Thank you, Lena, for allowing me to visit with you and your readers. Why do I write what I do? I write what I like to read, of course, which are stories that not just let people know what I believe in, but make the reader think about life challenges in a realistic manner. But it’s important that the reader gets entertainment value for his fiction money.
Besides when you came to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life?
One of the days that come to mind is when we bought and moved into our first, and only, house. This house has defined me and my family, and spurred me on this writing adventure in a round-about way.
How has being published changed your life?
I choose now to work at writing full time, instead of trying to piece together a number of other jobs. I’m given a certain leeway for being distracted and eccentric.
What are you reading right now?
I’m entranced with Laura Frantz’s Courting Morrow Little. Also, Venom and Song by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper and Jeanette Walls’ The Glass Castle.
What is your current work in progress?
I’m editing a full-length mystery for the same publisher of Meander Scar, and working on the third installment of the cozy mystery series that began with The Gold Standard.
What would be your dream vacation?
Oh, I’d love to spend two or three months roaming the British Isles with a guide who knew and loved the place.
How do you choose your settings for each book?
I’m still in write what I know mode, so my settings are familiar: Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan. I’ve been fortunate to travel widely and visited every state but Hawaii, so I feel comfortable researching and referring to notes about places I’ve been or can return to. I prefer to create communities based on or near familiar places so I have more freedom to develop businesses on my own that aren’t subject to known places and names that possibly change.
If you could spend an evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why?
I’m not incredibly social. Would I want to learn something? Could I trust someone to tell the truth. Or would I want to have fun? Or just be quiet? If I didn’t think James Cameron would be a jerk, I think I’d like to pick his brain for a few hours on how he can make same-old stories breathe fresh air through mind-boggling technology and fantastic cinematography.
What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading?
What is your most difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it?
I tend to get through my drafts so quickly that I miss words and have a hard time proof-reading myself. I’m not too bad with other people and I’m a pretty fair critique partner, but I struggle editing my own work. I’m learning to take the time to read aloud and not cheating at it (too much), and as I edit for others, I’m becoming more deliberate with my writing.
What advice would you give to a beginning author?
If you’re serious about it, more than just as a hobby, find a published mentor, learn all you can. If you enjoy writing for fun, then have a good time, continue to learn, but don’t sweat the small stuff. Build your reader base intentionally and spend more time on marketing and networking than you think necessary.
Tell us about the featured book.
Meander Scar, by Lisa J Lickel
c. 2010 Lisa J Lickel
Black Lyon Publishing LLC
ISBN 978-1-934912-23-2
retail: $16.95
Ann Ballard has lived in limbo since the disappearance of her husband years earlier. Fighting her mother in law for a finding of death left her drained emotionally. When a younger man from her past, Mark Roth, shows up and offers his skills as a lawyer to help settle her case, how can she accept not only his help, but his love? When Ann accidentally discovers the truth of her husband's absence, how can she tell the secret without ruining more lives?
Please give us the first page of the book.
“Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its ardor unyielding at the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters can’t quench love; rivers can’t wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.” Song of Songs 8:6-7
Chapter One
Ann Ballard jerked awake, shaken by a rumble she felt clear to her bones. A dazzling flash of light burned her retinas when she glanced through the living room window. She jumped and felt her heart stutter at the roll of thunder that rattled the panes of glass.
At least she’d been saved from sinking into the nightmare again. Three times in a row, whenever she’d closed her eyes she dreamed of being trapped in a swampy pool on the banks of the winding Black Earth Creek, helplessly watching her son Ritchie and his friend Trey struggle against a current. The fact that the creek was not that big in real life didn’t seem to matter in her dream.
Ann tossed aside the afghan that had been covering her feet and stood. Only little old ladies took naps in the afternoon. What was the matter with her? The magazine she’d been reading slipped to the floor, sending the photograph she used as a bookmark spilling out. She snatched up the picture before it bent. She knew what sleeping during the day would lead to: wandering her big empty house at night, wide awake and scaring herself silly at every creak.
Probably another headache, too. One that would take two days of head-banging and nausea to get over.
Another crack of lightning sent her scurrying to the kitchen. Dinner. Make dinner. Anything to distract herself from the storm. Speaking of which …
How can readers find you on the Internet?
My website is http://lisalickel.com/
I blog at http://reflectionsinhindsight.wordpress.com, http://wisconsinauthorreview.blogspot.com/
and http://favoritepastimes.blogspot.com/
I’m on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lisalickel and Shoutlife: http://www.shoutlife.com/lisalickel , as well as a few other places like Author’s Den, SheWrites, Goodreads, Edgy Christian Fiction Lovers, and I have Amazon and BN author’s pages.
Thank you, Lisa, for spending this time with us.
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