I think growing up in the south is a huge influence for me. Houston may be metropolitan in some ways, but it's not that far from Louisiana or Mississippi. So it's definitely the south in my opinion. I think southerners have a lot of stories to tell. Black and white southerners have their stories about race and about people in general. My Mother and Grandmother had lots of stories to tell about Mississippi where they grew up.
Houston being metropolitan also had a very predominant inner city especially in the 60's and 70's. Carl Hampton was a Black Panther party leader killed in Houston. That energy framed my teen writing in those days when I wrote poetry. I think I was trying to write about the conditions of "my people."

I first started writing in seventh grade. I wrote a poem about the moon landing. Being an only child forced me to have an active imagination. My mother and I made up stories about people in our neighborhood. We even gave them names such as "Hot Shot" "Dipsy Doo" "Drunko" "Muleface" "Dotted Cap" The names reflected something about their personality, "Drunko" or an article of clothing they wore all the time, "Dotted Cap." Sometimes we drew crude cartoons. They were crude because neither of us could draw a straight line.
When I was in 12th grade I wrote a little skit for an English assignment. The teacher fell in love with it. She thought I had some kind of talent.
I did well in my English and literature classes in college, but really didn't know much about how to "become" a writer. So I studied business. My goal then was to earn a lot of money, retire early, and become a writer. While in college, I didn't write a thing except term papers for class. Too much outside work keeps one from being a writer. That's why many of us hate having to have a day job.
After I finished college I found a job working three days a week as a Computer Operator. I enjoyed having the days off. I realized I was kind of bored. So I thought about going back to school for some classes. I thought about taking some classes in computer programming to increase my knowledge in that area. However at the same time I wanted to write. I had a novel in me. But I had no idea about the mechanics of writing. I read a lot. But I wasn't sure about the mechanics of things quotation marks and some other things. So I had a choice: Take some course in COBOL programming or take this Creative writing course. There was a scheduling conflict, so I had to choose one or the other. I chose the creative writing course.
The teacher Rosellen Brown fell in love with my work and was very encouraging. The course and being around a creative environment released a well of creativity in me from the mid to late 80's. I wrote poems at the drop of a hat. Penned several plays that actually got produced: "The Lifeline" and "The Ladies and the Iron Ball"
I also won a very important prize which I will talk about later.

The motivation is the need to speed things up. I don't have years to spend waiting for an agent and a publisher. Although I do think they're still important in the business. I think some books need them. One also hopes the financial rewards will be good. Some writers have made out well.
I kind of like the business side. I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Being an Indie author kind of lets me wear two hats.
But the drawback is that it seems that only certain genres have any success. Also retailers seem to change the rules right in the middle of the game without warning. I don't know of any other business where this is allowed. An indie author can be coasting along with hundreds of sales a month then suddenly drop down to a few dozen or less. Now that part of the business is shameful and that's a matter that ought to be looked into very carefully.

I like Smashwords because it seems very democratic with what it allows to be published. It also pushes out to a large distribution channel. The Style Guide that Mark Coker published has been very helpful to me to keep my books looking decent on many eReaders. They also have some good tools that benefit many authors. Their site allows you to be very efficient. You can download your original word doc straight from the site, make changes, call it a new name and re-upload it. You can use social media from the site to help spread the word about your book.
Becoming an indie author was supposed to level the playing field. It might have for a moment. However the large retailers have changed things and it seems to me for some odd reason, they are doing everything to drive indie authors under a rock. I know there have been many abuses of review buying and swapping. But I think the medicine they have applied to remedy this has been too harsh.
What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
I like to tell my stories the way I want to tell them. Writing is kind of cathartic. Many times a piece of writing starts with a voice in my head or an image. I like to write what I'd like to read. I like a book with great sentences. I like symbolism and metaphor. I do like some genres, but I'm not interested in a formula.
I think life is full of irony. I don't believe in happy endings for the sake of happy endings. Good fiction should mirror life. Sometimes the good guy loses. Although his good deed may live on long afterward. To me that's the truth of life. I may not win over many readers with all of my stories and books. I know fiction is about "lying." But I don't care for the kind of lies in many fantasy stories that seem to be popular on the market right now. Magic spells and chanting seem odd in adult books.
So in a nutshell Smashwords allows you to be you.

