An Exclusive Interview With Lisa Lachapelle, The Author of Ten Years Of Bliss

Lisa Lachappele from Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, is an award-winning author. She has been a member of Vocal since July 2021. She has written over 224 stories.

She also gives spiritual advice, does a little life coaching, and offers psychic readings. Lisa explained that her readings and spiritual practices are not the same thing. One is a set of skills, and the other is the belief system behind it. Some psychics work with what they know, and others practice a spiritual path.

Mariann: What was the first book you published? What motivated you to publish your first book?

Lisa: The first book I published was Small Tales and Visits to Heaven XI.

The motivation for this book came from a culmination of experiences over a 9-year personal, spiritual sabbatical. I spent that time much like a monk, devoting most of my days to meditation and some time to personal spiritual readings. I also started writing four books that came out of that time period. I wanted to share the mystical experience with the world, to enlighten people about basic spiritual precepts. There was also a story that paralleled the learning, and I thought that would be a unique way to compose the book. I wanted it to be a story that anyone would enjoy reading and benefit from. More than anything, I wanted to impart the rich body of knowledge attainable through contemplation and reveal some of the spiritual gifts. Creatively rendering the small tales as metaphors was my favorite part of actually writing it.

Fun Fact: Lisa's Small Tales & Visits to Heaven xi won a Literary Titan Award.

Mariann: At what age did you realize you wanted to live a spiritual lifestyle? What influenced you to be a more spiritual person? What is your belief about a spiritual person?

Lisa: I was raised with religion and had a very wholesome upbringing.

So, it seems natural to believe in connectedness with a higher power. It was a given.

During university and afterward, I gravitated toward spiritual self-study, researching all religious and spiritual paths, Celtic, Native, Metis, Neopaganism, Traditional paganism, Egyptian mythologies, and Buddhism, because I was looking for parallel meaning in these bodies of knowledge.

I was 19, in between majors at college, and I traveled a bit in the U.S. In a blink, it was over, and I was back home to return to art studies.

Before I went back to school, I wanted to re-center after a significant life experience and found this book on Chakras and creative visualization by Shakti Gowain. As part of my sun gazing routine, I put the techniques into practice, and the experience was beautiful. It was like discovering cognitive restructuring( change your thoughts and you change your world).

From there, I began meditating daily and continued to for years, even throughout my career and a long-term relationship. After becoming a very young widow, life changed again, and I changed my mantra to prayer. That began a whole new experience and a firsthand learning journey.

My belief about people being spiritual is that it's not necessarily a human experience for everyone. I love people, especially non-spiritual ones. They have a lot to give as individual souls. The soul's work comes from awareness, but human aptitude is another way to nurture the soul. Simply having goals is that.

Spirituality starts as a personal discovery, and the purpose is to share that experience. When people believe, it becomes bigger than us. When they gather together, it's religion. Both are equal parts of the same sum. Both are right.

Mariann: Why did you join Vocal?

Lisa: I joined Vocal to broaden my practice of writing and reader audience. I was drawn to the Vocal Challenges, and writing short stories is a great way to hone my skills. It's a great way to showcase work. Vocal has a wonderful, supportive community.

Mariann: What is your latest writing project?

Lisa: The writing project I am promoting now is my poetry collection, Ten Years of Bliss, a compilation of 300 poems over ten years.

I'm working on a couple of other books simultaneously that will hopefully be published later this year.

Fun Fact: Ten Years of Bliss Won a Literary Titan Award a few months ago

Mariann: Is Ten Years Bliss self-published?

Lisa: It's Indie published, KDP, Amazon, Barnes and Noble. D2D will also be releasing it, too.

Mariann: What book did you publish that holds a special meaning to you?

Lisa: They all do in their own unique way have special meaning, but even though Small Tales and Visits to Heaven XI describes the real life of a spiritual segment of life, I guess I'd have to say the poetry collections, because it was a special period of growth for me, and examples of enlightenment.

Fun Facts: Lisa loves fish. The base chakra resonates with the same energy as the color red and the musical note 'doe'. Autumn is a good season for red & gold, and she is feeling primal these days.

Lisa's reasoning behind her cover interview picture.

Mariann: Can you describe your writing space?

Lisa: I am technically homeless. I lost everything, including personal possessions, clothes, and everything in the house, to a flood a year and a few months ago. So, I am temporarily staying at an author friend's and his family. My writing space, therefore, is a TV table, and I write everything by hand first.

My original writing space was my bed; I'd sit cross-legged and write like crazy. Later, I gravitated to a large glass table that I used as a desk. I miss that table to work on.

Mariann: What are some of the biggest Challenges you've faced in your career?

Lisa: The most significant challenge in my writing career is marketing as an indie writer. When I had a traditional publisher, they did all that. I love promoting, doing my own videos, etc.

Lisa's YouTube book promotion video

Right now, I average 20,000 views on social media, so whatever I am doing is working. Getting people to order a book online is a challenge.

Fun Fact: On Facebook, this video has 1,300 views

Fun Facts: Lisa once owned 75 little dogs

She can hold a modeling pose for three hours( She used to be a fine art model)

Mariann: If you can have a life do-over, what would you change?

Lisa: If I could do a life do-over...hmmmm, there are a few turning point

decisions I would change, but ultimately it won't make a difference. I would've moved away before this, but I still did the same thing as before.

I'm glad to be an artist and writer. It's feast or famine, but I have freedom.

Mariann: What is your most proud achievement, and what do you like most about yourself?

Lisa: My proudest achievement was winning the literary awards.

What I like most about myself is that I am fiercely determined about things I'm passionate about.

Lisa's website

Thank you for reading my last interview for the year. Next month I will be writing reviews on Vocal creators' published books.