The first ones that came to mind were:
- J.K. Rowling who helped inspire my love of reading.
- Cassandra Clare who, like me, started out writing Fanfiction. She also wrote incredible book series in an amazing world.
- Sarah J Maas. She is my queen.
- Jane Austen, because who can compete with Pride and Prejudice?

Honestly? My children and the promise of coffee.

Reading and singing (badly) for the most part. Also, toddlers seem to keep your time pretty filled up most days.

A number of different ways. Mainly I peruse Wattpad a lot. Also, I am known to scroll through the "Free" section of Apple Books frequently on the iPad.

Also, a lot of word of mouth and Goodread recommendations for sure.

I actually laughed out loud when I read this.

Yes, I do.

It was in fourth grade with my best friend at the time. We wrote a book about how we thought the gymnasium and the whole school was haunted by a terrible demon/ghost and an adventure to exorcise it. That will never see the light of day lol.

Well, sit down and try to stay off of YouTube and Facebook for one.

Pull up my "oldies" music on iTunes and then try to hammer it out.

I have a loose-plot set and try to follow along with that. I find that if I constrain myself with too many plot details in advance I stifle myself and then don't allow my characters to really grow into themselves. I learned that the hard way.

I do remember the first story I ever read.

It was a stifling, hot summer day in the old farmhouse I grew up in. It was summer which meant the only thing on my 13-channel TV were reruns. I was laying on the couch, complaining to my father (who was an advent reader) that I was bored. It was too hot to go outside.

He then picked up a book from his bookshelf - one my grandmother had sent me for Christmas - and tossed it to me.

"Read a book," he said simply and went to his room to continue his own.

I eyed it with distaste and opened it to the first page. There was nothing else to do. I finished it three days later.

It was "Witch Week" in the World of Chrestomanci series by Dianna Wynne Jones.

The book I picked up off of my shelf the very next day was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone. Case and point.

Hesitantly and doubtfully.

I can operate Photoshop, but I am certainly no pro. I keep seeing all these amazing covers for other people and commend them for that. If I want something awe-inspiring I am afraid I am going to have to hire a professional or make a new best friend ha ha.

I read a lot of different books for pleasure, but my genre of choice right now tend to be young adult - mainly fantasy but sometimes contemporary.

I read to relieve stress a lot, so I average about 100 books at least a year. So, I do venture into other genres, but I mainly stick to young adult/new adult.

Well, it is my Kobo Glo. I love the way the light system works on it and the size of it.

However, I find myself more often than not now reading off of my iPad mini. That's mainly because I happen to be checking Facebook or reading on Wattpad on it. I also like having access to the Apple Store for books.

Cluttered, chaotic and messy. I am not a neat person when it comes to writing.

I have 2 monitors, a tower and a laptop I work off of. I have a drawer/shelf unit that is packed full of binders full of plots, half-written stories and full-written stories from the past 15 years of my life (I NEVER throw out binders full of ideas, my pack-rat items).

I grew up in a tiny, tiny village right beside the sea in a century-old farmhouse that was falling apart. My elementary school was probably 50 feet up the hill and our yard was attached to the church that I went to.

I'm not entirely sure how this affected my writing. I spent a lot of my days outside playing or inside reading/writing either on my computer or with pen and paper.

Started writing in fourth grade, even before I started reading a lot for enjoyment

It was the first book I ever finished for Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month). I finished it a few years ago and thought it was a complete write-off in terms of being anything decent.

I recently opened it up again and edited and really loved the book. Sometimes writers are harder on themselves than anyone else.