Seeing the stories that at first only I could see, the worlds and characters that only existed inside my head, take permanent form in the real world - even if that's just text on a page. And hearing from readers who say this thing I created made them happy.

Frustration, maybe a little bit of rebellion. A lot of writing advice I'd gotten way back in the beginning was all about needing to conform to what the industry wanted, and I didn't like that. Why would I want to write exactly what everyone else was writing? Authors aren't supposed to conform, we're supposed to create, and I see self-publishing as empowering us to do just that.

Oh, do I! I was about six years old, and I wrote a story about going to the park. I have never forgotten that story. Not because it was anything special, story-wise, but because that was also the source of my first critical review. I showed it to my parents, and my father immediately informed me that I couldn't end a sentence with the word 'too' because that was wrong.

I think of him every time I end a sentence that way now - and sometimes I mentally blow a raspberry at him, too.

Well, A World Full of Monsters Book 3, for starters. I've also got a post-apocalyptic novel in the works, and I've been playing with a few ideas for non-fiction.

I love my fans - they love my stories and I love telling my stories, so that's a win-win situation. And I think there is probably no greater compliment an author can get than to have a reader tell you they re-read your stories when they've had a hard day and they want to feel better. That's magical. That's my fans handing me a wand and telling me I'm a wizard, it's just this indescribable feeling. And I can't thank my fans enough for giving me that.

Mostly non-fiction, believe it or not. I do read and enjoy fiction in multiple genres, but I probably read two or three non-fiction books for every fiction book I pick up.