.

When I reflect on that – on those notebooks and that daybed and my attentive parents – I can’t help but marvel at the way God plants passions and gifts inside each one of us long before we know what will come of them.

I had no idea I’d grow up to be an author of Christian novels.

I had no idea that one day, I’d get to hold those novels in my hand or share those novels with readers like you.

I didn’t know all the hard work that would be involved.

I just knew that writing was something I loved.

Let’s Talk: If you’re a writer, when did you first fall in love with words? If you’re not, what gifts and passions has God planted in your heart?

I’m so honored by this article in Publisher’s Weekly!

Stay tuned for the second installment of my NYT Best Selling book reviews, next Monday. I’ll be reviewing the first 50 pages of The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling, from a reader’s perspective and a writer’s.