The earliest I remember writing any sort of fiction was Grade 1. Growing up I wrote some stories but mainly wrote and drew my own comics. 2012 was when I began to take writing seriously and had my first short story published.

It's a computer desk with two side shelves and an upper shelf. I have my Asus laptop on the main level with a wireless keyboard and mouse. To the left is my digital sketchpad and a couple of novels. To the right I have some file folders with copies of signed contracts and various drafts of stories. On the upper shelf is my printer and an array of figures like Spawn, Venom, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, some dinosaurs, a few apes, a Viking and a toy lunar module.

Most of my favorite authors are from comics. Scott Snyder, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison and Warren Ellis.
From fiction I'd have to say Lovecraft, Stephen King, Joe McKinney and the guys/gals in Pen of the Damned.

I'm a huge space nerd, especially when it comes to the Space Race during the late 50's and 60's. I had always been playing with an idea of a science fiction story with horror elements taking place during the Mercury program but couldn't quite find the best way to present it. It wasn't until I was watching The Blair Witch Project when it was on television one night and a light went off in my head. Why not present the story as 'found footage'? I gave it a go and really like how it turned out.

The Kindle. At the time I just didn't like the layout of the Kobo or any of the other e-readers. I actually have two now. The Kindle e-reader for fiction and the Kindle Fire mainly for purchasing digital comics and graphic novel.s

The biggest one has been developing a network of other indie authors and helping to share/promote each other's work.

The greatest joy of writing is that rare time where you get the images and experiences you have in your head down on paper exactly how you see and feel them.

Aside from providing distribution services, Smashwords was a huge confidence booster in the early going. I self published a few short stories (which I will be revising in the near future) and when I saw that people were actually downloading them, I was blown away. It was such an amazing experience to see that someone other than your immediate family and circle of friends took the time to read your work.

Sometimes through browsing both Smashwords and Amazon but a lot of the time, I discover them through other authors.

My daughter and the hope that I will have a productive day of writing.

Hanging out with my daughter consumes a lot of my time as does my real job working full time as a Security Checkpoint Coordinator at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport. I also read a lot of comics, try to catch the odd Toronto Blue Jays game on the television and spend some time with my wife.