CHOICES OF THE HEART - Laurie Alice Eakes - One Free Book

Welcome, Laurie Alice. Tell us about your salvation experience.

My salvation experience is nothing dramatic. I was eleven-years-old and wearing a red twill cotton dress to church that Sunday morning. It was my favorite dress. We had a special guest speaker. I don’t remember what he said, and, though I’d been hearing the gospel in my church for a couple of years, something clicked in my head, and I answered the call to go to the altar and make a commitment to Christ. Sadly, about ten years later, I fell away for many years, and I never forgot that commitment, and the Lord drew me back to Him.

I think that most of us, who accepted the Lord as our Savior as a young child, had a falling away time. I did, too. But praise the Lord, He never falls away from us and He never lets us go. Now you’re planning a writing retreat where you can only have four other authors. Who would they be and why?

This is difficult to answer, since I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings out of all my writing buddies, and, in no particular order, I’ll have to say:

Gina Welborn because she’s good at nailing the heart of a story, and in all her chatter, gets one’s own brain power working.

Patty Smith Hall because she understands romance plots like nobody else I know.

Marylu Tyndall because she has this way of keeping me spiritually grounded.

Louise Gouge because… Well, she was the first published author to actually believe I had enough going in the writing thing that she thought I, of all people, could help her, of all people. Ha! And she’s just been my friend for going on a lot of years now.

My true retreat would have the rest of my writing prayer partners at it, too. They know who they are.

That question often opens my readers to even more authors that they haven’t read. Do you have a speaking ministry? If so, tell us about that.

Yes, I do have a speaking ministry. Although I do speak to writers organizations and to library groups about writing, my true ministry is discussing the true meaning of faith and other inspirational subjects to everywhere from women’s groups, to homeschool groups.

What is the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you and how did you handle it?

You know, I hate being embarrassed to a nearly pathological point, so work hard to avoid such situations. This possibly dates back to when I was in college and said something about the poor quality of a fellow students’ reading. I didn’t know she was standing right behind me.

What else could I do but apologize and tell her I am a twit and rude and remind myself to be careful what I say of others.

People are always telling me that they’d like to write a book someday. I’m sure they do to you, too. What would you tell someone who came up to you and said that?

Most people say they’d write a book if they had the time. I explain that writing is a commitment, and if they really want to write that book, they will make the time—give up a couple of favorite TV shows or their lunch hour, or get up earlier in the morning… The only way to get a book written is to sit in that chair and write it. I also tell them that if they are serious, they might want to join a writers organization to learn a few things about the craft and the business. Nowadays, with popping a book onto Amazon so relatively easy, people don’t realize that they still need to know the writing business to go anywhere.

Tell us about the featured book.

Choices of the Heart is the third book in The Midwives series, which began with Lady in the Mist, and then went on to Heart’s Safe Passage.

Esther Cherrett is the daughter of Tabitha and Dominick from Lady in the Mist. The year is 1842, and Esther, who has the feminine version of her fathers stunning looks, and her mother’s gift for helping the sick and distressed, has a tragic experience that sends her running for the hills—literally. She is determined to leave her family behind so the scandal will die down, and she can maybe forget one day. But she finds herself in the middle of a family feud in western Virginia, courted by two young men on either side of the conflict, and her past has caught up with her.

Please give us the first page of the book.

Seabourne, Virginia, April 1842

Esther Cherrett removed the sketchbook from her satchel and lifted it to the highest shelf in the armoire. She didn't need pictures of men whose form existed simply in her imagination's portrayals, in colored chalks—not where she was going. And drawings of her family would only make her sad. Make her feel guilty.

She didn't need the satchel either. Its packets of herbs, rolls of bandages, and canvas apron for protecting her dresses during a lying-in would be of as little use in her new position as were the drawings. She started to hoist it up to the shelf too, but her arms shook as though the black leather bag weighed a hundred pounds instead of ten, and she let it drop.

It landed on the blue floral rug with a thud. The latch sprang open and poked up like an accusing finger. You shouldn't be doing this, it seemed to say in the voice of Letty O'Tool, the eldest congregant in the church. You aren't answering to your calling.

Esther snapped the latch back into place, then popped it open again, retrieved the sketchbook from its shelf, and shoved it amongst the instruments of the profession she had determined to leave behind in Seabourne. Leave behind with the scorn and ridicule she’d faced over the past four months.

Sounds intriguing. How can readers find you on the Internet?

http://www.lauriealiceeakes.com

http://www.lauriealiceeakes.com/blog where I am running an awesome contest right now.

https://twitter.com/LaurieAEakes

http://www.facebook.com/laurie.eakes?ref=tn_tnmn

Thank you, Laurie Alice. I'm always anxious to read the final book in a series.

Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.
Choices of the Heart: A Novel (The Midwives) - paperback
Choices of the Heart (The Midwives Book #3): A Novel - Kindle


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