Lisa Moser grew up in the small town of Fairfield, Iowa. “I had a wonderful childhood,” says Lisa. “I lived in a neighborhood where lemonade stands were a day’s event, the boundaries for hide-and-go-seek were the entire block, and you knew it was time to come home when the streetlights came on.”
About this time, Lisa was inspired by her grandma to become a writer. “My grandma and grandpa lived in Florida, and we would write letters every week. But on some golden days, some treasure days, I would go to the mailbox and find a story from my grandma. She’d write the stories, draw the pictures, and bind them up with bright yarn. Reading those stories, my own dream of becoming a children’s author began.”
Lisa went on to attend the University of Iowa and graduated with a degree in elementary education. After getting married, she moved to Worthington, Ohio, where she happily taught reading, writing, and other subjects to fifth graders. Lisa is proud to say that she was never beaten in a footrace by any of her students, although she only raced them once. Wisely, she retired a champion.
When Lisa and her husband moved to Wisconsin and had their daughter, Lydia, Lisa became a stay-at-home mom and pursued her childhood dream of writing.
“The characters for stories seem to pop up all around me —our dog, Hawkeye, eating my students’ homework as I graded it, a squirrel running circles around a rabbit in our backyard, my own grandma teaching me how to love someone far away. I just have to pay attention and write them down.”
Lisa thinks the exciting part about being an author is that every day can be different. “I can work on a story by the pond, or on a walk, or in my favorite green chair.” She thinks the reassuring part about being an author is that many things are the same. “I always sip a hot cup of coffee. I always write on my laptop because my handwriting is atrocious. And I always start the day with a quiet prayer. I ask Jesus to help me bring goodness to children through my stories.
“Goodness to children—that is the dream come true!”
Three Things You Might Not Know About Me
1. I can’t whistle, and I can’t stand to touch Styrofoam.
2. I was chased down a hillside in Yellowstone Park by a marmot (an animal about the size of a small gopher, which might have just been out for a walk and I misinterpreted it as chasing me), while my family yelled, “Get a picture! Get a picture!”
3. I love everything chocolate: chocolate pudding, chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream. If they invented a chocolate meatloaf, I’d probably eat that, too.
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