Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Becker.
Lisa, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’m a romance writer and I spend my time like I spend my money – on books and margaritas. I remember writing short stories and poems as a little girl and always said I would write a book one day. I didn’t really know what that would be, though. My husband and I met online on a popular dating website back in 2000 when online dating was in its infancy. After we married and started our family, I recalled some of the hilarious experiences I had with both traditional and online dating. I decided to capture some of them in writing and from there, Click: An Online Love Story emerged. The book is loosely based on my real-life dating experiences, as well as stories from friends. I’ve been a romance novelist for eight years with novels including Links, Clutch, and Starfish, which was just named the 2019 best romantic comedy from the American Fiction Awards. My seventh novel, The Subway Girl, is set for a spring 2020 release.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Like all writers, I’ve encountered my share of writer’s block. My solution: Chocolate! No joke, I eat chocolate. If I’m stuck on a certain section or not feeling motivated to write, I give myself little chocolate incentives to get past the blockage.
As with any new venture, there have been struggles and learning opportunities along the way. My biggest challenge was with a small press publisher on one of my book releases. We had different expectations on how an author/publisher relationship should work. A year or so after release, I was able to secure the rights to the book back and re-released it as a self-published title, making the changes and edits it needed to meet my vision and standards.
Overall, the biggest challenge is breaking through the crowded field of books. A friend who writes mystery/thrillers, once joked that the great thing about self-publishing is that anybody can write a book and the worst things is that anybody can write a book. With so much clutter out there, it’s hard to get noticed.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I’m known for writing award-winning contemporary romantic comedies with authentic, relatable characters you’d be friends with, from the vixen who gives her “men du jour” hilarious nicknames or the guy who has a healthy obsession with bacon, to the type A personality who sorts his online dating matches into piles of yes, no and maybe for review, to the woman who wears t-shirts with literary expressions like “My idea of a workout is heaving reading.”
The romance genre gets a bad rap, but it’s actually the fastest selling book genre. While some people discount it, I argue what could be more compelling, more universal, more essential than love? I’ve joked about it before. Will my books force you to think about important issues or change your world view? Hardly. But the world is already a serious, oftentimes sad and scary place. I need levity, laughter and hope. My goal is to create fun stories for anyone who has ever had a bad date, been in love, been dumped, or is still searching for “the one.” My grandmother used to say, “For every chair, there’s a tush.” I want to show through entertaining and engaging stories how true that is.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Both good and bad luck have played a role in inspiring my stories. For example, I like to write with the TV on in the background and for a while I was obsessed with NCIS re-runs. There was an episode where a character refers to a man as a “handbag husband,” or something useless you carry on your arm. I started thinking about how men are like handbags and fortuitously the idea for award-winning Clutch grew from there. The book chronicles the dating misadventures of Caroline Johnson, a single purse designer who compares her unsuccessful romantic relationships to styles of handbags (the “Hobo” starving artist, the “Diaper Bag” single dad, the “Briefcase” intense businessman, etc.) as she searches for the “Clutch” or someone she wants to hold onto. I believe that everyone deserves a happily ever after and would like to think there’s a “clutch,” or someone worth holding onto, out there for everyone.
On the flip side, I tend to draw from my own experiences including my many middle school and high school humiliations. When I was in high school, I was the nerdy girl in oversized black glasses. I crushed on a boy so hard I willingly sat with him in the bathroom at parties while he puked up wine coolers just so I could be near him. That pathetic experience inspired the second chance romance Links, which follows awkward Charlotte reconnecting with her unrequited high school crush fifteen years after high school.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.lisawbecker.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @authorlisabecker
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClickAnOnlineLoveStory/
- Twitter: @lisawbecker
Image Credit:
Zubs J Malick @zubscovered, @savannahsbooklist, Sarah Symonds, Julia Valentine, Ryan Jones @biblio.virgo, Nancy Sanchez
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