I'm working on my next YA series, H.A.L.F. It's a science fiction trilogy that will appeal to fans of The X-Files, Roswell and Ancient Aliens television shows.

It depends on who I'm reading at the time! My current favorite is George R.R. Martin. He is such an inspiration to me.
I also love Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games is my favorite YA series), Sir Terry Pratchett, Gillian Flynn, and Erin Morgenstern. And from the old school, I love Charles Dickens.

My love for my family which includes three furry, four-legged companions as well as my husband and daughter.

Most days, when not writing I'm hanging out with people on social media or taking care of the furry critters in my house. I love to travel and take walks in nature or on the beach. I also love to cook with my family and enjoy laughs around the dinner table.

Mostly recommendations from friends and social media chums. Sometimes I learn about books from book blogs.

Yes. I was in first grade and I wrote a story about my white rabbit named Peter (I know, not very original!). In the story, Peter was having a tea party with the other animals on our small family farm. I illustrated the story as well.
My teacher entered the story into a contest at the county fair and I won a blue ribbon.

I've written four novels now and my process evolves with each new work. I generally spend a lot of my "writing" time thinking and daydreaming. I typically spend about a month solid working on character development for all major characters and planning the story. I have a general idea of where I'm going (beginning, middle and end), but I don't necessarily know how I'm going to get there. Once I start writing, I try to write every day and keep writing until I've found the end.
Then the real work begins! Edit, edit, revise, edit, rewrite and edit. It usually takes me about 30-60 days to write the first draft, but 6-8 months to revise.

I read mainly on my Kindle. But I also read on my iPad sometimes.
I still love to read paper books but mostly now I read digital books.

I was born in a midwestern city, but moved to a small, family farm when I was five. My formative years were spent in a creaky old farmhouse nestled amongst corn fields, pastures and thick woods. I remember playing with my Barbie dolls in the woods. The moss was the carpet and I used rocks and tree roots as the houses.
I think that my upbringing did influence my writing. It was a fertile environment for such an imaginative kid.

When I began to consider my publication options, I went to workshops and conferences and heard agents and editors speaking on panels. This was around 2009 through 2011. I left each conference feeling discouraged to even submit to editors and agents. All they did was say how ridiculously slim our chances were of being published. Then they went on to tell us how if they did publish our book, we'd be on our own for marketing it. And oh yeah, they were short staffed so we'd better hire a professional editor before we even submit.
It seemed like even if I could find a publisher for my series, I'd end up with less then 10% of the royalties and still have to do all of the work myself. So I decided to self-publish.
Having said that, I've learned a lot over the last two years and now know that having a publisher behind your book can open some doors. So I may seek a publication contract for a future work. We'll see . . .

Fans are what keep me writing even when I'm in the middle of the story and I'm convinced that it sucks and I don't know what I'm doing and I should give up on the story and probably stop writing altogether and just burrow myself into my blankets and drop the whole thing! :-) And yes, this bout of self-doubt happens with each and every novel. When I'm feeling that way, I go check out reviews and kind comments from readers and it reminds me of why I do it in the first place. It's not for the adoration. It's for the connection to others that I get through writing.