This month I’m interviewing ACFW author Lisa Lickel. If you don’t recognize the name now, you soon will :)
Cindy:
Welcome to Writer’s Block and I am so happy you are here this month. As you may or may not know, I try to research the person I’m interviewing first to make it as personal as I can. Hopefully, I ask questions never asked before. My main objective is to enlighten my numerous readers to all the wonderful books out on the market now, old and upcoming. I’m thrilled to be able to talk to so many authors as I, too, learn so much from them.
So, now that you know you’re my next “victim”, enlighten myself and my many readers on whom, exactly, Lisa Lickel is - not Lisa the author, but Lisa the “person”. ie: family, children, pets, goals, etc. We want to know who the author is when she’s not writing. We will cover the author part next :)
Lisa:
Thank you so much for hosting me, Cindy. I’m honored to be your victim of the month. I research my interviewees, too, but being on the other end is…um, a bit unnerving. I’m really kind of dull. Since I stopped working for other people (I used to be a church secretary and when the angels “sin” ned in the Christmas bulletin one year, I knew I needed some cushion between me and my typos) I haven’t been venturing out wreaking havoc at the PTA and town board quite as much, although some people still quiver when they see me coming.
I hail from a long line of farmers and teachers. I’m the daughter of History and English teachers, married a high school science teacher and birthed a high school English teacher. My husband and I live in a very old house, and have two sons, now grown and married. Andy is a campus staffer with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and going to seminary and Kyle is working on it at the moment, having taught a year and worked at a church camp for a year.
I’m not a pet person, although I have a huge collection of dragons that fortunately don’t need to be fed or let out. I got a kick out of creating Carranza for the mystery series, but with allergies, that’s as close as I get. High-handed cat even got his own interview at petsandauthors.blogspot.com. My goal is to earn as much through writing as I did at my part time jobs. Ahem. Some day that might even happen. When I’m not writing, I live in the past with all kinds of historical societies, doing research or putting on programs. Right now—well, when the snow leaves—we’re working on restoring a township cemetery. I love it. Such stories.
Cindy:
You have two wonderful published books and one to release mid February! Congratulations! What is Meander Scar about, and I’d really like you to focus on your choice of titles as we cover your books.
Lisa:
Well, thank you. Meander Scar is one of those stories where a lot of thoughts came together. I chewed on the concept of why hardly anyone has an issue with older men and younger women in relationships, but not the other way around. So many cinema personalities have gotten away with it: Mary Tyler Moore, Susan Sarandon, rats—the woman who played Caroline Ingalls - oh, yeah, Michael Learned. I just wanted to test the waters with the concept. Um, didn’t go over too well with the CBA markets or either of the agents I had. To go on with the story idea, you hear how, every year, people vanish? What happens to them? How does the loss, the not knowing, affect their families.
So, Meander Scar is the story of Ann Ballard, whose husband went missing while on a business trip. Years later, a young man who once lived next door shows up and offers to help her put the whole matter to rest, since her mother-in-law fought to keep from having her son legally declared dead. Mark, who’s now a lawyer, is more than nice…he confesses to a life-long love. Now what? Can Ann possibly even consider a relationship with someone else after all this time? Especially one who’s quite a bit younger? And what will her son say? When she’s finally ready to move on, she learns the truth of her husband’s disappearance. Her life took a really big meander.
Cindy:
Your first book, the Gold Standard, what’s it about?
Lisa:
The Gold Standard is a contemporary cozy mystery, a light-hearted romantic story about a young orphaned school teacher whose closest living relative is found dead on her farm. Judy, certain her aunt was murdered, spends the summer on the farm trying to figure out who would have done it and why. And does the man who farms the property next door have anything to do with it? When Judy learns there is a lost treasure buried somewhere on the farm, she races to learn whether her aunt died to keep the secret before the killer gets to it first.
Cindy:
And Healing Grace?
Lisa:
Healing Grace is still a story of my heart. It was the second book I ever wrote while I was waiting for the contest results of the Christian Writer’s Guild’s Operation: First Novel. My brother called one evening to ask about some family history with illnesses, for he had come down with a troubling problem. Took a while for him to be diagnosed with an infection that affected his nervous system. I had been thinking about how people interpret the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and how they manifest themselves today. I know there are major controversies surrounding that issue, but I went ahead and built a community of people who practice the gifts, sort of like a throw-back group of people.
Grace has a gift, you can probably guess what it is from the title, and when her world caves in, she thinks God has abandoned her and she runs—right into the arms of someone who desperately needs her gift. Only she’s afraid to risk using it. Where does my brother come in? When I researched his symptoms, I also came across a great disease to give Ted, the male protagonist. I hope to continue telling more of Grace’s home community story someday. My brother and his family shared a lot of their life in Michigan with me, for that’s where Healing Grace takes place.
Cindy:
I’m always curious about how an author comes up with a story or title for a book. Which do you do first, story idea, or title around a possible story idea?
Lisa:
If you’ve been in this business much you know that the publisher has the final word—generally—on titles. Sometimes my stories and my titles go hand in hand when they hatch. I thought “meander scar” would make a great book title long before I wrote professionally. I learned the term in either high school or college geography. A meander is the bend a river or stream takes when it hits a hard place. The river turns in on itself and eventually meets the main course. The meander is then abandoned, first as a small lake, then a swampy area, then dried, but always visible as a scar. I love the idea of comparing relationships to natural phenomenon. I knew I wanted to write about unusual relationships when I finally started to write.
