As I sit down and think about all the ways that God has blessed my writing this year, I stand in awe. What’s remarkable is that last summer I seriously contemplated letting writing go. There were so many other things clamoring for my attention that I wasn’t sure what God wanted me to do. Balance is so difficult—especially when life seems to move in the “fast lane.”

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have what it takes to be a writer. However, that’s all the more reason for me to realize that it is God at work. All I need to do is put one foot in front of the other, and learn, learn, learn… just like Samantha does in this coming Friday's release. Life’s not about living in the past, but seeking God and His will for us today.

Smuggler of the Heart
Rosette $2.00
Release Date: 9/4/09

Blurb: Disheartened and tired, Samantha Warren returns to Vermont during the winter break. Her passion for history rekindles after finding an old smuggler’s chest hidden in her grandparents' attic. Will she be able to return to New Jersey without her heart being smuggled like the chest once was? Or is it already too late?

Excerpt:
Samantha’s bright smile made Tim’s heart thump. He could stay here all day, content just to be with her. The Samantha he remembered was finally back. Not the fidgety woman he sat with on Sunday, but his Sammy. He’d dated other women off and on since she left, but the relationships never went deeper than a social level. Now he knew why—talk about Ah-ha moments. Even after all these years, Samantha still held his heart. The million-dollar question was, did she feel the same?
What had he missed in the seven years she was gone? Was her favorite ice cream still Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia? Did she still have the stuffed bear he won at the fair their senior year of high school? Was she dating anyone? Had she fallen in love? God, please tell me you didn’t bring her back just for me to lose her again.
Tim softly asked, “Why’d you come back, Samantha?”
“I was homesick.” Samantha called over her shoulder as she pushed off. She’d caught his eye just for a second before she was gone with a whoosh of skis on snow, and just that tiny glance warmed him from the center out.
He shook his head. Ice and snow, he had to keep his cool. Ice and snow. What had she said, anyway? Homesick? Now he had the whole run to be held in suspense over what exactly that meant. In his fantasy, she’d say she was homesick because she missed him, but that was wishful thinking. If she’d missed him, wouldn’t she have kept in touch?