Who? When? What? Why?

Q: Who first encouraged me to write?

A: It was my 6th grade Language Arts teacher. I remember he gave our class a writing assignment: Write a story, don't worry about grammar and punctuation (we'll fix those things later). Make it interesting. Give it a voice. Thank you so much for starting me on my teaching and writing path!

Q: When did I write my first story?

A: I wrote my first short story in the 6th grade (it wasn't very good) and my first novel in 2010 (my take on vampire lore...not for young adults).

Q: What inspires me?

A: Many things inspire me: songs on the radio mostly. Music is an important part of my life. My taste is eclectic: reggae (old-time Bob Marley and the like), some country (Dolly Parton, Florida Georgia Line, Kenny Rogers, Randy Travis, Keith Urban), top 40, reggaeton, 70's disco, 80's pop, some hard-rock, and heavy metal, calypso, opera (my favorite is the 'Queen of the Night' aria from The Magic Flute). Basically, whatever sounds good to me...I like.

Q: Why do I write?

A: I write because I can't not write. Ideas that beg to become stories attack my mind when I am trying to fall asleep or cause a commotion when I should be concentrating on other things. Some of them fizzle out, while others refuse to be shoved back into the corners of my mind. To those, I pay attention. Many stories like The Siren Series are written back-to-back. After Selena's Song was completed in 2018, I began and completed the next three books immediately. I had been bitten by the writing-bug (not related to Herbie the Love Bug).

So there you have it! Me in a nutshell.

Until the next time, I wish you peace, joy, and great books to read!

Alisa K. Michaels

YA Author