Born and raised in Southern California, Lisa grew up with a view of the Pacific Ocean out the front windows of her family home and the California foothills behind. Heritage in the Pacific Northwest eventually proved to be a stronger pull than the mild weather of Southern California, and the family moved to Oregon when Lisa was sixteen.

Lisa traveled to Damascus, Syria, on a study tour in 1989. She later married Todd Harris, one of the other students from that group in Damascus. Todd and Lisa lived in Jordan during the 1990s, and two of their four children were born in the Middle East. Lisa has an MFA from the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University. She now lives in Oregon, where she teaches English as a Second Language at George Fox University.