I love to read, but I guess that goes without saying. Mysteries and contemporary fiction are my favorite categories. I walk 7 miles / day and enjoy yoga a few times a week, as well. I also love to cook and in some small way wish I had gone to culinary school. (Then again, if I'm being honest, as fun as the preparation can be, it's far more fun to eat.)

Surfing. Whatever is interesting to me at that moment, I'll explore.

Yes, and it was horrible. First line: "It was a dark and stormy night." Gross.

I work from a very (VERY) loose half-page outline. If I think of a detail to include, I'll jot it down and go deeper when I get there. Day to day, it looks like this: 1. Caffeine. 2. Park myself in the chair. 3. Check the outline. 4. Go. I do have a day job, too, so it fits into that schedule as much as possible.

I read a lot of Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie and Trixie Beldon growing up. And though I don't remember the first story I ever read, I do remember the first book that had an impact on me and it was The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. I read it for the first time in eighth grade ... and then again and again and again until finally, as an adult, I bought it in paperback and now have it in my house. Brilliant puzzle mystery for kids and adults that didn't just tell you a story but rather involved you in the characters' brains. Very different.

1. Special Topics in Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl. Amazing detail and lyrical writing.
2. The Westing Game - Ellen Raskin. Lifelong favorite puzzle mystery.
3. Anything by Elizabeth George.
4. Growing Up in New Jersey - Author Unknown. An anthropological study by an adult living in a dorm situation and reporting on day-to-day college culture.
5. Beach Road - James Patterson. My first read of his. Loved the pace.

Well, I think every writer would like the big book contract - I mean, that's just the honest truth. But the fact is that people can go their whole lives without ever breaking through that barrier and never doing the thing that makes them happiest, which is write and reach other people. I am addicted to the traffic numbers on my Smashwords dashboard because I love seeing how many people are taking this journey with me.

Getting out of my own head. I would never be as snarky in real life as I can be on the page (or screen!).

A young-adult novel and a script for a family drama web series.

Elizabeth George, James Patterson, Anna Quindlen.