I'm a big fan of music and reading. It's all sort of what's involved with being a writer. To be a writer, you need to hone your craft and reading is a bit part of that. Music is a great inspiration too.

Outside of those things, I have a pet Poodle, who is great. He's a big boisterous thing and loves training with treats. I don't really do much else, as being disabled and constantly towards the 'sick' side of the health register it's hard to find the physical strength to put much more into my day.

I have to say that writing is my life. Not really a career but a calling. It's what I enjoy and I do spend most hours of most days on my laptop typing away, doing research or arranging mock covers for future releases.

I'm currently working on a few projects at the moment. One is a series that's a cross between the romance and crime genres. It's about a girl who falls for what she thinks if her private school teacher, only for her to find out that he's really a secret government agent working undercover. The series spans, currently, over ten books and about thirty years as the family grows and expands.

I'm also working on a vampire romance story. The world has deteriorated and vampires have been forced to expose themselves to humans and take over the world to save humans from their own depravities and attempts at saving the world. One girl skirts the lines between the two and falls for the King of vampires unexpectedly.

At the same time, I'm also working on a story about a magical school where anything from dragons, vampires, fairies and banshees all go to learn their craft. It's a real fun one, and my first YA story.

I use the Smashwords Home page, Amazon's Kindle list, which I usually search by category and then price. Most of the time it's all word of mouth. Goodreads is a great place to discover things, from conversations in groups there, or through the giveaways. I also have a blog, which has introduced me to a great selection of Indie Authors, who have agreed to feature on my blog. It's been a really new avenue for me to explore, to be given books by these authors in return for honest reviews.

Hmm...I would have to guess at that. I'm not counting stories for school because they usually meant I was handed the inspiration and I just had to expand on it. I'll go for first story that was all mine.

I'm pretty sure it was a two page fan-fiction, before they became the in-thing. I would have been around 12-13 years old and it was a fan-fiction of Angel, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I was gaining a real interest in vampires for the first time and I wanted to write a story about when Angel was a new vampire and struggling to cope with everything. I actually ended up taking those two pages and adapting them for Book 2 in my Secrets of Avelina Chronicles vampire series.

I'm a real fan of the classics: Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie etc. But I'm also a fan of more contemporary authors too. Elizabeth Peters has written one of my all time favourite series, the Amelia Peabody series. I'm also becoming a fan of Wendy Owens, the Guardians series. I like to try out a lot of Indie Authors, like G. Normal Lippert, who wrote another favourite of mine, the James Potter book series.

I like to read all genres, so it's all about style, plot and characterization for me.

I wouldn't call it a process as such. It's more a system I only stick to loosely. It all depends on the story.

I start with an idea, even if it's just one line or a title that really hits me. Then I sit down with a new document and begin thinking about the most important things. Who are my main characters? Even if it's just labelling them B1 (Boy 1), G1 (G1) and then making the rest of the characters B2, B3, G2, G3 etc. Once I've got that far, I think about what I want to happen and write it out in as much detail as it already is in my head.

Usually when I start writing the events, more inspiration hits and what was only a line or two can become a paragraph or page or two as I write it out. Then as I write out the scenes I already know I want to happen, some more might seem to naturally flow from them. I keep going until my inspiration is tapped out. Sometimes it's even just a conversation between two people and I'm not entirely sure who is saying what. Just writing the words out helps.

Then I go back to the beginning and given all the characters names. I have a hint of their personality from what I've written out in note form, so I can give them proper names that fit their personalities. All mentions of character B1 can become George or Harry or Markus, depending on who he is. G2 will become Norma or Mary or Josanna depending on what she's like. Then once the names are sorted, I go back and make the details finer.

By this point, I'm ready to start writing. I have a broad idea, I have my characters, it's time to start with Chapter 1. Sometimes, as I write characters get removed or added, or scenes get changed, or I change my mind entirely about the way the story's going to go. Either way, once I've got past Chapter 1, I'm usually getting into how the story will develop and it's all clear from there. The only hiccup after that, is if something doesn't gel and I have to change it to help the story flow better.

I have a group of websites that I have saved, ready to provide inspiration. They're stock photos by photographers and artists and such.

What I do is I create a folder on my desktop for my book. I browse the stock websites for keywords that connect to the story, e.g. vampire, paranormal, romance, love, dark, night, blood. Something like that. Then once I have a few that I like, I'll mull them over. If I like them, I keep them, if I don't, they get stashed elsewhere for another book. Then I use Open Office or www.ribbet.com to manipulate the photo with text and a design. I save that as my mock cover. That way I can play with different fonts, pictures, layouts.

Eventually, my publisher and I will talk over cover options. We'll exchange pictures back and forth until we agree on one. Then it's text and layout time until we're both happy.

It's all different.

My vampire stories are all inspired by what I've read and seen on TV and film in the same genre. My magical stories are inspired by others of the same genre that I've seen and read as well.

I've written a few stories about sickness that were inspired by my experience of cancer when I was fifteen. I like to keep everything as realistic as possible, using real life experiences and real people.

I really like the Kindle Fire. I found that the buttons on the Kindle Keyboard kept sticking and that the loading time, after a year, tended to get longer.

The Kindle Fire has everything a writer needs. Apps to write your story notes in, music to give inspiration, a place to read and store your favourite kindle or pdf books, and the ability to play around with possible book covers. I like that you can highlight your favourite quotes and leave notes on your books too. It's handy when you're writing a review to go back and find all your notes and favourite parts of the book to share.

I've really enjoyed doing the marketing for my book. Goodreads has been amazing. It lets you build reading lists, and allows your readers to add your book to their reading lists. It allows your readers to read your blog and let them get to know you through your profile and your favourite books and quotes. I've also found the groups really great for marketing; with topics where you can offer your book for readers to review your work. Your readers can add their own favourite quotes from your book.

I've also found that my blog is a great way for people to get to know me, as a reader, as a writer and as a person. It's great that it lets me upload automatically to Twitter and Facebook as well. My Facebook Author page allows everyone to read and share what's going on with me right now.

Social media is by far the best, most effective tool for me, being disabled and unable to get out a lot. It helps me keep up with my audience, no matter what country they're in.

Ah...here's the thing. I don't really have a desk. I have a favourite chair in my living room with a two shelved table by it. I have a white board, where all my important notices go, notepads and utensils, along with my Kindle, cables and everything I need for writing. If I know I'm going to have a long few hours of writing, then I'll try to make sure I have enough to drink and eat without having to get up too often. When I get in the zone I tend to forget all about time, so it's best that I have everything on hand.