Cara Putman is a woman living a dream. Barbour's Heartsong Presents has released six of her books, including Canteen Dreams, a WWII historical set in Nebraska that won the ACFW 2008 Book of the Year for Short Historical. She also has written romantic suspense for Harlequin's Love Inspired Suspense, contemporary mysteries for Guidepost, a historical romantic suspense for Summerside, and the Complete Idiots Guide to Business Law. Cara is an attorney, wife, mom to four, homeschool teacher, occasional professor at Purdue, active at her church, and all around crazy woman. An honors graduate of the University of Nebraska and George Mason University School of Law, Cara loves bringing history and romance to life. You can learn more about Cara and her books on her Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Visit her at http://www.caraputman.com

Have you ever had a dream you longed to bring to life so much that you’d do just about anything to make it happen? Enough that you’d cut out most TV watching? Enough that you’d give up hours of sleep to see what would happen?

When I first started writing in 2005, I had two young children (five and two), worked four days a week as an attorney, and was very active in our church. Yet the fire to write had ignited, and I tested the dream. I started plotting and brainstorming, then I wrote. I gave myself two years to work hard and see if I could write anything publishable.

Soon I had cut TV viewing, a practice I’d adopted while working full time and going to law school. I allowed myself one show a week. During law school I watched E.R., which came on at 10 p.m. Thursdays, the perfect time to stop the studying and relax. It’s a practice I still have today, when I allow myself to follow Castle.

Throughout 2005, after a commitment to a weekly word count, what became my second published book, Deadly Exposure, slowly grew. Then after attending my first ACFW conference, I wrote my first published book, Canteen Dreams, in three weeks of very late nights, and I discovered something critical: When my passion collides with a story, the words flow freely.

Fast-forward seven years. In April my thirteenth novel will release. Today those late night writing hours continue. Now I have four children (ages ranging from eleven to one), I still practice law a bit, I teach law at a Big Ten University and a local community college, and I continue to be involved in ACFW and our church. But much remains the same. To write a book like A Wedding Transpires on Mackinac Island, I have to find the combination of a passion for the story and commitment to write set word counts in the pockets of time around an active family.

A Wedding Transpires on Mackinac Island, the setting provided a unique escape with its step back from modern hustle and bustle to a time when horses and bicycles provided transportation. Next a passion of mine is exploring the ways God is with us when we can’t see Him. For Alanna, this occurs when

For life forces her to return home and confront the past she’s avoided for eleven years. An attorney, Alana wants to avoid the cloud of the past and a love she abandoned. When she uncovers a family secret and an old friend is murdered, she has no choice but to confront the past and its lies.

If writing is your dream, are you willing to do what it takes to make room in your life to do the work? Examine your schedule. If it’s truly important to you, you can find pockets of time to write. Even writing 500 words five days a week will result in a complete first draft in a year. So clear your calendar, sit down, and write. Dreams, even writing dreams, come true.