Kate Willis's Blog, page 75
February 22, 2019
Victory, Thy Name Is Chocolate
This is the story of a girl, her chocolate, and the first draft that brought them together.
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Once upon a time, I spied a good sale on candy bars and decided to buy a couple, write goals on them, and eat them when I reached the goals. (I felt so cool writing on their wrappers! XD ) The first candy goal? Finish draft one of “Imperfect”, approximately 3k words away.
(Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. That 3k ended up stretching into 9k… XD I grossly underestimated it.)
A couple days ago, my sister Perry came over to have a writing/editing day with us, and that was the extra encouragement I needed to write the last two chapters. We had a ton of fun together, and my words seemed to just flow. 
February 20, 2019
Book Review: Unshakable Hope
“Hope is hard to come by these days. Whether it’s heart disease or cancer, job failure or addiction, natural disasters or family disasters, mass murders or mental illness, there are so many reasons to be overwhelmed.
In a world full of instability, we do not need more opinions or hunches; we need the definitive declarations of our mighty and loving God.
What is your life built on—the circumstances of life or the promises of God? The answer to that question changes everything. Join Max as he takes a closer look at Scripture’s unbreakable promises and shows you how to live with unshakable hope.” (from Goodreads)
I don’t really read a lot of non-fiction. (Apparently, I didn’t even have a shelf for it on Goodreads before now. XD) But this book was amazing. With honesty, humor, and humility, Max Lucado shared exactly what my heart needed. It was good to be reminded of how amazing, loving, and faithful God is. I’m so glad He brought me this book; it’s exactly what this hope-starved child needed. It’s definitely one to read again.
(Please note, many translations of the Bible were referenced throughout including Eugene Peterson’s commentary, The Message.)
February 18, 2019
Sarah Grace Grzy Interview
Sarah Grace is an amazing friend, booklover, and reviewer, and now I can add author to that list! Today I have the privilege of interviewing her about her debut novella Live Without You!
Join me in welcoming author Sarah Grace Grzy to Once Upon an Ordinary! *applause*
Thank you thank you! It’s an honor!
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Sarah Grace, tell us a bit about yourself.
I am a Jesus-loving, coffee-drinking, bookerly kind of girl from the Midwest! I am a web and graphic designer, and in my spare time, I love hanging out with my ever-growing family, painting, playing music, or eating pizza. 
February 16, 2019
Vote for What We Read! (Collab with Lilian, Part 1)
Today Lilian (super cool blogger and reviewer at Green Tea with Books) and I are doing a very bookish collab.
Choose What We Read! (Collab with Lilian)
Today Lilian (super cool blogger and reviewer at Green Tea with Books) and I are doing a very bookish collab.
February 14, 2019
It’s Not a Romance… Oops!
Happy National Love and Chocolate Day!!! Here is a poem for you…
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Today all the authors are sharing about their romance novels, running giveaways and promos, and injecting cute graphics into my social media feed. Naturally, I thought today would be a perfect day to share about my romance novel Kiera.
Except, minor problem. Kiera isn’t exactly a romance novel.
As my book is nearing eight months old, I’ve seen it called different genres and (through no fault of its own) none of them seem to fit. It’s a little too calm for dystopian, a little too old for YA, and a little too young for Women’s Fiction.
*throws up hands*
My novel does seem to fit best into the romance genre, given that there’s a marriage of convenience, some SUPER CUTE characters, and a romantic storyline, but when I wrote this book, that’s not the focus I had in mind.
Meet the quote that gave me my message…
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Love is more than we think it is. God’s love for us is stronger, deeper, and more, more, more sacrificial than we could ever imagine. Human love should be more than fireworks and truffles, even though those are nice. So as I wrote this book, I wrote a story of two loves–God’s love for us and a human love reflecting and paralleling it, deeply, strongly, and sacrificially. 
February 13, 2019
Book Review: Anomaly
“Thalli has fifteen minutes and twenty-three seconds left to live. The toxic gas that will complete her annihilation is invading her bloodstream. But she is not afraid.
Thalli is different than others in The State. She feels things. She asks questions. And in the State, this is not tolerated. The Ten scientists who survived the nuclear war that destroyed the world above believe that emotion was at the core of what went wrong—and they have genetically removed it from the citizens they have since created. Thalli has kept her malformation secret from those who have monitored her for most of her life, but when she receives an ancient piece of music to record as her community’s assigned musician, she can no longer keep her emotions secreted away.
Seen as a threat to the harmony of her Pod, Thalli is taken to the Scientists for immediate annihilation. But before that can happen, Berk—her former Pod mate who is being groomed as a Scientist—steps in and persuades the Scientists to keep Thalli alive as a test subject.
The more time she spends in the Scientist’s Pod, the clearer it becomes that things are not as simple as she was programmed to believe. She hears stories of a Designer—stories that fill her mind with more questions: Who can she trust? What is this emotion called love? And what if she isn’t just an anomaly, but part of a greater design?” (from Goodreads)
The Christian bookstore can be a very tempting place, at least for me anyway. Especially when it’s Black Friday and there are clearance sales. O.o. They almost got me to buy the second book in this series, but after evaluating my huge stack of lovely prospective purchases, I left it behind.
A week later I found the entire series gently used for less than that one clearanced book.
February 8, 2019
What a Haul!
One magical day last month, someone mentioned shopping on Book Outlet, and I immediately went into research mode. Shopping + books + I-didn’t-know-about-a-book-thing = research mode. I found their site and browsed happily for a while, then posted this on Goodreads.
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Seriously, it was amazing. I’ve been to bookstores and used book sites before of course, but the cool thing about this one was that all of the books were in nearly new condition (either as overstock or returns with a mark on their page block) and at least half their usual price.
February 6, 2019
Book Review: Ember Rising!
“A harrowing adventure inside enemy territory. Heather and Picket are plunged into the darkness of Morbin’s shadow, fighting to bear the flame of the cause and light the way for rabbitkind’s upright insurrection.
Hope for a Healing
Work for the Mending
Fight for the Rising” (from Goodreads)
*zips lips against spoilers* *realizes I won’t be able to speak at all* *unzips lips*
I’ll just have to try to keep the spoilers out because OH MY WORD I went into this blind and was repeatedly gobsmacked by the twists and turns and reveals. O.o.
February 4, 2019
Curiosity (Almost) Killed My Writing Time
I sat down to write the other day and got so happily derailed.