In Meander Scar, both Ann and Mark’s lives hit hard places. The line from the publisher: “Love can heal even the deepest scars” fits the idea well. I had a different title all ready to go, though, when publishers, agents and many readers weren’t sold with my original choice. Healing Grace has multiple levels of meaning, as well and it evolved naturally. For the mystery—I didn’t think my first choice, based on the supporting Bible verse, would make it, and they asked for a new one very shortly before publication. Not my best effort, although I was really tickled to have my daughter-in-law help pick it out. Authors should research how often and in what context their ideal title has been used already before settling on one.
Cindy:
Before obtaining a contract with a traditional publisher and joining the ACFW, did you have any other books previously submitted elsewhere and if so, what went wrong?
Lisa:
In high school I wrote a story about how bees help fertilize plants, pictures and all. I sent it to one of those companies that offers to tell you how good of a writer you are, and I was stunned they wanted to publish it. For a price. I was so naïve.
Cindy:
When you finish a book, what is your main goal in regards to the potential readers? ie: What do you hope they get from the story?
Lisa:
My tag line is Living Our Faith Out Loud. Fiction is generally meant to entertain, and that’s what I hope to do—make the reader not sorry he or she spent the time and money on my book. I hope to give them an honest-to-goodness thrill ride with the story, and make it one they’re not embarrassed to leave on the coffee table or have their teen-aged kids read. Hopefully, they’ll want to tell their friends about it. If the reader wants to delve a little deeper into the back story with me, I’m delighted to do that, too.
Cindy:
How did you first decide to start writing books? What or who, influenced that decision?
Lisa:
While I was working at that church and had a few dollars to spare, I bought a subscription to Today’s Christian Woman, now sadly out of print. That was the year Jerry Jenkins used his money from his Left Behind series to buy the Christian Writer’s Guild, and I saw an ad. I was drawn to enroll in the online course and started selling articles before I finished.
Cindy:
After the release this month, what’s next on your agenda for us?
Lisa:
I hope to convince publishers to buy more stories. I have a couple circulating, one about a woman who wants to control her own fate when her cancer returns, and one about a bachelor missionary and a young businesswoman who think they have their lives all planned out until God interferes. And several others in the hopper.
Cindy:
Does your family or church influence any of the ideas for a book or characters in a book you write?
Lisa:
The family, not so much. Honestly. My first unsold-and-in-need-of-an-edit book series, which I still have hopes for—it made the top ten in an Operation: First Novel contest—is a year in the life of a typical congregation, focusing on a few families at a time. It’s about how we all influence each other, and I people-watched and collected stories – still do, for a long time. So, while being in church settings has influenced the story, you won’t find the people of my church as specific characters.
Cindy:
How do you feel about this new trend towards self-publishing as opposed to vanity publishers, who charge to publish you, and traditional publishers, whom you submit your ideas to and hope they’ll want more and eventually, contract your idea?
Lisa:
There’s only so much shelf space. But electronic storage ups the offering, yes? Vanity presses have met their match and I think will fade. Why pay someone when you don’t have to? But self-publishers should still strive to put out the best product possible. I certainly don’t begrudge anyone who’s been trying to get a contract, then turns around and chooses the self-pub route.
I’ve seen it all—from the woman at my first writer’s convention who went around with a desperately vacant look (painful, truly), who just had to be published in Guideposts or else. The man who refused to change his story for a publisher and chose self-publishing when he could have had that contract. The people, myself included with Healing Grace, who choose independent (but traditional) publishers and get a less-than-perfect product. Plenty of famous authors go the self-pub route. Both Mark Twain and Charles Dickens started out that way. Yes, there’s snobbery involved—but we all need a champion, and only you know your audience. If you’re happy seeing your book in print and you sell it to your friends and family, that’s plenty good enough. I may end up self-publishing my children’s historical series. It has local appeal, and that’s where I’ll market it.
Cindy:
Where can readers learn more about you and the books you have available?
Lisa:
You can visit my website, http://lisalickel.com, or find me on Facebook where I have a fan page, Goodreads, Shoutlife or my blog, http://livingourfaithoutloud.blogspot.com. Everyone can read the first chapter of each of my books on my website. They are available on line at the usual retailers and publisher’s sites, and can be ordered in any local bookstore. Healing Grace and Meander Scar are also available in e-book format and Kindle.
Cindy:
Can readers contact you with questions or requests for signed copies of your books?
Lisa:
Absolutely. Send me a message anytime. My contact information and my schedule are on my website, or use lisalickel@netzero.net.
Cindy:
What has been the toughest hurdle to conquer in your quest for publication?
Lisa:
The same as anyone who isn’t an overnight sensation with some highly visible current issue and a hotline to a publisher’s ear: getting recognized and accepted. I’ve had a couple of agents that didn’t work out. I still have to query and research the markets and do publicity. It’s time consuming and frustrating, but also a kick when I meet fun new people and get to do interviews like this.
Cindy:
What’s in the works for us now to look forward to?
Lisa:
I’m currently recording a series of comedic radio soap operas I wrote, based on the producer’s idea, which appeal to my quirky side. They will be out on podcast this fall, we hope, at www.freequincyradio.podomatic.com. I also have a monthly, or so, column at Favorite PASTimes, http://favoritepastimes.blogspot.com. I just joined the Afictionado book reviewers team for the monthly ACFW on-line magazine, so I hope you’ll all tune in there.
Cindy:
Is there any other information you’d like to express to the readers that I may not have touched base upon during this interview?
Lisa:
You’ve been wonderfully gracious, Cindy. I have reader discussion guides for all of my books on my website and at Goodreads. There are also some recipes from The Gold Standard on my website. I’m delighted to meet, either in person or on conference call with any book clubs. I also am happy to meet with your writing group for writer’s workshops either in person or e-mail sessions.
Thank you so much for a lovely chat.
Cindy:
Lisa, I’ve so enjoyed this interview with you and I’m excited about your books. Thank you so much for this time to get to know you and your writing better.