Lisa Cerasoli

Lisa Cerasoli left Iron Mountain in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan upon graduating from its one and only school, Iron Mountain High. Michigan State University was her first stop. She tested into Lyman Briggs School of Science, majoring in pre-med. That dream quickly deflated when she realized she's a complete hypochondriac, and the last thing she needed was to feed her neurosis by being around "sick people" all day. Feeling lost, she fled to Arizona for spring break and didn't get back on the plane to return home. Instead, she applied to Arizona State University. Four years and a few beers later, Lisa got a very practical theater degree and transported herself by way of a Honda Accord (that would be stolen twice by year's end) to the City of Angels. LA was pretty good to the girl. She booked her first series, Acapulco Bay, within nine months, then spent two-plus years as a series regular on General Hospital, playing the quirky role of "V." She then booked a string of guest star roles: Oh, Grow Up, Diagnosis Murder, Pensacola, two recurring roles on The Pretender as "Zoe" and Boomtown. In the fall of 2002, Lisa and her manager, Sandra Siegal, met with Ken Atchity of Atchity Entertainment, International about her screenplay, On the Brink of Bliss and Insanity. He said, "Sounds like a novel." But Lisa had no idea how to begin writing one, so Ken tossed her a book off his shelf with the response, "Here's a novel. Do it like that." She went home, blew out three chapters...and was hooked. A few weeks later, Lisa's father was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. She packed a bag, headed back to Iron Mountain, and cared for her dad until his death while completing her first book. Two months later, with her mom as her maid of honor, Lisa married high school friend Peter Weaver. For the next near-decade, together with his son, Brock, and their daughter, Jazz, they took care of Lisa's gram, Nora Jo, who had progressive dementia. During that time, On the Brink of Bliss and Insanity was published in January 2009. It won the Silver for Romance of the Year from ForeWord Magazine. Midwest Book Review chose it as "a top pick for New Fiction in 2009." Her memoir, As Nora Jo Fades Away, about life with her gram was published in 2010, winning the Paris, London, Los Angeles, DIY, and Hollywood Book Festivals. She has also written a pilot based on the memoir entitled Weaverville, which is currently being shopped in Hollywood. As of 2018, Lisa and Jazz (13) live in Marquette, MI where Lisa runs 529 Books, a full editorial and book design company. Lisa is also a ghostwriter (Lucky Number 9 [w/Rina Tham, 2015], Through Fire and Rain [w/Joseph and MaryAnn Anselmo, 2016], Educating Marston [w/Christine Weiss, coming in 2019]). Additionally, she VPs for Ken Atchity's Story Merchant Books, which is based in Los Angeles. SM Books specializes in publishing books and then selling the movie rights. Lisa and Ken coauthored (mid-2018 release) the how-to book, Tell Your Story to the World and Sell It for Millions, an invaluable, step-by-step guide to the ABCs of writing the next great story (Part I) and then selling it (Part II) to Hollywood.