I'm glad the question is 'get out of bed' instead of 'leave my room', because my desk is pretty much next to my bed.

Every morning I get up and properly caffeinate. Yes. It's essential. No, it's not a myth that books are processed caffeine. I usually read while I have breakfast and hit the joe. Get Mr. VampBard off to work. Then, I review my schedule for the day. Every morning, I try to write for two hours. Some days, this is easier than others--but the drive to move a plot forward nags at me until I manage to get it done. It makes the voices in my head quiet down for a while.

My writing process can be a little different for every story I write. Most of the time, however, I start with Gwen Hayes' Beat Sheet. I fill that sucker out (long-hand...it slows me down and makes me think about what I'm going to put in the boxes) and then I sit down and start writing. I'm a linear writer.

Once I'm working on a story, they don't always adhere to the Beat Sheet--and I'm okay with that. For example, GLORIA started out as a stand-alone. Once I started writing, I found out that Jemma didn't end up with Talia AND Devlin. Devlin had his own story to tell.

The UP NORTH series started out as a trilogy. I have seven titles plotted for it now. I didn't start with the unifying thread, either--that was supposed to be the fact that they all took place in Michigan. I'd planned for each title to stand alone, and they still will--but reading them in order will give readers a deeper understanding of the characters and how they all interconnect.

Being able to sit down and simply tell a story that's rolling around in my head--likely for ages--and letting the characters tell THEIR story.

Of course, getting them to their Happily Ever After is always a bonus!

YES! The first story I ever wrote (that I remember) was about my sister being dropped off on the front porch and the people were coming to get her soon because Mom and Dad didn't want her anymore. Then, I got the brilliant idea to actually tell my sister the same. It didn't go well once my mom found out.

I'm working on my UP NORTH series. It's set in Michigan--my home state. The characters from different books will make cameo appearances in other titles. I'm hoping it's going to be super fun, and a great way for me to expose readers from around the world to the beauty of Michigan.

Oh, and for the literary geeks, there'll be a common thread wending its way through the series.

Once upon a time, I wanted to be a traditionally published author. That went by the wayside once I started editing in 2012. While I see the value in the area of distribution and marketing, I think I can do my titles justice in those areas. The advent of ebooks made it lucrative to become an indie author--and I don't have to worry about a publisher turning my stories into something "they" like.

I'm a freelance editor, so I spend at least eight hours a day at my desk/computer. When I'm not immersed in the World of Words, I manage to actually get outside and enjoy the beauty of Michigan. We tend to travel in state quite a bit, and seeing the beauty of Michigan--not necessarily the orange barrels up & down I-75--is what inspires me.

We're also film buffs--especially anything super hero-related. I read a lot for fun, and I love doing things with my kids. I'm pretty adventurous--I'll try most anything once.

A lot of the books I read (I'm almost exclusively an ebook reader) I find via social media. An author will post/promote something and I'll think, "Hey, that sounds fun!" and I'll one-click. My one-click finger gets quite a workout some days. I also pick up new-to-me authors via recommendations from other people.

I have the BEST cover designer. Kris Norris is seriously a Goddess. It's almost like she reaches inside my head and extracts composition.

When I'm starting to write a book, I'll hop on her preferred stock image sites and search for my character inspiration. The UP NORTH series will use people on their covers, but I'm trying to get away from that. GLORIA uses a butterfly--gloria is the Latin word for butterfly. I found some butterfly images and a cool background image. From there, Kris made the magic happen.

Um. Are you sure you want that answer? I'm going to leave out the clutter, okay?

I have a Mac Mini that I use as a desktop computer. I use two 23" screens when I write and edit.

I can hear the cry, "Why do you need two screens THAT big?!?"

I wear reading glasses because I'm old. If I don't blow up a WORD doc to 220%, I find it's difficult to see all the fun little squiggle marks when I reveal formatting when I'm editing. I got used to having my docs super huge from editing, and I'm just used to it.

The second screen comes in handy when I need to look something up (seriously, if something happens to me, someone delete my browser history...). I don't have to toggle windows, and I can have Google Maps on the second screen and actually SEE my settings as I write. It's pretty awesome.

I have a corkboard (cork tiles, actually) in front of my desk. I have printouts of the covers for my books up there until I get them finished. It's motivation. I tack up the inspiration images I've gotten online and refer to them often as I write.