This is an easy question. The greatest joy is watching a story develop right in front of me. Most of the time, when I write, I have only a vague idea of the story and plot so it is exciting watching a story come to life. Once, I worked on a story with one of my sons. We started with an opening line and moved from there. That is extra exciting because there are no limits to where the story can go. After a few more sentences it started taking on it's own life and I was just a guy pressing keys on a keyboard. That's where the joy of writing ends with me. Editing is drudgery and promoting my writing is out of my comfort zone.

I think the story behind the book is as interesting as the book. I am an ex-school teacher and currently a software engineer, not a writer. Like most people, I toyed with the idea of writing a book but never acted on it. At one point in my career I got a job which was a one hour and forty-five minute commute one way. So, I had a lot of time to think and listen to audio books. I downloaded some wonderful books on http://www.loyalbooks.com/. One of the books was "Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions." This book set some thoughts in motion and a great story idea. My sister is a writer, so I called her and pitched the idea. She told me she couldn't write the book but if I could send her an outline she would help write it. This sounded great. I plopped myself behind the keyboard, my fingers started moving and in about two months I didn't have an outline. I had a hundred thousand word rough draft.

My sister lived in Chicago and I lived in Texas. We spent a lot of time chatting on IM and talking on the phone. Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive allowed us to work together and revise the story. This worked well for a while but we really needed to be in closer contact. Well, a bankruptcy was just the thing we needed. Her three year job search in Chicago resulted in her having to move. Most of our family is in Texas now so she packed her family up and headed south to live with our parents until she could figure something else out. (We have wonderful parents.) She was now about five hours away. Well, that wasn't good enough so the stars and planets aligned and my group at work needed a technical writer. Three weeks later she was living in my RV in my driveway and commuting to work with me. We had to time to together to work on the book.

Richard Bach is the one who got me into reading after reading 'Illusions'. I have enjoyed his other books also. Robert Pirsig's 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' is one of my favorite books. I had to quit reading Dean Koontz because I rarely have 3 days to spend reading and his books keep me going (and I am a slow reader). You can look me up on Goodreads to see other books I have read.

Most mornings, what gets me out of bed is having to go to the bathroom. If left to my own devices and didn't have to get up for work I would write from about 10 pm to 2 am and then sleep until I felt like getting up. No one has ever accused me of being a morning person.

1) Have a story idea
2) Start typing
3) See what comes out
4) The slow process of editing :(

I like books that challenge me and make me think. I read a lot of non-fiction on psychology, philosophy, religion, and then a lot of fiction with an inspirational or philosophical nature. Sci-fi, such as James P. Hogan or Robert Heinlein are always an option. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is one of my favorite books.

I still prefer a paper book. I have an e-reader but can't think of the last time I picked it up. I buy books at Half Price Books or Goodwill.

Still figuring that out but Goodreads is where a lot of my readers come from. Go follow me there.

Yeah, that's not a pleasant picture. It's pretty bad.

Mostly, I had a story that wouldn't let me go and had to write it. With all the ways to self publish nowadays, it was an easy path to take to get feedback on my work. The Infinite Jeff is a four part book so I could release the parts and see how people respond while I was editing the other parts. I think that was a good choice. The response has been overwhelmingly positive so that has let me know what I am doing is worth while.