Lisajoy Sachs, 55, has visited the Windham area with her family throughout her life and has lived in town for the past 18 months. She has published two historical novels inspired by her grandmother’s life and completed four more manuscripts in the six-book series. Her biggest challenge as a new writer, she said, has been learning the business of writing, publishing, and marketing alongside the craft itself.

What inspired you to start writing?

When my grandmother died in 2004, I looked through her boxes of letters, documents, photographs, and books. I realized there was a part of her history I’d never known, and I wanted to preserve it.

My grandmother kept everything. There were receipts, mortgage statements, bills, and other things that didn’t seem interesting at first, but they gave me insight into her life. She grew up in a predominantly Jewish town in Romania. Her family and other members of the Jewish community were persecuted during the wars, and many lost everything. Documents proving who they were and where they lived were essential if they needed to travel or leave the country. For her generation, it made sense to keep as much as possible, just in case.

What themes run through your work?

I’ve written a six-book series about how my grandmother escaped the Holocaust, the sacrifices and challenges she faced, and the courage it took to build a life and raise a family in New York without letting those experiences rule her life.

The first book is about my grandmother leaving Romania and about her mother, Jetti, my great-grandmother. In the second, my grandmother is fleeing Europe and coming into her own. She becomes stronger and more confident and meets people who have a huge impact on her life.

The next three books follow her journey to Palestine and, eventually, New York, where she starts a family. The final book returns to Jetti in Romania, beginning in 1933, when Hitler came to power, and tells the story of her experience during the war.

Why did you choose to write your family history as narrative fiction?

The letters I have are all from other people. I don’t have the letters my grandmother wrote, though many of the letters I do have refer to letters, photographs, or packages she sent. It’s a very one-sided collection of material. I also met only a few of the people mentioned in the letters, so I had to create personas for many of them. And while I had some information about the family’s businesses, I chose to write about businesses I knew better.

Besides your grandmother’s boxes, how did you do your research?

I’ve researched my family’s history for 20 years. When my grandmother died in 2004, I was living in Baltimore, and I spent time at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Its staff helped me find information about some of the labor camps where my great-grandmother was held. I used the museum’s library and resources, including materials I couldn’t access elsewhere.

I also used information from Yad Vashem, the Holocaust remembrance center in Israel, to research what happened to my family and where they lived. There are archives in towns that were part of Romania then and are now in Ukraine, and the museum can access those resources.

What is your writing routine?

I get up around 4:30 or 5 a.m., before the birds and everybody else. It’s still dark. I go into my office or sit in the kitchen with my computer, and I start typing.

The project became much larger than I expected. At first, a lot of the chapters weren’t really chapters. I wrote as much as I could, then went back to reread everything and figure out where to divide it.

What is your writing process?

There are two types of writers: pantsers and plotters. I’m definitely a pantser, meaning I fly by the seat of my pants. Occasionally, I jot down notes about what I want to include. Then I go back and figure out where they fit.

I write the story first, then research it and add the proper dates and other facts. I don’t know if it’s the right way, but it works for me.

Editing is tricky. I didn’t hire an editor for the first two books. I did the line editing myself, with some suggestions from my publisher about moving paragraphs and chapters. I had proofreaders for the second book, which helped. For the third, I plan to hire a professional line editor and a copy editor.

When I first sat down to write, I completed the first four manuscripts in the series before sending queries to publishers. Once I decided how I was going to publish them, I wrote the fifth and sixth.

What has been your biggest challenge as a new writer?

Learning everything that goes into writing, plus the business side. Over the last three years, I’ve had to learn the basics of writing and publishing books, marketing, running a business, editing, proofreading, and using social media.

Another challenge is knowing when to stop. I tend to go down research rabbit holes and stay up until 1 a.m. because I’ve found more information. I want to put as much as possible into the books, but I know I have to cut some of it. Otherwise, my six-book series will become a 24-book series.

What is the best writing advice you’ve received?

My background is in visual arts. I have an MFA and a BFA, but neither is in writing. Several years ago, a ghostwriter advised me to start fresh each morning: Get up an hour earlier than usual and set a daily word-count goal. She suggested starting with 600 words. If you write between 600 and 1,000 words a day, she said, you can finish a book in several months.

That was probably the best advice I’ve received, and I’ve continued to write that way. I wish I’d received more advice about publishing.

Does input from readers influence your work?

I left the first book on a cliffhanger, and readers were asking for the second. I felt an obligation to get it out a little sooner than I might have otherwise. I’ll have published two books in an eight-month period. Other authors have told me I’m insane because of how much work that takes, but I don’t regret it. I’m happy with how it’s coming along.

Which books and people have influenced you as a writer?

Kit Sergeant writes historical fiction, mostly about women spies, and her books are beautifully written. I couldn’t put down her novel “The Doctor of Auschwitz.”

Alice Sockett isn’t an author, but she narrated the audiobook of “Bright One.” Her energy and encouragement have been a big inspiration. I hired her to narrate “Golden Flight” as well.

What other writing projects are you working on?

I’ve started a historical time-travel murder mystery about a contemporary Rip Van Winkle. It includes a bike shop in Windham, mushroom foraging, mudlarking, and time travel. It will be called “The Fungi of Time: A Ripley E. Van Winkle Adventure.”

I’m also working on what I hope will become a trilogy about Kurti, one of the characters in “Bright One.” He was my grandmother’s youngest cousin. Before he died in 2015, he helped me translate some of her letters and told me how he survived the Holocaust.

He sabotaged the Nazis, jumped off trains, and escaped. But he felt guilty about leaving his parents in Vienna, so he went back and saved them. They lived in several labor camps during the war and survived. He helped them get to New York.

What’s on your nightstand or to-be-read list?

I’m listening to “Careless People,” by Sarah Wynn-Williams. It’s engaging and makes you think, particularly about Facebook.

Jo Piazza, who is also a local artist, has written “The Parisian Heist.” It’s at the top of my list. My book club recently finished “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie. I couldn’t put it down.

Do you have any book or author recommendations?

My favorite author is Ken Follett, and my all-time favorite book is his “The Pillars of the Earth.” I’ve probably read it nine times. I try to read it every other summer.

I also like Alison Weir’s books. I’m an Anglophile, and I love the Tudor era.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.