Laurie Alice Eakes "The Glassblower"

We're happy to have Laurie Alice Eakes with us today talking about her new release "The Glassblower." Click on the image of her book to visit her blog and learn more about the book. Here's her interview:

1) How did this story come to you?
a. I set out to write a historical novel about New Jersey for Heartsong and started reading a book on New Jersey history. A chapter on the glassmaking industry fascinated me, and I built from there.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
a. That was painful. I’d sold two books when I submitted this proposal. I’d submitted a lot of proposals around this time and subsequently. 20 months later, nothing had sold and I was thoroughly discouraged. I was even looking into going back to school and kept praying that God would show me what else to do if He no longer wanted me to write. I was in New Jersey at a training when I got the call from my agent that JoAnne Simons wanted my New Jersey historical series. That led to the sale of eleven books in the next nine months.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
a. I’m extremely shy in person.

b. Pasta makes me gag unless it’s smothered in cheese.
c. I read a hundred and fifty books a year.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
Right now, I just finished my first long mainstream historical for Revell called Bride of the Mist out in January of 2011 and am working on the third New Jersey Historical, set in Cape May in 1899. Next I’ll start on my first Regency for Revell, out in May of 2011.

5) Parting comments?
I think as a younger woman I must have prayed for courage, patience, and a job I could love, for God made me a writer, a profession one can love, but which certainly takes courage and patience.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
My blog is most frequently updated www.seizethechance.blogspot.com