Southern-Style Meet & Greet with Lisa Bergren Plus Giveaway

Thank you so much for joining me for another Southern-Style Meet & Greet this week.  Our special guest today will be none other than the hottest Christian YA author this year...Lisa Bergren!  Betcha can't wait to get started, huh?  :o)

But first, gotta announce the winner of last week's giveaway for a copy of Dancing on Glass by Pamela Ewen.  Thanks to the awesome Random.org, our winner is:

Darlene (darlene@...)

Congrats on your win, Darlene!  I'll be in touch with you shortly for your mailing addy.  :o)

Now, it's time for our Meet & Greet!  I have been a fan of Lisa's since the good ole days...like when Christian fiction was really starting to take off about 15 years ago.  She started writing books for the Palisades romance line published by Multnomah in the mid-90's, and I *devoured* every single book of hers, as well as every other one that was available at my local library.  :o)  And if those books of hers weren't great enough, she had to go and write the Northern Lights series.  Oh.  My.  Gosh.  Let's just say if you haven't read those books yet, um...get busy.  *wink*  And it's an obvious given that the River of Time Series should be at the top of your TBR stack, also (speaking to myself here as I've only read book 1, Waterfall, so far...must get busy).  :o)

Hope y'all enjoy our chat today!
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When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?

This is hard to answer because it wasn't until I had five published books under my belt that I could even refer to myself as a writer. I think it'd always been my dream...

What genre do you most like to write?

Suspense/romance. I had a blast with the River of Time Series because those elements rose to the top.

Do your own personal experiences, or those of family and friends, ever find their way into one your stories?

Rarely personal experiences. Writing is largely an exercise of imagination for me! But I do incorporate key things that I've learned, or friends/family have had to learn. Those internal "ahas" are somewhat universal, I think, and help tie us to a character (even if she's time-travelling back to medieval Italy!)

What do you hope readers “take away” with them after they read one of your books?

I hope that first and foremost, they feel like their time was well spent--that it was not a waste of time! If they can say, "I learned something about myself/my world/my faith in reading that book," or even just "that was great entertainment," I'm happy.

What is your latest book release?

The latest is TORRENT, book 3 in the River of Time Series. You really want to read WATERFALL (book 1) and CASCADE (book 2) first, because TORRENT picks up where the last ended--with the girls going back in time to try and rescue their father. They're faced, then, with the tough decision as a family--to stay in medieval Italy forever, or return to their own time? The Love Interest, of course, is back in medieval Toscana...

Are you currently working on another novel, and if so, can you give us a snippet about it?

I'm currently working on the first book in the Grand Tour Series, and it's about a group of young people who are on a Summer tour of "the Continent" (i.e. Europe), as well as on a journey to discover themselves. My heroine is the illegitimate daughter of a copper king, who has to decipher her true identity when everything she's known about herself changes. GLAMOROUS ILLUSIONS, book 1, comes out in June 2012.

Sounds like another glorious series!  

What was the last Christian Fiction book that you read that you couldn’t put down?

Susan Meissner's THE SHAPE OF MERCY. Awesome. But to be fair, I feel like I've been called to write for the general market, and in particular, YA, to try and bring a little light into some pretty dark bookstore shelves...so I've been reading a ton of general market YA books. Looking forward to reading Sandra Byrd's TO DIE FOR, Mary Demuth's THE MUIR HOUSE and Erin Healy's THE PROMISES SHE KEEPS. They're in my stacks.

Sandra's book was positively wonderful!  I've been recommending it left and right to everyone I know!  Hope you'll be able to read it soon. 

Where can readers find you on the web?

LisaBergren.com and RiverofTime.mobi
Facebook: River of Time Series and Lisa Tawn Bergren
Twitter: @LisaTBergren

If you could visit anywhere down South, where would it be and why?

Oxford, MS for the literary roots; Charleston, SC for the romantic setting...Mmm. Would love to go!

Oxford is just down the road from this front porch, and it's also the home of Ole Miss.  Big deal for some of us sports people up here (not me necessarily, unless they're playing the University of Memphis Tigers...then, it's a big deal).  :o)

Iced Tea—sweet or unsweet?

Half and half. Better yet, unsweet w/lemonade.

BBQ Pork or BBQ Beef?

Pork.

Dolly Parton or Elvis Presley?

Elvis, baby.

Historical House—Plantation or Log Cabin?

Plantation. With servants. I'm not big on cleaning.

Me, neither...don't tell my hubby.  Shh...

Country gal or city gal

Country.

You, you all, or y’all?

My Southern friends have made this Yankee a y'all girl. But I don't say "all y'all" yet. That's just crazy talk.

Being Southern, I'm "y'all" all the way, but have been known to slip an "all y'all" from time to time.  :o)
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Lisa, I had a blast getting to know you better, and I'm sure lots of other folks have, too.  Thank you so so much for stopping by this week!

Now, y'all are just not gonna believe this week's giveaway.  It's almost too good to be true, but I assure you that this is the real deal!  Up for grabs is the ENTIRE RIVER OF TIME SERIES!  Can you believe it?  :o)  WOW!  So, be sure to follow the directions for your mandatory and optional entries so that you don't miss out on your chance to win. 

• Leave a comment with your email address disguised like "yourname at yourdomain dot com" or something similar. Many people are not following this rule for their mandatory entry, and I've not been able to include them.  Please leave your email addy so I can contact you.
• All entry comments must be left by Sunday, October 2.
• Contest is open to US residents only.
• Become a follower/email subscriber for an additional entry, and let me know in your comment if you're a new one or an existing one. (No need to create a separate comment for this. Combining everything into one comment is much easier.)

Thank y'all so much for stopping by again this week!  I appreciate the comments that y'all leave in response to the interviews along with the occasional question for the authors.  You guys help me make these features a success, so thank you!!