Anybody working in any creative field does so with one thing in mind - creating something of value to those who experience it. When people say that my travel books have made them laugh this means a lot. Or alternatively I am delighted when somebody says that a story I have written has disturbed them. The aim is to create a reaction so that the book is an experience. This feedback is what inspires me to write more.

It was Bill Bryson who initially inspired me to start travel writing. As far as fiction goes I like George Orwell and Aldous Huxley and being a music fan Ian Macdonald's analysis of The Beatles is a particularly well written work where the writing is as good as the records that inspired it.

The first story I wrote was aged 7 about a clock factory. The first adult story I wrote was The Dream Machine, about a machine that can record dreams. I wrote it to enter a competition and it features in my ebook Conundrum.

When I was a child I always wrote stories and collected together facts for non-fiction books. I started working on my first published book in 2000 after a break of around 10 years.

My latest book is the culmination of around seven years of cycling and camping trips around the UK. I'd decided to take a break from writing until a friend who writes horror books said that my books had inspired him to start writing himself, which gave me the impetus to turn my therapeutic jaunts into a new travel book.

I feel that many publishing houses merely seek to appeal to a market model which tends to create identical clone books. I think that this stifles creativity so there will always be a place for indie authors in the same way that the independent music scene reinvigorated British rock music in the nineties.

Smashwords is a great means for independent authors to reach a wider market. It is a complex procedure for authors to submit their work to individual platforms but Smashwords takes out most of the donkey work allowing authors to concentrate on what they're good at - writing!

I grew up in a village in Southern England. A love of the U.K. countryside and tradition influences my travel writing. The fact that even the most beautiful villages have a dark side inspired my stories which tend to be about uncovering disturbing secrets about life.

The satisfaction of completing a project knowing you have created something of value. It's a cliche but books seem to have a life of their own, often surprising the author as they take shape.

Sunshine! Failing that, a nice cup of tea. Awful stereotype I know!