The Glassblower Book Giveaway

Welcome Laurie Alice Eakes. I'm happy to have you on my blog this week. Be sure to leave a post for the drawing I'm doing. I'll be giving away Laurie Alice's book, The Glassblower.


Journey to Another World by Laurie Alice Eakes

“The call” seems to focus the minds of authors. People want to hear stories about when others received “the call”. Talk goes around and around that so-and-so got “the call”. Two simple words that prove illogical to others and the whole world to a writer.

I got “the call” on July 18, 2005. At last, all the years I’d spent writing, learning, and submitted in had paid off. My career was on its way.

Not.

Yes, I sold that first book. It won a major writing award. I even sold a couple of essays and articles and another book.

Then the cruising limousine of my career stalled. For months, then a year, then a year and a half, I believed it had crashed and burned. No one wanted anything I wrote in the CBA or the ABA. I began to look at alternatives to being a writer.

Except none of those doors opened either. Jobs for which I was qualified didn’t happen. School was out of the question, as my husband’s job was taking us across country in another few months. Call me despairing.

Until I simply accepted my situation—God wanted me to have what I did to be a part of the writing community and encourage others, teach others, help them to success. Did that ever hurt, and if it was the plan God had for me, He knew what he was doing—keeping me humble if anything else. A weird kind of peace settled on me.

And then I got “the call” again. Three books to Heartsong Presents? Write them in a year? No problem. Then Avalon Books wanted my four-book series about career women in the 1890s. Then Baker/Revell wanted my first midwife book, then my Regency series, then two more midwife books…
Thirteen months, a cross-country move, and four books written later, I’d sold thirteen books. Then one of my earlier books got reprinted in large print, too.

Recently, my husband and I were talking about the significance of death in order to live. The Bible tells us we must be born again. That means we must die to self. Even more so, though, we have to let some things in our lives die. I had to let my will to be a published author, a full-time author, die in order for God to give me rebirth as a woman willing to submit to His timing, His will, as well as have the story, the experience to encourage others, as they, too, seek God’s will for their careers in the writing world. Or perhaps just seek God’s will.

Daily, as I sit down at my desk, God reminds me that it is His will and not mine at work. This abundance of work keeps me on my knees, head down, mouth shut to listen to Him. I know daily that I can’t succeed without him. My faith has moved to a new level.

For being a writer involves far more than getting “the call”. Besides writing the book, one has to execute line edits and read galleys for books coming out, while writing the next novel. Once books start coming out, one has to market them, network with people, fill out a gazillion forms. Losing sight of the purpose behind the writing is too easy. Setting priorities has proven important to me. My husband and four-legged children still must come first. At the same time, this is my job and treating it as such is important. Most of all, I must never lose focus on the one who brought me here.



Now that Colin Grassick, a master glass-blower from Scotland, has arrived to help at the Jordan glassworks, Meg Jordan's dreams of teaching the poor, local children are coming true. Finally, someone will have time to make windows for the rural New Jersey schoolhouse, to keep out the cold - and vandals. To Joseph Pyle, the wealthy, arrogant man to whom Meg will soon be betrothed, the destruction of Meg's new windows is inconsequential - as his wife, she will be forbidden from teaching. Why would Meg's father insist she marry a man like Joseph and stay away from the endearing Colin?





Be sure to leave your email address. Please check your junk mail on and the day after the drawing. I've had to redraw because of no responses. Subject box will have: winner of (book title). I'll email the winner and they'll have seven days to respond. If I don't hear back I'll draw another name. USA shipping only. Thanks so much and please stop back again! Drawing will be held Monday June 7.

A Tailor-Made Bride book giveaway

Welcome Karen! I'm so happy to have you on my blog this week. Karen is giving away one of her books so be sure to leave a post to be entered in the drawing.

Karen's Bio

Karen Witemeyer is a deacon's wife who believes the world needs more happily-ever-afters. To that end, she combines her love of bygone eras with her passion for helping women mature in Christ to craft historical romance novels that lift the spirit and nurture the soul.

Karen holds a master's degree in Psychology from Abilene Christian University and is a member of ACFW, RWA, and her local writers' guild. She's an avid cross-stitcher, shower singer, and bakes a mean apple cobbler. Karen makes her home in Abilene, TX with her husband and three children. You can visit her online at: http://www.karenwitemeyer.com.

Book Blurb

When a dressmaker who values beauty tangles with a liveryman who condemns vanity, the sparks begin to fly!

Jericho "J.T." Tucker wants nothing to do with the new dressmaker in Coventry, Texas. He's all too familiar with her kind—shallow women more devoted to fashion than true beauty. Yet, except for her well-tailored clothes, this seamstress is not at all what he expected.

Hannah Richards is confounded by the man who runs the livery. The unsmiling fellow riles her with his arrogant assumptions and gruff manner, while at the same time stirring her heart with unexpected acts of kindness. Which side of Jericho Tucker reflects the real man?

