Dear family, friends, and fellow LOTR junkies;

Blessings to you in the New Year (rather belated)!

I waited to send this newsletter until I had confirmation of much-anticipated good news. Great news, actually! I’ve been offered a 2-book contract with Tyndale for their "thirsty(?)" line (►www.areuthirsty.com). The first book will be ►Walking with Bilbo: A Devotional Journey through The Hobbit (duh), which will come out in January of 2005. Yay, Tolkien fans!

The second will make the leap into a completely different genre for all you romance fans out there (sorry, guys!). ►Dating Mr. Darcy will come out in August 2005, looking at timeless tips on dating and romance from Jane Austen’s popular romantic comedies Pride & Prejudice, Emma, and Sense & Sensibility. Even if you’re not a fan of romance, you know someone who’s secretly in love with Colin Firth.

Meanwhile, my first book ►Walking with Frodo: A Devotional Journey through The Lord of the Rings, has gone to a fifth printing and continues to land on the current bestsellers list in Christian publishing (#13 in the top 50 for the month of December, and #1 in Young Adult books). I’m hearing from youth workers all over the country who are using the book for group studies in their churches; if you know anyone who might be interested in a ►group discount, tell them my website has the best online (free shipping for group orders) – plus the books are signed and can be personalized.

A series of ►speaking engagements and book-signings will keep me quite busy during the next couple of months, if bad weather doesn’t cancel them all…

I’ll be attending the Festival of Faith & Writing at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI, April 22-24 (►www.calvin.edu/festival). Let me know if you’re going – I’d love to meet up with you!

In Christ,

Sarah
 ►sarah@saraharthur.com