I’m excited to have Lisa Wheeler, the award-winning author of more than forty books, with us today. She will be discussing her latest picture book, It Takes a Family to Serve: A Tribute to Military Families.
Welcome Lisa and thank you for taking the time to chat with me about your writing journey.
Me: Do you have any special plans for the rest of the winter? Or are there any activities that you participate in related to the season? Do you have a favorite season?
Lisa: My favorite season is Fall. I love everything about it—the colors, the crisp air, the holidays, the food and. . . the reduction of biting insects! We love hiking and Fall is the best time, around here, to do it.
In Michigan, once winter sets in, I become a virtual hermit. The skies are always gray, except when it’s bitter cold. Then, the sun finally shines! We often head to see family in Florida for a few weeks each winter. I wish I enjoyed the winter outdoor activities, but the older I get, the more I feel the biting cold.
Me: How long have you been writing?
Lisa: Like most writers, I’ve been writing all my life, but I didn’t decide to try it as a career until about 30 years ago. I’d always received encouragement from family and friends to give it a go, but it took time to believe in myself. I jumped in with both feet and I was hooked.
Me: What, or who inspired you to write It Takes a Family to Serve?
Lisa: The initial inspiration came on Veteran’s Day of 2021. While visiting my dad–my favorite veteran—I saw a post on social media featuring my cousin and his family. Bryan, who is career Airforce, had been deployed six times while raising his family. I knew that his wife, Melissa, often had to be the one to move the whole family from state to state, look for a new teaching job, and have everything handled when Bryan returned. The kids also had to be flexible, always starting new schools. But they have an amazing family, and I’d always been impressed with how they functioned. I recall looking at that picture and thinking, It takes a family to serve. That was how the book idea began.
Me: Tell me a little bit about this book’s journey to publication, were there any bumps and bruises along the way, obstacles you had to overcome, aha-moments? You can share the good, bad, ugly lol, or not.
Lisa: The book sold, through my agent, to Nancy Inteli at HarperCollins in 2022. We then set out to find the perfect artist for it. That summer, I came across The Impossible Mountain, written and illustrated by David Soman. (Little Brown Books for Young Readers). I saw in it the depth of character I had imagined when writing the book. I also saw beautiful landscapes, which I also felt was necessary for the title. I shared this with my editor, not knowing if they would feel the same. But they did! And David Soman came on as illustrator. Since David had numerous projects to complete, I had to be patient and wait until the Spring of 2026 to share the book with the world.
I think the bumpiest thing I had to contend with—am still contending with –is how to get this book in front of the military families who need to see themselves inside its pages. My publisher is setting up some signings at independent bookstores near bases for me. That will help and I’m eager to meet my readers there!
The second bump in the road is that I started developing health issues after writing the book. So, traveling has become a bit more difficult. My intentions were to go across the country, visiting bookstores in cities with lots of military families.
Fortunately, I’ve learned—because of Covid—to be flexible. Loren Long and I were supposed to go on a tour in the Spring of 2021 to promote Someone Builds the Dream. That wasn’t happening, so we did a virtual tour. Despite the setback, the book continues to do well.
Me: What is one piece of advice you can give to writers who are just starting out, or who are still in the query trenches?
Lisa: Do your homework. When I started out 30 years ago, we didn’t have the internet. I went to the local library, and the librarians helped me find the information I needed. I also joined a poetry writing group, SCBWI, and several critique groups. This is a business and you don’t know what you don’t know. So be kind to everyone you meet along the way. I didn’t sell my first book overnight. But 4 years after I took the plunge into the world of children’s books, I got a YES!
Me: What are your plans for the future? Writing or otherwise, traveling, hobbies, etc.
Lisa: Other than promoting It Takes A Family to Serve, and school and library visits, my husband and I hope to take a trip. Our 45th wedding anniversary is in March, (which is also reading month!). We’ve had to cancel our last four vacations because of health, his, mine or my dad’s. So we hope to finally get to see the Redwoods in Northern California in a month that isn’t March. I’ve wanted to see them since I was a kid looking through my View-Master at pictures of National parks.
Me: I’d love for you to share a recipe with me, I have a collection of recipes from friends and family that goes back many years. I would love to include yours, as well as share it with my readers.
Lisa: Here’s the recipe for Ugly Pie. (It’s from my book of the same name, illustrated by Heather Soloman—Harcourt)
Ugly Crust
2 ½ cups flour 1 cup lard (shortening or butter)
½ tsp salt 6 to 8 Tbsp of icy cold water
First, mix together the flour and salt. Then, using a fork, cut little chunks of that ugly lard into your flour until you get what looks like itty-bitty pea-sized balls. *Set aside HALF of this mixture in another bowl for later.* Next, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of icy cold water over those pea-sized balls. Gently toss it with a fork. Repeat until your flour mixture forms and ugly ball of dough.
Spread a little bit of flour out on a flat surface. (like your kitchen counter). Pat that ball of ugly dough down like you mean business. Then roll it with a rolling pin until it becomes flat, ugly crust. It doesn’t matter if it looks nice and round and pretty. This is Ugly Pie! Place in a 9” deep-dish pie plate.
Ugly Filling
6 cups of peeled and sliced granny smith apples ¼ cup molasses 1 tsp lemon juice
In a large bowl, toss apple slices with lemon juice. Then mix in molasses until apples are completely coated with ugly brown goo. Set aside.
5 Tbsp flour ½ cup white sugar ¾ cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon ½ tsp nutmeg
In a medium sized bowl, mix the dry ingredients listed above. Add to the ugly apple mixture until everything is nice and moist.
¾ cup red raisins (cran-raisins work great!) ¼ cup walnuts chopped fine
Toss raisins and walnuts into apple mixture. Make sure all ingredients are well coated. Place into pie crust. Your pie should look fairly ugly by now.
Ugly Topping
Take the crumbly flour mixture you set aside earlier. Sprinkle it over the top of the pie.
Cover pie with an aluminum-foil tent to prevent overbrowning. Bate at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 20 minutes.
When your pie is done, you will have the most delicious, most beautiful Ugly Pie you ever saw.
Thank you, Lisa, for the inspiring interview and (beautiful) Ugly Pie recipe. Your love for families of the military truly shines through, and I hope you get this book in the hands of the many military families that need it. I can’t wait to try that ugly pie! And please keep it between us, but I used to love looking through my View-Master too. 😉
You can connect with Lisa here:
Pat Brown Books 