When Hannah decides to help Jericho's sister catch a beau--leading to consequences neither could have foreseen--will Jericho and Hannah find a way to bridge the gap between them?

A Heroine with a Taste for Chocolate

Picture a handful of rugged cowboys out on the range, a fire crackling between them as dawn lightens the sky. Tin cups in hand, they swig their beverage of choice—coffee. Hot, black, and strong enough to stand a fork up in. Now move indoors to a woman's quiet kitchen where she's watching that same sunrise. A quilt wrapped around her shoulders, bare feet tucked under her legs as she contemplates what the new day might bring. A delicate china cup warms her hands as she gently blows the swirling steam away from the liquid surface. What beverage passes her lips? Many would choose tea, but not Hannah Richards, the heroine in A Tailor-Made Bride. No, this dressmaker craves chocolate and starts every day with a cup of Baker's Breakfast Cocoa.

Hannah mastered her sewing skills while working under the tutelage of an established dressmaker in San Antonio, but before coming to Texas, she lived with her mother and younger sister in Dorchester, Massachusetts. To support her girls after her husband died, Mrs. Richards took a job in the Baker Chocolate Mill where she was rewarded for her diligent work with discounts on their products. So instead of coffee or tea, the Richards women drank cocoa.

Not knowing how available breakfast cocoa would be in Coventry, Hannah made sure to pack one of the large five pound canisters in her trunks. And upon arrival, her first order of business, beyond finding her shop and unloading her belongings, was to arrange for a daily delivery of milk. One couldn't drink breakfast cocoa without milk.

To prepare her morning cocoa, Hannah first needs to boil 2 cups of water in a kettle. While the water heats, she takes a small pan and mixes 1 ½ tablespoons of her Baker's Breakfast Cocoa, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and a few grains of salt. Once the water reaches a boil, she adds ½ cup of it to the cocoa mixture and stirs until it forms a paste. Then she pours the rest of the boiling water into the pan and lets the mixture boil for one minute. In the meantime, she is also scalding 2 cups of milk in a second pan. When the mixture has boiled for a minute and the milk is ready, she turns the chocolate mixture into the scalded milk and beats it for two minutes with a hand-held egg beater. Not quite as convenient as the instant packets we have today, but something tells me it would taste much better Hannah's way.

In honor of Hannah's hot cocoa addiction, one winner will receive a copy of A Tailor-Made Bride along with a packet of gourmet hot cocoa. Enter a comment for a chance to win.

Be sure to leave your email address. Please check your junk mail on and the day after the drawing. I've had to redraw because of no responses. Subject box will have: winner of (book title). I'll email the winner and they'll have seven days to respond. If I don't hear back I'll draw another name. USA shipping only. Thanks so much and please stop back again! Drawing will be held Monday May 31st.

Highland Blessing Book Giveaway

Welcome Jennifer. I'm glad to have you on my blog this week.
Jennifer is giving away one of her books so be sure to leave a post to have your name entered in the drawing.

Jennifer Hudson Taylor is the author of historical and contemporary Christian fiction set in Europe and the Carolinas. Her fiction has won awards in the American Christian Fiction Writers' Genesis Contest. Her debut novel, Highland Blessings, will be released May 2010. Other works have appeared in national publications, such as Guideposts, Heritage Quest Magazine, Everton’s Genealogical Publishers, and The Military Trader. Jennifer graduated from Elon University with a B.A. in Journalism. When she isn't writing, Jennifer enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, genealogy, and reading. She resides with her husband and daughter in the Charlotte area of NC.



Highland warrior Bryce MacPhearson kidnaps Akira MacKenzie on her wedding day to honor a promise he made to his dying father. When he forces Akira to wed him, hoping to end a half-century feud between their clans, she struggles to overcome her anger and resentment. . .Yet her strength in the Lord becomes a witness to Bryce. But there is a traitor in their midst . . . and murder is the ultimate weapon.

1) What are you wearing right now and where are you (LR, dining room) and you have to tell the truth.

I’m in my PJ’s on the bed in my bedroom with my blessed laptop.

2) Is there any person who has been a strong influence in your writing journey?

My mother strongly encouraged me when I was younger.

3) How long have you been writing and do you see yourself always writing?

I’ve been writing since I was 12, and yes, I see myself retired and still writing.

4) Do any friends or family appear in your characters?

None have yet, but I think my mother-in-law keeps worrying the family will crop up in my books eventually.

5) If you could meet any person alive or dead who would that be and why? (excluding the Lord because we would all pick Him)

Beth Moore, Joyce Meyer and Liz Curtis Higgs.

6) If the Lord told you that you were allowed to bring one material thing with you to heaven, what would that be? And why? (Material not being a person)

Photos of my family. Even though they’ll be there with me, I have them with me now and I still like the memories our photos have captured.

Be sure to leave your email address. Please check your junk mail on and the day after the drawing. I've had to redraw because of no responses. Subject box will have: winner of (book title). I'll email the winner and they'll have seven days to respond. If I don't hear back I'll draw another name. USA shipping only. Thanks so much and please stop back again!