Elizabeth Isaacs has her master's degree in music performance. Helping at-risk children with writing portfolios rekindled her love of the artform. She created the Kailmeyra series after her daughter started a discussion about a world without evil.  She lives with her two children in Kentucky and continues to teach.

Muse: First of all, Whispers of the Muse welcomes you to the site. Tell us a little about yourself. What part of the world do you live in? Tell us about your background?
Ms. Isaacs: Thank you and I’m glad to be here! I live in Lexington Kentucky with two very teenage children, and I’m an elementary music teacher by day, closet writer by night. I also direct a Creative Arts Camp in the summer, and I’m the children’s music coordinator at one of the larger churches downtown.

Muse: Who are your favorite authors?
Ms. Isaacs: I thought about giving some pat answer that would seem impressive, but then I looked to my heart and decided to answer honestly.

My two favorite authors are Dr. Seuss and Maya Angelou.

Theodor Geisel was my first love. I read every book he wrote before I was eight. More importantly, I understood the deeper implications of his work at an early age. Dr. Seuss was the first person in my life that inspired me to find different ways to phrase ideas, to love the way we string words together. He taught me to have fun with words, to play with them, and to find joy in reading them over and over. 

Where Dr. Seuss taught that words could affect through humor and rhyme, Maya Angelou educated me in their power … that words can change who we are, who we want to be. Her voice, so deeply embedded in her writing, literally jumps from the page straight to my heart. She has a way of turning ordinary words into extraordinary thoughts.

Muse: Why do you write YA Fantasy/Romance?
Ms. Isaacs: I didn’t set out to write young adult, but that was the story that came to me, and so I went with it. I have a few others on the back burner. One middle grade piece, another YA, and one adult book that’s turning out to be quite funny. However, I will admit that young adult is my favorite genre. I think it’s because the stories often have hope and redemption running throughout, but, most importantly, they also contain a lesson. 

Muse: What is your writing regimen? How often do you work on a book? Do you set daily time or word goals? What keeps you meeting your deadlines?
Ms. Isaacs: I get up every morning and write for at least an hour or two, and I try to write an additional two hours before bed. I write every day, and, while I do set personal goals, I do not let the word-count dictate success. Often I’ll spend an entire Saturday going sentence by sentence, looking for ways to make the story stronger. I’ve got a pretty big deadline coming up this fall, and what’s keeping my feet to the fire is the many people that email, tweet, or message asking when second book is coming out.

Muse: Does the way you personally look at life reflect in your writing style?
Ms. Isaacs: I think that creativity is so deeply ingrained in who we are that we cannot help but allow part of us to seep onto the page. I know some would disagree, but for me, I cannot separate the two.

Muse: What are the creative jumping off points for you? Are you inspired by dreams? Music? Nature? The occasional black nightmare? What triggers your imagination?
Ms. Isaacs: Conversation. Hands down. There are times when I’m talking with someone, and a character will pop in my head. Or I’ll be in a restaurant, and the people in the next booth over are talking about something so ridiculous, a scene is created right then. I’ve tried writing with music playing in the background, but as a musician I end up tapping rhythms or focusing on the harmony or the lyrics. I wake every morning wishing I could remember my dreams. And sitting in nature for too long is just creepy. When I am steeped in creativity, I often have the lights off, my eyes closed, the only sound is the clack of keys firing in rapid succession.

Muse: Tell us about The Light of Asteria. What was your inspiration?
Ms. Isaacs: A few years back, Kate, my daughter, and I were driving home from school. Kate’s always been a compassionate soul, and at that time, she was surrounded by mean spirited people who loved manipulation. Tearfully she confided that she just didn’t belong; she’d never really felt like she’d had a place of her own.

Parents understand that a child’s pain is much worse than their own. It was poignant to see such a beautiful, incredible girl struggle in this utterly mundane world. She needed somewhere to go, if not a physical location, somewhere in the realm of her imagination. Something inside of me just clicked, and when we got home, I warmed up the computer and started to type.

Asteria started as a free write. The first scene was nothing but vast woodlands, the last pure land on earth. A place where selfishness and negativity didn’t exist ... a place where Kate would always belong. The floodgates opened, and soon I found the message my heart longed to share.

It was a true sense of accomplishment when I handed Kate a two-inch binder, the first draft hidden inside; it was a gift from the heart. She read all weekend, and when she finally came downstairs, the only words out of her mouth were “Mom, you have to publish this.”

Honestly, I resisted the idea at first. These words were so personal, and I’m an extremely private person. Kate never let up though, and I finally let a few good friends read it. They were just as adamant, and so I took a deep breath and said a big prayer. Six months of revisions, and we finally were ready.

Muse: What is your favorite scene from the book and why?
Ms. Isaacs: One of my favorites was actually written during the last revision. The scene takes place at a church carnival where a little girl goes missing. I literally gasped as I wrote it, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Plotwise, I like this scene because it sets the pace for the rest of the story.

Muse: Have you written other books?
Ms. Isaacs: The Light of Asteria is the first book I’ve shared with others, and I’m currently working on the sequel, which should be out this fall.

Muse: Tell us about your other books?
Ms. Isaacs: The Secret of the Keepers is the second in a series of three. Each book contains a message interwoven throughout. I’ve read quite a bit of YA over the years, and the trend at the moment is a bit dark and dystopian. I want to offer the high school crowd something different, something that will stick with them. The Light of Asteria focuses on a true understanding of relational love. The second in the series deals with love’s strength. Not just the love of a mate, but the love of a land. In The Secret of the Keepers, Nora and Gavin are forced to see themselves for who they really are, and both must embrace the idea that, with a little faith, they have the potential to be more than they ever imagined. .    

Muse: How do you feel about the current publishing marketplace?
Ms. Isaacs: Some say that the industry has not seen such drastic change since Gutenberg invented the press. I’d have to agree with that statement. Digital publishing is revolutionizing the print industry, especially in the area of indie authors.

Self-publishing is no longer the pariah it once was. Many established writers are taking this route because of the freedom and control they maintain with their projects. For example, look at self-published author Amanda Hocking. She sold an astounding 450,000 ebooks in the month of January alone. As they say, the times, they are a-changing.