Laurie Alice Eakes’s interview

» Posted on Mar 12, 2008 in Blog | Comments Off on Laurie Alice Eakes’s interview


1. What made you start writing?

I always had stories in my head from the time I was a little girl, so one day I started writing them down.

2. How long have you been writing? When did you sell your first book?

That’s complicated to answer. I started writing things down in story form when I was about ten. Needless to say, counting that date, quite a few years passed before I got published. As a serious adult writer? It took about two years.

3. How do you handle rejections?

Only two of my rejections have upset me, and both changed my focus in writing. The rest I read for value in comments, then set aside. Well, actually, I throw them out. Dwelling on them isn’t healthy. One moves on. If one can’t move on from rejection, taking the value from what the editor said and dismissing the rest, one may as well quit this business.

4. Why do you write?

The short answer is because I can’t not write. I know. That’s a double negative. The longer answer is that it seems to be the carrer to which I keep getting called back to no matter what else I do.

5. What would you be doing with your free time if you weren’t writing?

Probably learning to knit better. Or maybe learning to cook Indian or Thai food. I really don’t know, though I do think about it. I might volunteer more.

6. What are you working on right now?

Another swashbuckling historical romance set in 1817 England.

7. Do you put yourself into your books/characters?

Although I try not to, I expect it happens. My heroines tend to show up with some distinct character traits of mine—usually their flaws.

8. Tell us about the book you have out right now.

Better than Gold is the third book in the Heartsong Iowa Historical series. In the first two books written by Lena Dooley and Lisa Harris, two young women come to an Iowa town to hunt for gold thought to be hidden there. They find love instead. My hero and heroine find love and a great deal more, but not until they face danger to their persons and their hearts.

9. Do you have any advice for other writers?

If you want to write, then make time to do it and finish something. Polish it for publication and send it out, then start writing something else.

10. How important is faith in your books?

In Better than Gold, faith is utterly crucial to the plot. If one took the faith element out, the story would have holes in it. My other books are published by secular publishers and, although they don’t have a faith element. The books still have a spiritual theme,though.

11. What themes do you like to write about?

Forgiveness, self-acceptance, finding where in life one is truly meant to be.

12. What is your favorite book you’ve written and why?

My favorite book I’ve written is one that I’ve just decided to market, though I wrote it five years ago. It’s my thesis novel from when I got my Masters degree in writing from Seton Hill University.

13. What is your writing schedule like?
Ideally, my writing schedule is up early, write for a couple of hours, go to the gym, have breakfast, do housework and errands, make lunch, take a nap, then write some more. I prefer a fresh brain to write. That luxury doesn’t always come to me, such as when I have a deadline or my husband is home on spring break like right now (he’s in law school), but that’s my preferred day.
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Laurie Alice Eakes–Winner! 
National Readers Choice Award 
Family Guardian, Best Regency 
www.lauriealiceeakes.com for blog and home page