Meet and Greet Monday: Laurie Alice Eakes

Award-winning author Laurie Alice Eakes does not remember a time when books did not play a part in her life; thus, no one was surprised when she decided to be a writer. Her first hardcover was an October, 2006 Regency historical from Avalon Books and won the National Readers Choice Award for Best Regency, as well as being a finalist for Best First Book. After selling her first book in the inspirational market, she also wrote articles and essays for Christian publications. A brief hiatus in publishing climaxed with her selling thirteen books in thirteen months, to publishers such as Barbour, Avalon, and Baker/Revell.

She is an active member of RWA and ACFW, and started the Avalon Authors group blog. A graduate of the Seton Hill University Master of Arts Degree in Writing Popular Fiction, And a Bachelor of Arts graduate in English and French from Asbury College, she is an experienced speaker, and has made presentations at local and national RWA conferences, as well as local universities and libraries.

Until recently, she lived in Northern Virginia, then her husband’s law career took them and their dogs and cats, to southern Texas, where she writes full-time and enjoys the beach whenever possible.

Dear Reader,

My name is Laurie Alice Eakes. That was the name with I was given at birth and it worked so well for a writer that I don’t use my married name. Yes, I have a long-suffering husband, bless him. He’s been supportive of my writing career even when I wasn’t selling.

And let me tell you about that. It was rough. We think that when we get “the call”, we are on our way. Not. My first book, Family Guardian, won the National Readers Choice Award for Best Regency. Yet I didn’t sell another book for a year and a half after that first one. Then I didn’t sell another one for another year and a half. Frustrating? Yes. Questioning whether or not I should be a writer? Absolutely.

Then it happened. I was in new Jersey doing some training and my agent called to say that Heartsong Presents wanted my New Jersey historical series. The flood gates opened. Over the next thirteen months, I signed contracts for thirteen more books. The first book in the New Jersey series, The Glassblower, will forever be special to me because of this. Interestingly, the hero, the glassblower, is from Scotland and his name is Colin. In my class was a man from Scotland named Colin. Awesome, wasn’t it? I listened to the cadence of his speech so I could get it down without resorting to a lot of Scots dialect that is so hard to read.

I bring Colin to New Jersey to help with a fledgling glassworks. He wants to be successful so that he can bring his family over to make a better life in 1809. Unfortunately, he falls in love with his boss’s daughter and she is engaged to another man. She doesn’t want this engagement. Her father insists on it, and as Colin gets to know Meg, her father, and the local world, he realizes something about the engagement is fishy. His pursuit of the truth and Meg nearly cost him his life.

A prominent theme in The Glassblower is seeking God’s will first and allowing Him to provide for our futures as we do so. It’s a difficult concept for those of us who are control freaks. Meg and Colin like to take matters into their own hands, and it costs them dearly. How true! I hope my readers will take away an understanding that God has our best interests in His heart and His way is perfect.

The Glassblower is followed by two more historical novels set in New Jersey. The Heiress follows the fortunes and misfortunes of Colin’s grandson. The Newcomer is related to the first two, but if I say too much, I give away the ending of The Heiress.

All three are available from http://www.heartsongpresents.com/ and The Glassblower is on amazon.com. Or you can wait until next March when all three books will be released in one book called Jersey Brides. I promise, I have no cows in the book. Jersey Brides will be available in WalMart and Sam’s and on Amazon. Bookstores can order it, too.

Besides the New Jersey books, I have a book coming out in hardcover from Avalon Books. Both my hero and heroine are doctors in 1890, but the hero has been blinded in a shooting. The story is about healing of mind, if not body, and finding how one can rebuild one’s life after tragedy. This is a secular book, but squeaky clean and holding the biblical principle of hope in Christ.

And—TADA!—my first trade paperback is coming out from Baker/Revell in February. Lady in the Mist is the first of the midwife series set in 1809 Virginia. This is a historical romantic suspense with a dashing and sometimes badboy English hero. Currently, I am working on the second midwife book, while doing my edits on my first Regency for Revell out in October of 2011.

So, as you can see, I’m more than a little busy with my writing, but I love to take a few minutes out to socialize.

You can keep up with Laurie Alice Eakes and her books on her blog: http://www.seizethechance.blogspot.com/