I've always been a storyteller, writing and telling stories. In high school I volunteered to help in prechool and schools and improvised stories to groups of children. I filled textbooks with stories and stretched homework out into stories

Smashwords is great. One place to distribute my books to all ebook stores. What's not to love?

Throwing my characters into different situations and seeing how they deal with it. Unexpected dialogue and interactions between them. I also enjoy researching bits of detail I would never think of in my everyday life. For example this morning I was researching whether goats and chickens could share the same space. Last week I was researching the background that shaped Bram Stokers writing of Dracula - not the Myth side but Bram Stokers life at the time he wrote it.

I value my fan's feedback, it makes a big difference to my stories

I'm working on 'Vampires. A Rough Guide' A sequel to Magic. A Rough Guide'

my favourite authors are Kim Stanley-Robinson, Ursula LeGuin, Steve Englehart, Jim Starlin, Stephen King.

Nothing inspires me to get out of bed, it just happens involuntarily. I'm not a lie in bed person

I walk the dogs and cook.

I discover books to read in the course of my research

The first long story I wrote was of a guy called Ray Fantasy and a group of three friends. Ray could fly and he could turn inanimate objects into flowers, plants or trees. I know, weird, but I was only 12-13

I get up in the morning, walk the dogs then have breakfast. During this time I go over the story in my mind; elaborating and/or filling in gaps in the storyline. I don't think about how the characters are going to deal with the challenges, obstacles or situations, I leave that to unfold as I write. The way they deal with it can open up new and unexpected plotlines I then have to figure out how to deal with. So writing is a relationship with the characters.