Let’s Talk: What made-from-book movies have you particularly loathed?
Author: Katie Ganshert
I write Christian romance and my debut novel, Wildflowers from Winter, releases in May, 2012 through Waterbrook Press (a division of Random House).
The Love Lie
“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
The 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.