Mostly through friend recommendations, although if I find an author I really enjoy I'll read just about everything they've published.

No, but I was creative as a kid--lots of science fiction drawing and writing. I wrote a full-length novel when I was a teenager and just re-read it recently (I'm 43 now). It wasn't that horrible!

Research, research, research. I write non-fiction and believe you have to not only provide value to your reader in the form of actionable information, but need to get them excited about the topic and inspire them to go do something as a result. To me, it's about quality not quantity and that takes a considerable amount of planning and research.

No, but I read a lot as a kid. My family didn't have a lot of money so instead of toys and other entertainment we had a lot of second-hand books. Books were an escape to other worlds. I didn't need fancy toys or money when I had a book and an imagination to go with it.

I worked as a graphic designer for many years so I have a decent aesthetic sense. Keep it simple, use one or two bold colors, typography and images and capture the readers attention. Make sure your cover looks great as a small thumbnail.

I don't know that I could choose five. It really depends on the stage of my life when they were read. I'm from Chicago and have a love affair with the Gilded Age, so Erik Larson's "Devil in the White City" was riveting. I'm a huge Bill Bryson fan and was introduced to him via "A Short History of Nearly Everything" which is amazing. Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" appealed to my fascination with food and is a great read.

Not as much as I used to. I recently got a Kindle Paperwhite as a gift so I'm planning on shifting some of my free time back to reading for pleasure.

My new Kindle Paperwhite!

Tapping In is my first book, so I haven't had much experience marketing it yet. However, I believe with any product 50% of your time is making it a reality, and 50% of your time is marketing and selling it. I plan to roll up my sleeves and hit it hard.

Which one? I have a home office and an office office and the desks are complete opposites. At home I have a huge mission-style cherry wood desk with a welded metal base which dwarfs my office office desk, a dinky (but nice) desk that has literally no room to hold anything but a monitor, keyboard and my Macbook Air. I'm pretty comfortable in either space or in a tent lying on an air mattress typing away.