The Year in Review

Posted on December 21, 2015December 21, 2015 by Katie Ganshert

At the beginning of 2015, I marked off these words in my Bible and held them close to my heart. Then the year commenced, and a wild ride it has been.

Fair warning: excessive use of exclamation points ahead. Proceed with caution.

The Art of Losing Yourself became a RT Top Pick!

After a long, hard, rubble-strewn road, we welcomed our daughter home.

My fourth novel released!

We had to say a very sad goodbye to our Bubba Bear.

We celebrated my daughter’s third birthday on the earth, first birthday with us!

Brogan graduated kindergarten!

I wizened up and became a Mac person. 😉

I indie-published my first ever young adult book under the nom de plume, K.E. Ganshert!

Ryan and I celebrated our 11th anniversary!

My third book baby won a Christy Award!

I indie-published my second ever young adult book under the same nom de plume.

I got a handle on this hair thing. At least, sort of.

I signed another 2-book deal with Waterbrook Multnomah!

I won the TIARA! Y’all. This is no joke.

The final installment in my young adult trilogy released out into the world!

Brogan started first grade and lost a whole bunch of teeth!

He also asked Jesus to sit on the throne in his heart.

Miss Salima Bean was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and oral-motor apraxia (and continues to show us every day how determined, resilient, and strong she is).

I won a Carol, which was cool. Even cooler? Meeting one of my all-time favorite authors. Hello there Francine Rivers!

Salima became a U.S. Citizen and a Ganshert for life!

My second novella released!

I dabbled in Amish fiction!

That dabbling ended up on the ECPA best-seller list.

We dedicated our daughter to the Lord in front of our church family.

Oh, 2015. The Lord’s goodness, you most definitely showed me. And while the highlights were many, so much of it was just … real life.

I lost some friends. I made some friends. There were days filled with joy and many filled with stress. I got a whole bunch of new gray hairs. Became very familiar with the world of speech therapy and occupational therapy and individualized education plans. I cried tears and dried tears. I laughed a lot and prayed a lot and ate a lot of chocolate. On more days than I care to admit, I forgot to choose joy. I let tiredness or crankiness or stressed-out-ness or in-a-hurry-ness win. But God’s grace sustained, regardless. God loves me still, regardless. And through everything–the highs and the lows and the nitty-gritty in between of everyday life–His glory shines.

Here’s to having open eyes, open ears, and an open heart to God’s relentless pursuit of me in the year ahead. God’s relentless pursuit of you in the year ahead. Here’s to a fabulous 2016!

How did 2015 treat you?

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, readers! I love you muchly!

Share. Support. Win.

Raise your hand if you love to read.

Keep that hand up if you love to read WHILE supporting awesome organizations.

Keep that hand up if you love to read WHILE supporting awesome organizations WHILE entering to win a $25 gift card to Amazon or iBooks (winner’s choice).

Well, then. If your hand is up in the air, I hope you will help me spread the word!

Here’s the deal.

On Thursday, December 10th and Friday, December 11th, all proceeds from sales pertaining to The Gifting Trilogy will go to the Love More Foundation (see below to check out this amazing organization). The more sales on these two days, the more money we’ll get to donate.

Which means, I would LOVE your help spreading the word! Tell everybody you know. Shout it from the rooftops! If ever there was a good excuse to buy a series of books, this is it, since readers will not only be purchasing personal entertainment, they’ll be helping vulnerable women and children from a country that is oh-so near and dear to this author’s heart.

Just so you know, book 1 (The Gifting) is free in digital format, which doesn’t do a whole lot for proceeds. Readers can purchase the entire trilogy for $10 (digital). Proceeds for both paperback and digital apply.

Make sure to use the Rafflecopter below to enter to win the $25 gift card!

The Gifting (Book 1) Buy Links

The Awakening (Book 2) Buy Links

The Gathering (Book 3) Buy Links

About Love More:

Love More Foundation is a registered 501c3 that exists to serve women and children of impoverished nations with a current focus in the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo). Current projects focus on the basic necessity of food, empowering through education and offering healing, hope and a home to girls rescued from hard places.

If you’d like to bypass my books altogether and donate directly to Love More, please visit their website. All donations are tax deductible. You can also sponsor a child in DRC! Just $30 a month will keep his or her belly fed. Check out the children waiting for sponsorship on the Love More Facebook Page.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

There’s More!

While we’re on the topic of organizations doing amazing, life-changing work in the DRC, I would be remiss if I didn’t introduce you to Reeds of Hope. They support vulnerable children and their families by meeting physical, spiritual, and educational needs through meaningful in-country partnerships, and they are currently raffling off this beauty: T he Harambee Basket, which includes the complete autographed set of The Gifting Trilogy! You could win ALL of this for only $10! The raffle closes on Saturday, December 13th at 7 pm PST. Click on the link for details.

Even more awesomeness? Visit Reeds of Hope’s FB page, share the link to the Harambee Basket they’ve posted, and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a $100 Amazon Gift Certificate.

A Merry Christmas Giveaway

Posted on December 4, 2015 by Katie Ganshert

It’s my favorite time of year: advent season. A time of reflection. A time of expectancy. A time to celebrate the birth of hope. And also …

A time to give gifts!

Here’s the first of TWO gifts I’ll be giving away to my amazing readers this month. (Stay tuned for gift number two, which will accompany something I’m REALLY passionate about.)

As for now, let’s focus on gift number one, shall we? Which is …

All four of my full-length Katie Ganshert novels. And I’m not just giving away one set. But three!

How do you enter to win, you might ask.

Simple. Check out the rafflecopter below.

If you’d like to know more about these novels of mine, you can visit each of their pages to read the back cover blurb, the first few chapters, as well as a whole bunch of fun extras, by clicking on the titles below.

Wildflowers from Winter

Wishing on Willows

A Broken Kind of Beautiful

The Art of Losing Yourself

a Rafflecopter giveaway