Both by recommendations by friends and what ever catches my eye at the moment for the mood.

Yes. A small one page story about a horse for my grandmother when she took me to work and sat me down in front of the typewriter. I was 8 I believe.

I can't do what Hemmingway did and sit at a typewriter and bleed. Just way to messy. However I have a large messenger bag with about 3 spiral notebooks for the stories I am working on, (this also helps build up arms strength and ward of muggers if slung). My work is always portable and I am always working on my next book or books.

I do the 1st drafts by hand of any book I am working on, knowing I will expand the storyline once I sit down at my computer, then I take the written words from my notebooks and make my second draft on the computer.

I try not to edit what I have written unless I absolutely can not stand to not go back and read and make corrections as the story progresses and I need to add or delete a scene. This is about 25-40 pages in or when I need to confirm a name or setting then think "Hmmm...I need to add or delete this tiny piece of information."

Things get messy when I have to find a smaller note pad to add in the "threads" that add more depth but the original notebooks are already filled. Then I have 2-3 notebooks on my desk just waiting for me to sit down and write.

The White Dragon. I was 9 when I read that book. Loved it. I know I was readying other stories, but this story was my first step into Sci-Fi and the impact was huge! I haven't stopped dreaming or writing since I read this book.

Badly. I have ideas but have to hire some one else to tame my vision into something more manageable.

The White Dragon - Great Sci-Fi.
Death of a Necromancer - Great pulling of threads together from mystery to action to personalities.
World War Z - Still scares the crap out of me after first reading it.
Memory - The main character doesn't bounce right back after destroying his career but he comes to the apex of what he can do and what he was meant to do by the end of the story.
Moon Called - A believable werewolf series. Good characters and great action.

Fiction, Sci-Fi, Steampunk, Mystery, Mayhem, Action with a dash of Historical Literature to keep things real.

My desk top or my phone.

Word of mouth.

Cluttered to the left of me with notebooks, bills and weaving trim from a project last year I haven't hand sewn on to a tunic yet. To the right is my huge coffee mug (one of my non matching hand thrown pottery mugs from Pennsic War or Gulf Wars) with the only clear spot around my keyboard set right in front of me. My computer hutch is covered in an eclectic range of period cookbooks for when I do SCA research papers or want to find a new 10th or 15th century recipe to wow my friends with.

When I was young, my mother and stepfather moved every 3-5 years to different states, making and keeping friends a bit hard. The only constant place was my father's and stepmother's during the summer, but it was a rural farm and no playmates next door. My imagination and exploring the surrounding woods/neighborhood/barns along with any books I could get my hands on were the things I had that kept me out of to much trouble.

Writing for real or what ended up as a book was in 2011. Other wise I would sit down and type out a scene planing to come back to that scene and turn it into a book. I found having a notebook on hand makes it very easy to always be able to write something somewhere no matter what.

It was a dream I had. A dream that would not stop running through my mind. So I bought a notebook and thought I'd write an outline to come back at another time to fill it in. 6 weeks after buying the notebook and working full time, I had written my book.

Being told "Not what we are looking for" by editors and publishers.

Smashwords has given me a great platform from which to launch from.

Completing a scene, a story, trying to make the characters believable and everyday. Those who will do what they can under the circumstances they have chosen whether good or bad.

A lot! No fans means no one to look at the next (or current) book and give me feedback!

A Sci-Fi action with both good guys who aren't always good and bad guys who aren't always bad on world that is under a deluge drowning out the old ways.

Patricia Briggs, Louise McMaster-Bujold, S.M. Stirling, Jim Butcher, Tanya Huff, Anne McCaffrey.

A small child or a small cat. Between the two something is always starting early!

Hmmm...Researching, family, cooking, friends, books, coffee and movies.