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Bethany Quinn on Going Home

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

If you haven’t noticed, Katie likes to get all spiritual on Wednesdays. So when I started looking for an opportunity to introduce myself, to tell my side of the story, I was hoping for a Monday or a Friday. Anything but a Wednesday. Yet here I am and we all know what day it is.

I figure I should take what I can get.

My name is Bethany Quinn. Wildflowers from Winter is my story. And I’m here to tell you that Katie and I haven’t exactly seen eye to eye lately.

We used to be fine. We used to coexist in peace. Until she started talking about Peaks. Until she got it in her head that I should go back.

I keep telling her she doesn’t understand what she’s asking.

Because unlike me, she likes her hometown.

To her, home is a happy place. With two loving parents, a perfectly respectable house, and a bunch of nostalgic memories.

She never had to deal with death. Or unwanted stares. Or whispers and gossip and speculation that tiptoed much too close to the truth.

Her memories frolic. My memories lurk.

They loiter on the corner outside of town, next to Jorner’s General Store and that green population sign.

They linger in the trailer park where I lived for ten miserable years.

They skulk among the stiff wooden pews of First Light and the deep end of the public swimming pool and in that tall silo on my grandpa’s farm, where everything started.

You see, Katie left home with every intention of going back.

I left with every intention of staying away.

Yet here she is, telling me it’s time to face my past. Insisting it’s the only way to move forward. As if I’m not already moving forward. As if I’m not an architect for one of the most prestigious firms in Chicago. As if I don’t live in an impressive downtown loft. Or have a boyfriend who is charming and successful and takes me to places like Vail on the holidays.

She keeps looking at me like she’s unimpressed. Like I’m the one who’s missing something.

She keeps telling me it’s time to go home.

Only she doesn’t understand that Peaks isn’t my home. It stopped being my home a long time ago. Going back won’t help anyone. Not me. Not my mother. Not Robin.

I’m not the only one fighting this battle. I was talking to my friend Bailey (check out what she has to say on Dani Pettrey’s blog) the other day and we’re starting to suspect that Katie and Dani are in cahoots. Because Dani keeps pushing Bailey to go home too. The two of them insist it’s for the best.

Whose best? That’s what I want to know.

Let’s Talk: Have you ever had to do something when it was the last thing in the world you wanted to do? If so, how’d you come out on the other side?

Interested in reading my story? You can preorder Wildflowers from Winter on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Christianbook.com

Struggling with the past? Check out Katie’s Facebook Author Page or Dani Pettrey’s Facebook Author Page to read a note from the authors. 

Katie’s over at Jessica Nelson’s blog today chatting about publication.  

A Different Take on Branding: Four Doorways

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

A friend shared this very enlightening article with me the other day and it made all kinds of light bulbs go off in my head.

Basically, the article discussed four doorways, or access points, of fiction:

  • Story
  • Character
  • Setting
  • Prose

As readers, we gravitate to certain doorways.

There are those who pick up a book, hoping for a page-turner. Story is their flavor of choice.

There are those who pick up a book, hoping to fall in love with the protagonist. Character is their flavor of choice.

There are those who pick up a book in hopes of being carried off to a different place, perhaps a different time. Setting is their flavor of choice.

And there are those who pick up a book, hoping for a well-turned phrase. Prose is their flavor of choice.

Nancy Pearl, the author of the article, thinks we often go about recommending books in the wrong way. We ask a person what genre they prefer. Or what topics interest them. But maybe, it’s all about the access point.

Nancy says, “When we want a book exactly like the one we just finished reading, what we really want is to recreate that pleasurable experience.”

How true is this?

She goes on to explain that every book has a prominent access point. The key is finding which access point a reader prefers and recommending books accordingly.

I found this all to be incredibly fascinating. Especially in light of the great branding debate. 

Rachelle Gardner recently wrote a post titled Can I Write in Multiple Genres? A very informative, helpful post about the importance of specializing, especially for those of us early in our careers.

I agree with everything she says. I don’t think any of us should aspire to become the jack of all trades.

But what if our brand is much less about genre, and much more about the experience we create for our readers? Maybe it doesn’t matter if we branch out a bit, so long as we keep our primary access point the same.

For all I know, this could be horrible advice. I just think it’s interesting thought fodder.

