My family. I'm a stay-at-home father and husband. Before writing, my first priority is getting both my wife and son ready for the day ahead.

If I'm not spending my free time with my family, then you'll find me behind an instrument. Guitar, drums, bass whatever. I'm either playing music or listening to it. I was in a band for many years before turning to writing. Music has always driven my soul, and I listen to it every second I can. I can go from The Deftones to Bohren & Der Club of Gore to Periphery to Classical all in a row while I'm writing. It's amazing how a just a single song can inspire a chapter or even an entire book.

It's a random act. One time it could be the cover, the next it could be a crazy good synopsis. Sometimes, on days when I'm broke, it's price. I do make a conscious effort not to make one factor a dominant one. Some people pay to have their covers created, and they're really pro'd out and eye-catching, but the content turns out to be a little lackluster. Or maybe the opposite occurs - some writers make their own cover the best they can, but it looks really cheap. But then you read the longer synopsis, and you can just tell that their skill shines in their writing, not so much in their MS Paint skills. So it just depends. Again, I try to make it a random act.

I'll never forget the first full novel I read cover-to-cover. "Tell No One" by Harlan Coben. I saw it on a grocery store shelf. The vivid, neon-orange cover just screamed at me. I grabbed it, read it in two days, and I've gone on to purchase every book Harlan has ever written. He is truly an amazing writer who tells awesome stories. They're funny, and thrilling, and you don't need a thesaurus to get through them. It was after reading that book that I decided to give writing a try.

I listen to music while surfing Flickr. I try to use photographs from Flickr because I like working with the photographers on that site. It's amazing how a photograph can pop off the page and totally tell the story of a book. My latest cover is a set of eyes inside a plane. When I saw the photo for the first time, I was like, "that's her! That's the girl I wrote about! That's the look!" I contacted Courtney, and she was just as excited as I was about using the photo on a cover. It's pretty cool - two indie artists working together to showcase each other's different crafts.

I use an iPad for my ebooks. Hell, I use my iPad for everything!

I love the freedom that comes with being indie. I love being able to produce something without having the fear of needing to conform. There's no one there telling me that I can't say this or do this, or telling me to add a vampire because those are trending right now. There's no time being wasted waiting around for one publisher to tell me if my work is worthy of being seen by the public. It really allows for complete creativity. I can just write, put it out, and let the public decide for themselves. It's really a cool time to be an indie author. I love writing the book, designing the covers, formatting, everything. I have total power over how my book is created, and presented, and that's pretty awesome.

Not telling. But what I can say is that, thanks to being indie I'm not tied to a genre. I've done a few detective books, but I think it's time to branch out a bit. We'll see how it goes.

Coben. He usually has a new one out just about the time I finish mine, so I grab it and drink it in! I also like traveling so I read Travel & Leisure, and Islands magazine.

Self-built. I'm a bit of a woodworker, and I like to build things to my specs. I created an L-shaped desk. It's five feet down one side, two down the other. A book shelf is attached to the back behind me. It's pretty sweet. I think it ran me $100 and accommodates my long legs better than the $600 desks Ive looked at in the past.

The fans are everything. I've always said, "Your book doesn't just land on the NY Times Bestseller list - it's the fans who lovingly place it there in your honor."