Category: Wildflowers from Winter

The Grace Filled Christmas Blog Tour

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

I’m participating in this year’s Grace Filled Christmas Blog Tour, which is hosting a whole slew of awesome Christian fiction and runs through December 22nd.

If this is your first time here, thank you so much for stopping by!

My debut novel, Wildflowers from Winter, released this past May:

A young architect at a prestigious Chicago firm, Bethany Quinn has built a life far removed from her trailer park teen years. Until an interruption from her estranged mother reveals that tragedy has struck in her hometown and a reluctant Bethany is called back to rural Iowa. Determined to pay her respects while avoiding any emotional entanglements, she vows not to stay long. But the unexpected inheritance of farmland and a startling turn of events in Chicago forces Bethany to come up with a new plan.

Handsome farmhand Evan Price has taken care of the Quinn farm for years. So when Bethany is left the land, he must fight her decisions to realize his dreams. But even as he disagrees with Bethany’s vision, Evan feels drawn to her and the pain she keeps so carefully locked away.

For Bethany, making peace with her past and the God of her childhood doesn’t seem like the path to freedom. Is letting go the only way to new life, love and a peace she’s not even sure exists?

What makes this a good book for Christmas?

At it’s core, this is a story about God’s ability to bring new life and hope from those dead, winter seasons so many of us experience in life. I’m not sure there’s a greater example of this truth than celebrating Jesus’ birth in wintertime, the darkest days of the year.

Plus the novel, while not a Christmas story, does include its fair share of the holiday season.

If this sounds like a story you’d want to read or give as a gift this Christmas season, please visit my Wildflowers from Winter page, where you will find a list of retail links. If you’d like to try a sample first, feel free to check out the first three chapters.

Let’s Talk: Do you give books as Christmas gifts? If so, how do you go about choosing the perfect one?

If you haven’t already, I’d absolutely love to send you a welcome packet! To sign up, just scroll all the way down or up (your choice) and click on the Welcome Packet sign up button!

photos from stock.xchng

The Cover Art for my Debut!

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

On Friday, I got an email from my editor. And guess what was attached?

The cover art for my debut novel!

I won’t lie. I got a little verklempt. Mainly because it made this entire journey feel so real. I mean, this story I’ve sweated and fretted and poured over has a face. One created by the amazingly talented cover design peeps at my publishing house. A face with Bethany and the farm and my name on the cover. This is craziness! 

 

 

Let’s Talk: What book covers have caught your eye lately? Do you ever buy a book just because you love the cover?

Attention Blog Followers!

My Google Connect feed did not transfer over to my new home. This means that if you want my posts to show up in your Google Reader or your Blogger dashboard, you will have to do one of the following:

From your Blogger dashboard: find the blue ADD button (toward the bottom left), cut and paste my blog URL (https://katieganshert.com/blog/) into the space provided.

From your Google Reader: find the red SUBSCRIBE button (toward the top left) and cut and paste my blog URL (https://katieganshert.com/blog/) in the space provided.

So sorry for the inconvenience! I’d do it for you if I could!

Laughter and Division

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

In junior high and high school, I had this friend. We were best friends. And we laughed.

In sixth grade, we’d walk home from school together and every single day, we’d end up laughing so hard our stomach’s would hurt. And okay. Maybe on occasion, one of us would pee our pants just a little.

We were inseparable. We played sports together. We fell through the ice together (why yes, yes we did). We had this ridiculous bike we would ride together. Usually to Taco Bell at midnight. And whoever sat on the rack in the back would scream to the one in front to peddle faster, terrified of the dark that chased us. These Taco Bell rides often led to insane, stomach-hurting laughter.

Throughout junior high, we’d write notes to one another. She’d always put BFF on the bottom of the page. Only I had no clue what BFF meant. And my insecure preteen self wasn’t about to ask. So I’d write it back, hoping it made sense.

I know what it means now.

Best Friends Forever.

Our senior year, about a week after we graduated high school, she and I were sitting on this dock at night. The Mississippi River swirling in front of us with all it’s mysterious currents. Bob Marley playing in the background. And we had this conversation. The kind of conversation that sticks with you.

I remember one of us saying, “Isn’t it weird, how in ten years, we won’t know each other like we know each other right now?” It seemed impossible. But we both knew it was true. She was going to Iowa. I was going to Wisconsin. Things were bound to change.

And they did.

Freshman year. Madison. Witte Hall. Tenth floor. My dorm room. I gave my life to Christ.

In my fervor to share this indescribable feeling bubbling up inside me, I sent my friend an email. I wanted to share this joy and this hope. I wanted her to have it too. My passion could not be contained. It spilled over into a letter. And it absolutely freaked her out. I don’t blame her. I would have been freaked out too.

Christ is love. Christ is life. Christ is light. But sometimes, Christ divides.

My friend and I tried to recover. When we came home for the holidays, I tried to smooth over the damage my uncensored passion created. With a little perspective, I could see that perhaps I’d handled things poorly. My friend tried too. But things were different. We were different. Headed in opposite directions.

I don’t write memoirs.

But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t pull from personal experience when I write my fiction. My debut novel, Wildflowers from Winter, is a romance. But it’s also a story about two friends. Two friends who were once inseparable. Two friends who went their separate ways. Two friends pulled back together by tragedy.

And this Christ who divides?

He also heals.

Let’s Talk: Who was your best friend growing up? Are you still friends today?removetweetmeme