After reading the article, I asked my friend which doorway she gravitates toward. She said character. Then she said something else that really resonated:

The really great books? The ones we can’t put down. The ones we read over and over again. The ones we share with our friends. They excel in all four.

As authors, that should be our ultimate goal. 

It reminded me of the post I wrote on Rachelle’s blog last week, Finding the Sweet Spot. I talked about excelling with our prose and our story. But really, that’s only half of the equation. The super sweet spot comes when we master all four – story, prose, character, and setting. 

Let’s Talk: Which doorway do you gravitate toward? Have you read a book that combines the strengths of all four doorways? What do you think is more important when it comes to branding – doorway or genre?

Wildflowers from Winter: Hope after Abandonment

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

It’s an honor to have Shelly Brown as a guest today. God has definitely brought wildflowers from her winter. She says her deepest desire is to be used by God to impact the lives of women. 

I’m trusting her story will do that today.

He Makes All Things New

Can you recall the saddest day of your life? I can. It was one month before my sixth birthday.

It was the day I heard the words,  “Kids, your mom’s gone.” 

As a result of a tragic car accident, my mom had spent the last year of her life confined to bed, with only an occasional escape in her wheel chair. My dad was driving that night. He had been drinking. The accident left her with a broken back, many internal injuries and she was paralyzed from the waist down. She wasn’t supposed to die. She would simply live out her life as an invalid. She unexpectedly succumbed to a blood infection.

The second saddest day of my life was my mom’s funeral. She was buried on her 32nd birthday. I lingered at her casket through the entire viewing. Gently caressing her arm, quietly crying, asking her to wake up. I couldn’t grasp the finality of death. I remember hoping that she was just asleep and would come back to me.

As the service began my father picked me up and carried me to the front row where he sat me on his knee. My eyes stay fixed on my mom for the entire service. When the service ended, everyone got up to leave, including my dad. But before he left, he leaned over and kissed my brother and me on the cheeks and told us good-bye.

We never saw him again … alone and abandoned … on the same day.

For the next year of our lives, we were at the mercy of temporary homes and foster care. We were neglected, rejected and abused in unimaginable ways by every one who was charged with our care.

Finally, a couple who couldn’t have children of their own adopted my brother and me. They chose us out of a catalogue full of children. There were many to choose from, but they were drawn back to my brother and me on more than one occasion. Perhaps it was our toothless smiles that endeared us to them. They read the narrative of our stories and knew we had been separated from our three sisters. They wanted to keep my brother and I together.

So we were chosen. We had our forever parents. A fairytale come true!

Or so we thought.

Our new dad was amazing. But, within the first few weeks our adopted mom unleashed her anger and hostilities on us. 

Horribly abused. Rejected by the very mom who chose us.

After five long years my adopted father got permission to rescue us from our mom. We made a clean break from our home state of Pennsylvania to move with him to Orlando, Florida.

Though I learned to cope with my past, my soul wounds ran deep.

But over the next thirty years, God would divinely place women of faith in my life, each with great purpose. Some to show me unconditional love. Others to teach me how deeply loved I am by God. One to teach me how to depend fully on Him. Another to show me what it’s like to walk in the fullness of Christ’s power. And yet another who would lead me to embrace my inheritance as a daughter of the King.

From the age of five, the enemy sought out to destroy me. But, like Joseph of the Old Testament, what the enemy meant for evil in my life, God meant for good. And not only good, He has allowed me to be a part of a miraculous redemptive story. A story filled with His healing and power. God does not waste our sorrows. Today, I share God’s story of my life, a blueprint of healing, knowing that nothing is too broken for Him to make new. 

Shelly Brown has spent the last decade sharing the hope and healing she has found in Jesus Christ with women of all ages. A life filled with hurt, abandonment, rejection and pain left Shelly emotionally damaged and longing for love. It was only through the redemptive power of God’s incredible love that she found restoration and wholeness. Shelly uses humor and poignant details as she shares her life experiences along with solid biblical truths, revealing the hope and healing that only God can give. Her deepest desire is to be used by God to impact the lives of women by not just having their hearts stirred, but forever changed.

Let’s Talk: Do you know Shelly? Introduce yourself. Say hi. And check out her ministry, Forever Changed. 

Do you have a story you can share? Don’t miss out on the Wildflowers from Winter blog hop on May 4th! Click on the link for details.

Join me over at Casey Herringshaw’s blog today! I’m vlogging about friendship and she’s giving away a copy of my book.