When I am not writing, I like to do crafts (crocheting, painting, DIY Knick-knacks, etc.) and I love to go hiking.

I usually find new books through friend recommendations. But, sometimes I look for books from authors I've read before. I'm a stubborn reader and I don't often leave my niche of books.

The first story I ever wrote was in kindergarten. It was a bizarre story about a leaf and its journey through a forest. As far as the story goes, it had potential. As for continuity, well, about halfway through, the leaf became a seed. But, one must take into account that I was five at the time.

I know most writers have a specific process, and frankly, my "process" is a little unorthodox. First, I gather ideas. This generally involves me carrying a notebook around with me so I can write down every crazy idea that comes into my head. I collect these ideas, characters, settings, plots, etc. and eventually, a story begins to emerge. Next, I sit down to my word processor and type. I don't even read what I've written, I just write. Whether it makes sense or not, that is for later. Once I've written the story, or whatever scene I've written (sometimes I don't have a story in mind, just one scene), then I go through and read it. As soon as I've read it, and cringed my way through the mistakes and plot holes, I begin to edit. Editing is by far the most painful step because it requires finding all of my mistakes and having constant debates with myself about what to change/delete/completely rewrite. And, if my story has survived so far, I take the next steps to publish it.

The cover design is arguably the most important part of a book. They say never to judge a book by its cover, but the cover is the candy wrapper of the book. (meaning that most will see the cover first and judge from that, but there are those brave souls who will eat the wrapper-less candy) I design my own covers. Not because I'm paranoid about someone making something awful, I am, but, my first experience with publishing works was through me being the cover artist. I also do graphic design and logos for companies, so I have knowledge as to how to create cover art. As far as the actual design goes, I start by creating the background. I do this design by finding the Big Three Feelings of the story: the color which I attribute with the story, the most important object/person in the story, and how important this object/person is. The object and its importance decide what the focal point is and where it will be. Next, I create the title and author's name. This step is pretty straightforward, I decide on where the text it and what font it is in. That's it. I think the cover art is a simple process, but it took a lot of trial and error to find my method.

My five favorite books are the Lord of the Rings trilogy (grouped because I love them all), The Hound of the Baskervilles (I love all the Sherlock Holmes stories, but this is my favorite), The Mysterious Benedict Society, Harry Potter (all of them). Here are my reasons why I love these books: Lord of the RIngs because it is an incredible example of extraordinary character and setting development, not to mention the story is a thrilling adventure. The Hound of the Baskervilles is the book I attribute to me getting into writing mysteries. That is a lame answer, but it is true. The Mysterious Benedict Society was the first novel I ever read cover to cover, and I've reread it more times than I know. The writing just never gets old. And finally, the Harry Potter books. It is so rare to find a series that gets better with each book (In my opinion) and each book gets better with time. So often does a series die after a few books, but not these, these are immortal.

For pleasure, I read mysteries and sci-fi.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha [sighs and grins] My desk is an absolute mess. It is scattered with pens, pencils, paint brushes, and erasers. The corners are loaded with craft projects. I have a little shelf for my CDs, yes I still use CDs. Correction: my desk isn't a total mess, it is closer to an organized chaos.

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and frankly, the rain has seeped into my writing. As can be seen in my book Falling for Rubies, I use weather to show changes in characters. Living in the Pacific Northwest has also allowed me to be able to see many geographical settings and their effects on each other: e.g. the Pacific ocean, the coastal mountains, high desert, river valleys, gorges, and forests all within a few hours drive of each other. This allows me to experiment with a lot of worlds when writing fantasy.

I never "started" writing. I've been writing since I could hold a pen. But as far as writing seriously goes, I started writing about four years ago.

The story behind my latest book, Falling for Rubies, is that I went through my list of characters, plots, and settings, rolled some dice, and got a story. It's true. Although, the result I got was supposed to be a story about a serial killer ballerina. For those who have read the book, you will note that the final product does not have serial killers or a ballerina. Alas, that's what happens when you start writing, the words have a mind of their own. For those who are disappointed about not getting a story about a serial killer ballerina, I am working on a story which includes this spectacular character.