I started out reading anything I could when I was a kid. There were few books in our house. I liked Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes when I could get them.
I think my favorite authors today are E Annie Proulx and Toni Morrison. I love their descriptions. I love how they pull one into the world of their characters. I guess characters a lot more than plot shape my writing.
My all time favorite book has been Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. It's one of the few books I can pick up and just read passages any time. Ignatius and the whole cast are just nuts. The story of the book getting published after the writer's suicide is an interesting one.

Writing. Although I do a lot in bed.

I wish I could say reading. But normally on the internet playing games. I do read though but not like I should. Plus being an indie writer means tackling things like covers and websites. I've done my own. Some I like and some need help. I'm getting a little better I think. I read a lot of writing news. But I'm not sure how important all of that is unless I start publishing other people's work. Following trends and a lot of news is kind of meaningless because the rules change so fast. I mean some news is important. But a lot of folk are just guessing what's going to happen next. Your time is better spent writing. When you are ready to publish catch up on all of that news. And do not follow any source more than two years old. It's already pretty much outdated.

I like Bookbub. I get their emails. They have the kinds of books I'd like to read. Sometimes I run across something on twitter or in a forum. I still love physical books. I like owning and holding a book in my hands. Has anyone worked out a way for us to pass our favorite books and music on to the next generation if they're all digital? How is a Mother suppose to pass on her favorite cookbook to her Daughter on a digital device? You know today's current technology is going to be obsolete in 10 years. Then what?

It was something I wrote in my creative writing class about a king and his knights or something. I will have to look for it.
But if you think of poems as stories in verse, I wrote my first poems in Middle school. The first one that generated any interest was about the first moon landing. Yeah that long ago.
I don't recommend people throw away early efforts. Keep all of your work. As most of us grow as writers, you might see something that you can repair and salvage. Sure it will make you groan and maybe hang your head, but it's your work. Love it.

It used to be everything had to be written in longhand in a notebook then typed into the computer. That process worked until the digital age demanded faster. NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writers Month) held in November got me out of that habit. I still like to print something out and read it away from the computer. At some point I like to do a read through without a pen in my hand. Just read and make mental notes on what to fix later or make a quick jot in the margin. But to get a book done quicker, you have to do more on screen stuff.
That's also the beauty of NANOWRIMO. It's a great way to blow a novel out of your system. One is forced to write X number off words a day to make it to that magical 50,000 words at then end of November. Are you producing a novel ready to be published? Probably not. I view it as a long outline ready to be fleshed out and shaped. Unless you're a genius, it'd be crazy to try and self publish anything right out of NANO.

The first thing I ever read that had an impact I can remember is Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. I loved that book. How do I know a book has made and impact on me? I want to write the screenplay for the movie. That's really what a novel is--a screenplay with a lot more words. Although please don't use stage directions in your novels. If you say, Sue turned to the right and walked out the door, I'll probably not want to read much more.

The worse way...do it myself. But I'm getting away from that. Yes it's an added expense. I always select my own images from a source like Shutterstock. But I fall short in the font and text department. So it's nice to have a professional cover on your book pages on Smashwords, your blog, or Amazon.

I'll just list them. One I've talked about.

Confederacy of Dunces by Toole
Postcards by E. Annie Proulx
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Hogg by Samuel Delaney

Hogg is a peculiar book and awful book in a lot of ways. I don't recommend it to the Church Mothers crowd.

All of my reading is pleasure.

iPad Mini. I can have all of my book apps in one place.

I'm still working on that. I don't think ads work. Most how-to books won't work for you. The author is telling you what worked in their genre. I don't know why someone formerly with a big publishing house hasn't written a how-to book. If so, I haven't seen it. Maybe someone will say here is one right here knucklehead.
I'm hoping a good book is enough. That may be a poor marketing strategy idea. I don't know. However I preview a lot of books. And I think what a shame for authors to spend hundreds of dollars and countless hours hawking books that aren't ready for primetime. So the thing is to make sure your book is the best it can be. I'm going to take my own advice. In the old days pre 2011 a book had a better chance to be discovered. I'm not sure if that's the case today. I've been baffled as to why some things took off and some didn't. Make sure the reader feels like they're getting a good value for the buck. Is the customer going to spend $2.99 for a short story or 99 cents for a novel that's had good reviews?

Messy. That's why I write in bed or out on the patio--to get away from the clutter.