I grew up in a suburbs outside of Toronto, Ontario. It provided me a safe and warm upbringing from which I could spark my bizarre imagination. In a way I regard it as being a no-place or an all-place. It's the sort of place from where you can imagine nearly any environment on earth, whether it's urban sprawl, cozy family homes, magical medieval forests, the ocean or the desert. To me, I could be from anywhere.

In the third grade, I was sparked by books and comics I had read to try to create my own, and was encouraged by my teacher.

It depends what you mean by "latest"... and "book."

Since I write about transformations, usually about gender, I tend to seek inspiration by looking at the world, and thinking "What is the TF version of that?" The novel Kristi's Mom was inspired by the song "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne -- pondering what might cause a beautiful woman to usurp the life of the teenage boy singing the song, and how that boy might do as her.

Sometimes I write to give myself challenges. An idea occurs to me and I need to see how it might look. My novella "I Changed Sexes With My Wife" was drawn out of trying to extrapolate a real-life scenario of what would happen if I was the woman in my marriage, and my wife was the man -- how would we change, how would we stay the same? Would we even still stay together?

My latest work is called "Partsexchange." I wanted to do a transformation story that was NOT a bodyswap, where the individuals involved got to keep living their lives as themselves but were fundamentally different in some notable way. And of course, it's always fun to write about genitals.

I'm in the book retail industry so I know it's very tough to make it on a professional level -- doubly so if you are producing product targeted at a niche audience. I am most comfortable trying to reach that audience and interact with them with the work I am trying to produce, rather than modify that to try to reach a wider audience that may be indifferent. I think people intuitively understand the difference between a mainstream product that gives them a watered-down version of their favourite story, and something that has been crafted with them in mind by a like-minded spirit.

Just getting it done. Sitting down and feeling like your characters are just interacting and living their lives, rather than being moved around by my invisible hands.

Getting to the point where you feel like you've really said something, made a genuine observation about the world, or come up with a special turn of phrase.

Having people tell you their work has affected them in some way.

Finding your way through problems -- realizing you want to say something and determining what the steps are that you need to take to get there.

I don't know that I have any "fans" but if I do, they mean everything, and I try to live up to the faith they put in me. When I started writing these works I didn't know who they would reach, but I soon started getting feedback from real people who felt my stories aligned with their personal, lived experience. That touched me more than words can say.

I have a document with about 30 potential projects, but they are ranked so that I can stay focussed. Some of them are just vague sketches but mostly they represent facets of my writing I want to explore and haven't gotten to yet. Currently I am working on a piece that explores reincarnation, albeit in a lighthearted and romantic way.

Coffee, and the possibility of getting some writing done. But definitely the coffee.

My day job takes up most of my time. A lot of the time I'm asleep. The rest of it goes to upkeep (cooking, cleaning and shopping) and relaxation with my wife in front of the TV. I live a good life.

The first one that comes to mind (from that Grade 3 class) was inspired by a piece of junk that I imagined as a magic/cursed talisman that de-aged anyone who touched it. (Imagine being 8 years old and already fretting about being sent back to Kindergarten!)

It's small and messy, much like me.

I write.

Honestly, I'm the worst at process. I am always shooting to have a finished product come directly out of my fingertips, out of fear that if I put too many steps in the way I won't get through it. If I need to jot down plot notes or something I will but other than that it's flying by the seat on my pants in a Word Document, with a cup of strong coffee at hand. Writing time is usually early weekend mornings, or if days are slow at work.

Although I'm not a graphic designer by any means, working in book retail means I like to think I have a good sense of what works for people. Unfortunately, I don't always have the resources or skill level to pull that off, so I keep it simple.

I subscribe to certain stock photo services. For the most part I try to find images there that align with the content and tone of my story, and add lettering in a font that matches that. I've never fully been happy with the cover to Kristi's Mom, for example, but it was the closest model I could find to the woman I had envisioned -- and even then I used FaceApp to modify her face. I'm particularly proud of the cover for "I Changed Sexes With My Wife" and I think "Partsexchange" does a good job signaling the theme of that story.