Today our guest is Laurie Alice Eakes. The first few times I read something Laurie Alice had written on a loop, I was amazed at her knowledge of Colonial era and the early 19^th century. Let’s see if we can find out more about her.

KA: Laurie Alice, I know you live in Texas and you are a fabulous writer. Tell our readers more about yourself.

LAE: Well, of course, I’m smart, funny, gorgeous… Oh, wait, that’s my fantasy life. Here is my official bio:

Award-winning author Laurie Alice Eakes wanted to be a writer since knowing what one was. Her first book won the National Readers Choice Award in 2007, and her third book was a Carol Award finalist in 2010. Between December of 2008 and January of 2010, she sold thirteen books to Barbour Publishing, Avalon Books, and Baker/Revell, making her total sales fifteen. Recently, she added two novella sales to that collection, as well as having her first book with Baker/Revell, Lady in the Mist, picked up by Crossings Book Club, and three of her books  chosen for large print editions by Thorndike Press. She has been a public speaker for as long as she can remember; thus, only suffers enough stage fright to keep her sharp. In 2002, while in graduate school for writing fiction, she began to teach fiction in person and online. She lives in Texas with her husband, two dogs, and too many cats even for her.

In the day-to-day reality, I’m a stay at home mom to two dogs and two cats and a number of strays who keep showing up in my fenced yard. And I write, read, research, write some more. Boring? Not at all. Well, not to me. I go by the adage that only boring people get bored.

As of June, I’ll have been married for nine years. After he graduated from Georgetown Law in DC, we moved to Texas for his job, about which I can’t talk. We love going to the beach, which isn’t too far away, but sometimes may as well be a thousand miles because of our schedules. We love music and theater and movies, especially the old ones made decades before we were born. My husband has never read one of my books, but if not for him, I wouldn’t be published. He challenged me to go for what I wanted and stick with it, make goals and meet them. He understood that I am a goal-driven person and the harder the goal, the happier I am.

Though I live in Texas, I don’t c myself as a Texan, being a recent transplant down here. Virginia seems to be home for me, though I’ve lived in many different places.

KA: Do you plot or are you a SOTP’s writer?

LAE: Plot. I could never keep up my schedule without my beloved outlines and knowing exactly where I want to go.

KA: I find when I try to plot, my characters take over a lot and pull me away from my plot. How do you overcome that?

LAE: Knowing your characters ahead of time really works. For myself, I have to write and rewrite the first 3-6 chapters before I’m comfortable with what my characters will do and, though they want to take us into tangents, that’s not always a good thing. Sometimes it is and one should go with it, but not if it gets you off track and the behavior is irrelevant to the plot. In the book I just turned in to my editor, my characters revealed things I hadn’t planned. It didn’t change my plot outline; it enhanced what was already there. Let them reveal things, just don’t let them get too much out of hand. It’s a balancing act at which I am not always successful.

KA: Do you dress to write, makeup, hair in place, business dress, or are you a jeans/sweats kind of person?

LAE: The only thing I do like that is keep my nails polished, except for at the moment when the weather has kept me from the beauty shop. But I’m a skirt and dress kind of gal, so wear a lot of sundresses in the summer and long skirts in the winter. Or a muumuu, if I’m feeling like really dressing down. Dressing for success waits for when I’m out in public. Then the heels and makeup go on.

KA: Besides writing, what do you enjoy most?

LAE: watching movies, especially old ones, listening to music, especially live, long walks on the beach or in the woods, if possible, just walking if not.

KA: Are there any places you want to go visit that you have not seen before?

LAE: Great Britain. I’ve been to Europe three times, studied in France and Switzerland as an undergrad, but have never made it to Great Britain.

KA: What is your next book going to be about?

LAE: Well, my current book, Lady in the Mist, just came out on Tuesday. In March, all three of my New Jersey historicals will be released in one volume. After that is my first Regency historical for Baker/Revell October 1. This is a romantic suspense with spies in drawing rooms, danger at balls, and descents into the London underworld. Plus a dashing French aristocrat hero and English war widow heroine ready to do anything to save England from Napoleon—or maybe not.

To keep up with my releases, do please visit my web site, wher eyou can read excerpts and reviews for all my books to date.

http://www.lauriealiceeakes.com

and keep up with my news on

http://www.seizethechance.blogspot.com

KA: Laurie Alice, I have enjoyed knowing more about you. You have been a joy for me to know and I’m looking forward to knowing you and your books better in the future. Sorry I could only get the picture of the Lady in the Mist on the blog. This is a book I would give 5 stars. So very good.