As a kid, I was weaned on Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and Trixie Belden so I think it's only natural that I've continued to like mysteries, suspense and thrillers as an adult. My go-to authors tend to be Mary Higgins Clark, Tess Gerritsen, Linwood Barclay and Lisa Gardner. Whatever these authors write, I'll read.

At the moment, I've got a Playbook. For me, it's particularly handy because it's compact. Not only can I download books but I can also download and proofread my own manuscripts.

For me, it's been citizen newspaper sites like broowaha.com and allvoices.com. I've been contributing articles to these sites which have given me tremendous exposure which, in turn, have led readers to my books.

From grades six to twelve, we lived on a 100-acre farm that was pretty isolated. We were bussed to school in a big yellow school bus and if we missed the bus, then we missed school that day. Our weekly treat was going into town to do our grocery shopping and since we lived in the snow belt, snowstorms in the winter were common, which further led to a feeling of isolation. Since I basically only saw my friends in school and practically never during the summer holidays, I did a lot of reading and afterwards, would spend hours making up stories or thinking of alternate endings to the stories I'd read. I think all of these things, in addition to an overly-active imagination influenced my decision to become a writer.

I first started writing as a kid and by the fifth grade, I literally had a stack of short stories collecting dust bunnies under my bed.

My latest book, TURN A BLIND EYE, is a murder mystery involving timesharing, drug smuggling and treasure salvage, set in Florida. My family and I have been vacationing in Florida for a long time and we consider it our second home. I thought it only fitting that I do a story set in one of my favorite states.

I think it was the fact that I'd always wanted to write - although I quickly learned that being an indie author is a very steep learning curve!

Creating a story that moves other people. A young lady had submitted a review of one of my books, TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE a little while back. She was positively up in arms about how the book nauseated her, repelled her, fascinated her and entertained her to the point she couldn't stop reading until she'd read the entire thing. She also said that if I ever wrote a sequel to it, she'd be right there, buying it. There was such a wealth of uninhibited emotion in that review and it gave me a great deal of satisfaction knowing that the words I had written had the ability to move someone, especially to that extent.

They mean absolutely everything to me. I think books are a wonderful form of entertainment and escapism because from the first page to the last, a reader becomes part of a special and intimate world you've created. Those readers that come back to read more of your work become your fans. With them, you continue to share that special relationship. More important than anything else, by virtue of the fact that they're your fans, it means that as a writer, they totally "get you and your writing" and that means everything to me.

I'm working on a series of mystery books that'll be known as the "Kate Stanton Mysteries". Kate Stanton is a feisty septuagenarian and one of the main characters in my book, TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE. She's determined, she's got style, she's a successful businesswoman, mother and grandmother and she's famous in her own right - think Jessica Fletcher from MURDER, SHE WROTE but with more attitude and a lot more going on.

Cover design is very important to me because I want it to capture one or more of the main elements in my book. It needs to capture a reader's attention as much as the title does.