Lisa Harris Says, "It's Almost Magical"

                           Lisa Harris

I wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember. I have chapters of handwritten stories stashed away in a worn box that I started writing while I was in junior high. That love of writing came from a love of reading. Throughout my childhood, I spent every free moment engrossed in books, and those stories spurred my own imagination and made me dream of becoming an author one day. Because I loved mysteries and Nancy Drew, I started with my own version of a teen-girl detective. I read the Diary of Anne Frank, and wrote about a girl caught up in horrors of the holocaust. The first book I actually finished was a gothic novel inspired by Victoria Holt who had an amazing gift of bringing characters and intriguing settings to life. Each book I read imprinted on me the love of story, adventure, romance, tragedy, and redemption. Powerful stories that managed to tug on my heartstrings and kept me turning the page to the very end.


I was hooked.


I quickly discovered, though, that writing isn’t as easy as I thought it would be. The first time I took chapters of my story to a local crit group, I was terrified. Letting other writers get a glimpse of my story ended up being both nerve wracking, and insightful. I was told—nicely—that my characters were cardboard and my wonderful story needed work. I discovered that night that writing is a never-ending learning journey, and forty plus books later, I’m still learning, taking classes, and reading. The process has been both fun and challenging. I love the anticipation of discovering what happens next in a story. (Yes, sometimes even I’m surprised during the writing process.) The process of taking ideas, building on them, and weaving them together can feel almost magical. Some of the characters come unannounced, begging to have their story written down. Others I have to struggle to get to know them. The process of bringing their stories to life, though, always involves layering plotlines, drawing from the setting, developing characters, then editing, brainstorming, lots of scribbled notes, reworking timelines, and more editing. In the end, if I’ve done my job, I can share a story that does exactly what I love about a good book. . .Tugs on readers’ heartstrings and keeps them turning the pages.

My latest series with Revell is a fast-paced, suspense story about two US Marshals, Madison James and Jonas Quinn. While each story is a standalone novel, there are threads that tie the three books together, including their romance and Madison’s hunt for the person who murdered her husband. Book three, The Catch, will tie up the romance between Jonas and Madison—yeah—but Madison will also come face-to-face with the person who murdered her husband.



The Catch starts out with a harrowing attempt on a judge's life at the courthouse, after which Deputy US Marshals Madison James and Jonas Quinn are tasked with finding a missing woman and an endangered child in connection to the murder of the judge's wife. What seems like a fairly straightforward case becomes hopelessly tangled when the marshals discover that the woman they are searching for is in witness protection and the Amber Alert put out for the missing child has put two lives in danger.

Madison and Jonas are forced into a race to find the woman and the child before the men who want her dead discover her location. And in a final showdown that could cost her everything.


Writing for me continues to be an adventure I don’t think I’ll ever tire of. The stories, characters, and settings, the lessons I’ve learned along the way, as well as the friends I’ve made on this journey of both writers and readers. Because who hasn’t in some way been challenged and changed by a good book?

Lisa Harris is a USA Today bestselling author, a Christy Award
winner, and the winner of the Best Inspirational Suspense Novel from Romantic Times for her novels Blood Covenant and Vendetta.

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The author of more than forty books, including The Escape, The Chase, The Traitor’s Pawn, Vanishing Point, A Secret to Die
For, and Deadly Intentions, as well as The Nikki Boyd Files and the Southern Crimes series, Harris and her family have spent over
seventeen years living as missionaries in southern Africa. She is currently stateside in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Learn more at www.LisaHarrisWrites.com.