I always try to write with other people in mind. I know it's my story, but it isn't just mine. I love it when a fan tells me they laughed, cried, or felt for the characters in my stories. I try to listen to feedback to make myself better at what I do, and positive reviews make my day. If it weren't for readers, there would be no reason for writers.

I pace around the living room and act out my scenes to get them in my head properly. Then sometime later I grab my Ipad and start writing. Sometimes I listen to music to inspire a particular mood, but not always. I'm partial to listening to video game music because it's designed to be exciting yet easy to ignore after the first few minutes. The most important thing though is to not let too much time go by without writing so that I stay in the habit. Honestly, I don't feel accomplished in my day if I haven't written something, even if it's just a fun project I don't expect to publish :)

I have two computers. One is the laptop I work from and the other is a desktop so old it hasn't been able to get Internet for years. The older computer was one I bought from my uncle when I was first starting to take writing seriously, and I keep it because my older ideas are still on it. It's a sentimental thing, I guess.

Developing characters is definitely the most fun I have writing. I just love losing myself in a story and thinking up new scenarios and worlds. I love to come up with a character's name, features, problem solving abilities, back story, etc. It's like acting, only you don't have to go up on a stage and perform. Okay, so maybe it's more like going crazy...

Ipad.

I'm pretty sure that's an automatic function. LOL!

Goodreads is a great resource because you can find both commercially successful novels as well as indie novels from great authors that aren't discovered yet. Smashwords has a lot of great indie options too. I also like to browse Amazon and I subscribed to Bookperks to learn about the Harpers Collins books that are on sale. When I want a physical book I can walk to my local bookstore or to the library since they're so close to each other. So...I guess I have a lot of ways of discovering books.

What are your five favorite fiction books, and why?
Oh, this is a tough one. It's hard to pick only 5 books as my favorites, but I'll think of 5 books I really feel inspired me. The list is in no particular order.

#5: The Doll Maker (Harriet Arnow): This is one of the saddest pieces of literature I've ever read, but it isn't melodramatic like someone dies on every page or anything like that. It's a story about a middle aged woman from the mountains of Kentucky moving to Detroit in the 1940s and gradually being forced to accept a new way of life and give up on her dreams.

#4: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Victor Hugo): I guess this one is on a lot of people's lists, but I can't help myself. This was one of the first "adult-sized" books I ever read all the way through. It's dark, thought provoking, and inspired a lot of movie adaptations that somehow never get the source material right. I can see why it's lasted so long.

#3: Homeless Bird (Gloria Whelan): This is another book I pick for nostalgic reasons. This book was a gift from a friend when I was a teenager, and it is a really sad and touching story about a young girl from India getting married and finding out her new family isn't all they're cracked up to be. I won't spoil it for you, but I suggest you check it out for yourself. It's a story full of drama and discovery.

#2: The Help (Kathryn Stockett): I love books that talk about Southern topics. I guess it's because it's familiar to me since I live in the South. This story has more going for it than that though. I like the way the characters in this book play off each other, and I liked how each chapter was told through someone else's perspective. It was funny, it was dramatic, and the descriptions really put you in the moment.

#1: The Fault In Our Stars (John Green): Okay, I'm starting to see that a lot of my favorite books are realistic slice of life stories. Considering how many different genres I read, I'm kind of surprised by this. I couldn't help myself with putting this story here though, because when I first started reading it I really didn't expect to like it. It sounded like just another romance story with some cancer thrown in for drama, but as it turns out the author did a really good job conveying not only the mind of a teenage girl but also a realistic look at cancer. I also like that while the main character Hazel believes herself to not be such a good person, the reader can see that she is considerate and does the best she can to not hurt others. It's only a coincidence that this is #1, since I like all of these stories equally.

I don't, actually. Then again most people where I live lean to read between the ages of 4-7, so it makes sense that one wouldn't remember the first book they read.

I've always told stories. When I was little I used to use my dolls to tell stories to my friends. When I was 9 I wrote my first short story on pieces of line paper with crude pictures and tied the pieces of paper together with red thread. It was a retelling of Jack & The Beanstalk starring my cousins. Around age 10 I started filling notebooks with my ideas that later I would learn are called "fanfiction". Hey, it's good mental exercise! I was a teenager when I started writing original stories on a computer I bought from my uncle, and I haven't stopped writing since.

Mostly coming of age stories and other types of dramatic books. I really like to read stories that make you feel and make you think. I guess I tend to write stories like that too, except I write a lot of sci-fi but I read things that are more realistic.

I do a lot of different things, like most people do. I like to read, plan out and make plush toys, shop at flea markets for things to sell on eBay, draw (both traditionally and digitally, but I'm not very good at either), study nonfiction subjects, sometimes play video games, watch TV, etc. Okay, that list got kind of long ^_^'

Hire someone else. I can manipulate photos, but that's not good enough for a decent book cover. Last time I needed a cover for a book I have yet to publish I needed to go to two different artists and then edit the lighting in the picture to get it just right. Fiverr is a good website to hire designers :)

It allows my ebook to be published to most ebook retailers, including ones that an American like myself might not have heard of or thought about. I think the international market is important, as well as domestic retailers that might get overlooked if I were left to my own devices. So, I'm glad Smashwords gets my work out to as many people as possible.

There is no answer I can give that sounds PR friendly, so I'll just be honest. If I tried to submit to a publisher and failed, then I would never get to tell the stories I wanted to tell. If I succeeded and was officially published, I would get a very small percentage of the profits and my book would be taken off store shelves after a year at best. There's no way to win with traditional publishing. If I publish independently then at least my stories will always be out there waiting for people to read them, and if I fail I can blame no one but myself.