About
Lisa J. Jisa
I graduated from the University of Minnesota with degrees in education and Spanish in 1989. After the birth of my first child in 1993, I quit teaching to stay home and homeschool my children. I've been on numerous adventures around the world and love to make those places come alive for others through writing about them. I currently live with my youngest daughter and faithful canine companion in a small village near my hometown of Madison, Wisconsin.
How Pearls of Winter Came to Be
The idea for Pearls of Winter came to me while on a run in 1996, but raising kids bumped writing to the backseat. Years later when I started working on the book again, I ended up scrapping the original setting for Uganda, a beautiful country I have visited three times. Some of the inspiration for this novel came from experiences I journaled about on my trips to Africa.
My Writing Journey
Pearls of Winter is the first full-length novel to come out of my head and appear in print. I've had a regular column appear in the Ahwatukee Foothills News since 2004 and also the East Valley Tribune (Phoenix, AZ).