Who Am I?
Most folks call me Lisa Minney, but technically, I’m Lisa Hayes-Minney because I never dropped my maiden name. You can call me Lisa.
I live in Stumptown, W.Va. on a farm by a small lake.
But I’d rather be somewhere in a tent in the woods or wandering along a mountain trail.
My husband and I publish a monthly magazine called Two-Lane Livin’, which is distributed throughout Central West Virginia. I write regular columns for the publication as well, manage our garden, can and freeze all the produce, and am constantly juggling at least three other projects of some sort. (See some of our other online outputs here, here and here.) I make decorative bowls out of old record albums. I make candles. I bought a water-stained table at a yard sale one time and covered it with canceled stamps…. Projects. Right now, I’m learning about paper making. In the winter, I make my own bread.
For the past 16 years, I’ve worked in education, community development, marketing, copy writing, public relations, web design, news reporting, technical writing… And anything else that combined what I love (writing) and what I need (income). I’m new to gardening, but have almost mastered canning, grow and dry my own herbs, and now tend to ten hens. We have a very spoiled beagle named Daisy.
We travel with two digital cameras, a 33 mm camera, two zoom lenses and three filters. Frank, my husband, usually carries the 35mm. He’s afraid I’ll drop it. We travel through 16 counties of Central West Virginia every month to deliver our free magazine. Delivery of 16,000 copies at over 500 locations in 16 counties takes two people in two vehicles = five days.
In travel writing, my specialty is a neighborly presentation of clean facts that presents information and details in a story-like but straight-forward manner. My background is in newspaper reporting, so I look for the over all story, and then also look for special details. I have been writing for Central West Virginia readers for more than ten years now. I also have extensive knowledge of traveling with pets, West Virginia State Parks, four-season camping, geocaching and hiking, and budget travel. I LOVE research.
I’m former West Virginia Press Association member and a graduate of Glenville State College, Washington State Community College and Parkersburg Beauty College. I am also secretary of the Rush Run CEOS, overseer of the Normantown Community Market and The Butterfly General, associate leader for a local annual woman’s retreat. I often have insomnia.
I self-published my first book when I was 14, nearly 30 years ago. I made the book myself, stitching together the inner pages, with a cardboard cover covered in old feed sack material. It won an award. The only things I ever took to naturally were writing and reading. Everything else, I have to study and practice – hard. You can find samples of my writing here, here, here and here.
