by Tracey Bateman

Wow, it seems like just yesterday I was blogging about Christmas and all the neat things I remember growing up. Now here it is mid-stinking January.

How did that happen?

I have to say, though, the thing I appreciate about January is that it's a time of new beginning. Fresh hope.

Avon Inspire recently released my second book in the Westward Hearts series. DISTANT HEART was difficult and exciting to write. It was difficult because the heroine is a former prostitute, scarred and looking for a new life in a society that didn't want to give her a second chance. But there was one man (let's call him the hero ) who believed in the person she was becoming rather than who she had been.

It was an exciting book to write because the theme of “all things becoming new” fits in so well with my view of January.

As an inspirational fiction writer, it's easy to throw in a salvation scene and voila, the person is suddenly perfect. But that's not realistic and my readers, who are fallible and imperfect, just like me, know better. It's what I love the most about writing Christian romance for Avon.

My editor understands that my readers are real people and want to see real characters--Christian or otherwise--reflected in the stories. In my experience there are no perfect people, we are all growing, learning, living, and loving and just trying to make it though December 31 into January 1 and the promise of a new day.

Call me an optimist, call me crazy, but I believe in second chances, new dawns, and fresh starts. Do you?

Tracey Bateman