Seeing it come to life. I get lazy sometimes, I find reason after reason to postpone, but once I'm writing it's very hard to stop. Especially when I start asking questions. Once I do that it will be hard to stop until I have all the answers or something pretty close to it.

Another thing I enjoy deeply when I write is the journey. Most of my stories start with a simple thought that turns into a plot that turns into the beginning of a story. Once I have that beginning, I'm often able to visualize the end. Other times, I just go straight to the end, with no beginning, no story, no plot, nothing - just that final scene, that final image. And I think to myself:
'This is interesting? How do I get there?'
'Start writing,' says another voice.

I tried main-publishing once or twice. After I carefully researched what they usually publish and what were the rules of submission (they're very picky on those), I send out two manuscripts - one for a suspense novel with hints of fantastic and the other for a book of humorous traveling Chronicles. (They're both on my profile. The first is "Um Cappuccino Vermelho", the second is "Pátria Atravessada".) I didn't get a positive response for either one of them, but that's not what bothered me. What bothered me was the amount of time they took to respond. I later understood and admitted that those two books were far from perfect (despite what I believed when I sent them), but having to wait so long for an answer was the worst.

I heard about vanity publishing and decided to check it out. I soon discovered that they all loved my book, even that one made entirely of shopping lists. Wow! It almost sounded too good to be true. Oh! Wait a second! I have to pay to get publish? And to get the text revised? And edited? And I have to pay to get book-presentations organized and to have my book on the shelves, not just on the deposit? On second thought, I'm not that vain. Plus, I'm not dumb either.

It's not that I don't have the money to spent, but I prefer to spend it in my own terms and take charge of everything, from selling to shipping to marketing. It takes a lot of work, but it has been worth it.

I was on the bus, on my way home, and we were stopped at a red light. I looked out the window and saw a white wall. Suddenly I began to imagine what if an image appeared on that wall? Out of nowhere, just like that. And what if I was the only one who could see it?

The idea-machine began to function and I started by imagining a character (very roughly sketched) and a setting (that wall was small, I needed something bigger, wider) and, most importantly, a significance. Why would that the character be the only one capable of seeing that image? And what relation could it have to him?

Even while I was still on the bus, I grabbed a pen and my note-pad and started scribbling. When I got home, I turned on my laptop and started typing. A few hours later I had a draft of the first chapter and plenty of questions to resolve, which is how I like to start a story.

Mostly for just being there and helping my book get known all over the world. Before I began put my books here I only had readers in Portugal (where I live) and Brazil. I now have readers in Spain, Netherlands, United States, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, France, Mexico, Cape Verde and, if my friend at NASA did as I asked, my book just went out of our solar system.

They're all nice people and I like them all. What else could I say? If it weren't for them I would have almost no reason to write, other than the fact that I actually like doing it. I like hearing from fans, whether they like or not my stories. Sometimes I find it more rewarding to hear from fans who didn't like my stories, because they are able to tell WHAT was wrong (in their opinion, of course), while those who did like cannot specify what they enjoyed the most.

On week-days it's not an inspiration, it's an obligation to get to work on time. On the weekends, it's breakfast.

Essentially reading or watching TV series. Good ones.
I do other things, of course. I'm not that lazy. I don't have a car or a driver's license, so I walk a lot.

Of all the books I wrote and published, only two of them had professional cover design. I simply told what I wanted, as detailed as possible and let them do their work. So far, I haven't been disappointed. Far from it.

I browse through Smashwords and Goodreads and other websites. I hear from friends, I read reviews. The how is endless.

Science-fiction and fantasy, with lots of action. I was ten years old and an avid reader of comics, so there's no surprise that most of my ideas on that story were... not really mine. Actually, there's an interesting story behind that story because it turned out to be the main reason why I decided that writing would be an essential part of my life.

One of my teachers asked the class to write a story during the weekend, at least two pages long. All my colleagues complained and I swear I saw a hint of a smile on her lips. She thought no one would be able to complete that assignment, especially with only two days to write it.

On Monday, I presented a story with eighteen pages and a "To be continued" at the end. I thought I had won that one, but then she made me read the whole thing out loud, which is not something I enjoy doing. Anyway, after that one, I wrote two sequels and they're all still in my drawer as a reminder.

At the moment I'm working on short-stories, while I gather ideas and stamina to finish a third novel. One third of it is already written and I know how it ends. I just need the time to write the rest.

It depends. Sometimes I let the ideas grow in my mind then, once I sit down, it's only a matter of writing it down. This usually applies to short stories and chronicles. For other projects, such as novels, feature scripts and TV proposals I find it necessary to do a preliminary research on the themes I'll be exploring, developing characters to the maximum extent and creating a general layout of the entire story. After I have that done, I begin to write it. Once the first draft is completed, I let some time pass before doing a rewriting.

I write on a notepad with a pen. I only write directly on the computer on very rare occasions. I like it better this way.