Kate Willis's Blog, page 56
October 12, 2020
Realization
Hello again! Today’s post is short (originally posted on my Facebook, actually) but I thought you all might be encouraged by it.
September 16, 2020
Words and Life
I was catching up on my Bible study today and ran across this oft-quoted verse again.
“But Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’”
(John 6:68-69, NKJV)
Immediately its importance in my life and a vague memory of a book scene flashed into my mind.
The MC had been cruelly betrayed, left hopeless and questioning when this verse became her anthem and she quoted it in prayer.
Preteen me literally absorbed that series, both good and bad elements, but this scene and its real, emotionally hard application of Christ’s question and Peter’s answer has stuck with me for the last eleven years.
It’s helped me durings some hopeless, questioning moments, and it probably will again.
Books and movies, poems and songs, scriptures and liturgies have the unique power to live in our minds for a very long time.
We’re each made up of little scraps of things people have shared with us, things we’ve found, and things that have found us.
And I love when God decides it’s time to give me a reminder. 
August 31, 2020
Once Upon a Time…
Once upon a time, there was a Kate.
This Kate was a short, frizzy-haired person who loved books and childcare and tea and rain and baking creative things.
Kate started out as a kid and slowly became an adult (though it took her a while to realize it).
Kate was busy loving books, childcare, tea, etc., writing stories, trying to manage her time (
August 26, 2020
It’s Red All Over
A month or two ago, I printed off the first draft of my WIP “Imperfect”, stapled it together in chapter-sized bites, found my red pen, and let the lovely stack haunt the top of my desk.
Eventually that stack turned into two: “marked up” and “to mark up”. I’d grab a chapter or two when I had the time and willpower, and reading through my story looking for improvement became a little tradition I’d look forward to.
Last week, the “marked up” stack became the taller one, and I decided to push toward the finish line. 
August 21, 2020
Save the Supportive Best Friends
I once read a hilariously meta book (one I can’t recommend unfortunately) where the main characters were inside a partially written book and decided to rebel against their given, cliche roles.
It ended up getting pretty wild, and I laughed aloud at some of the jokes against us evil authors.
One thing that really stuck with me, though, was an actually quite sad scene where the supportive best friend found out she was only there as an “emotional support pony”. She listens to the heroine’s problems, says something wise, sets aside her own needs to help her, and disappears from the story until she’s needed to do it all again.
The character’s reaction was meant to be humorous, but I’ve been thinking about it more lately as I refine a novella in its second draft.
I wrote two lovely side characters as best friends for my heroine.
While the “vain social climber” is getting more dimension (and strengths because none of us are just weaknesses), it’s the supportive-best-friend-who-is-little-more-than-sympathetic-furniture I’m seriously rewriting.
She needs a dream. She needs an entire personality of her own. She needs a schedule not built around supporting the heroine. She needs relatives with personality and quirks. She needs her own support system.
Why, though? She’s still only getting a small fraction of “screen time”. Why build out all that?
Because that’s how beautifully complicated people really are, and we’re only going to have empathy when we realize that each person and their story is precious.
(And it’s not going to be a chore because this Kate looooves character development. 
August 4, 2020
My Top 5 Reads This Year (So Far!)
Heyo all! I’ve been a bit inactive on here for a while now, not keeping to schedule and disappearing for a while there (impromptu vacation that was awesome!), but I’m back! 
July 20, 2020
Time to Begin
I have sheets to change. Laundry to fold. Social media to check, if I want to. I could even write a longer blog post.
July 17, 2020
A Very Bookish Christmas: Meet and Greet!
Yesterday I did a very cool author-y thing. I hit “publish” on the paperback version of Sincerely, Jem.
July 14, 2020
Upcoming and Exciting
I’m excited about two word-related things right now…
#1? The other day, I printed off draft one of “Imperfect”. You probably heard me cackling in excitement. 
July 8, 2020
Book Review: The Trouble With Love
“I, Holiday Brown, have it all. A platinum record. Multi-million dollar home in Manhattan that I share with my two best friends. Life is looking fantastic until my roommate’s brother decides to bunk in our guestroom while his house gets renovated.
W. Emmett Bell has always been the bane of my existence. He’s annoying, stubborn, a know it all, and just might be the most gorgeous man I’ve ever laid eyes on. But I refuse to fall for him. Then his sister’s threatened by a stalker and dynamics change. His unwavering faith isn’t quite as self-righteous as I’d always thought, and maybe he has a good side I’ve overlooked all these years.
Or maybe it’s all too much trouble.” (from Goodreads)
I’ve been wanting to try something by this author for a long time now (I appreciate her perspective, reviews, and just her online presence in general), and my FB reading group assured me that this was the book to start with.
They did not fail me.
I fell in love in literally just a few pages, and I can happily say that by the time I was done reading I had 98 highlights on my Kindle. XD Those highlights vary from conversations that made me laugh aloud to passages that fed my soul or warmed my heart. It’s that good.
Holliday made the book for me. She’s entirely honest, hilariously witty, and has a really compassionate heart. She also unapologetically likes food and picks her outfits out based on if they match her favorite shoes. What’s not to like? But that’s not all there is to her character either. She has some very deep hurts from long in the past that leech away joy from the present and prevent her from trusting people, and I related to that too.
I enjoyed reading about her creative process as a HANDS DOWN AWESOME popstar (wish her songs were real!); I enjoyed her hilarious sparring with Wally and her close friendships with her housemates (strong sisterhood stories for the win!); I loved the suspense storyline and I can’t wait to see what happens next; but it was the slow, subtle, painful thread that oozed with the Gospel that made this book one of a kind. It was so gentle, and so honest, and reminded me that God is faithful to be found by us when we look for Him.
I highly enjoyed the romance (*smirks*) and, again, the strong sisterhood vibes, and I’ve already pre-ordered the other books because I need to know what happens to Tori and Tavia.
