My readers are an encouragement to write. I particularly like hearing how I've made you think or feel, when you see a connection to real life or a solution to a problem you face.

The story splits after Casindra Lost, and I've been working on the Moraturi Lost and Moraturi Ring, but now I'm getting back to Casindra.

Growing up, I particularly liked Anne McCaffrey and her Pern series, Isaac Asimov and his Robot series. I was also really taken by Raymond Feist's work and I felt Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover were some of the closest to the Pern books and a worth alternative. I really enjoyed Robert J. Sawyer WWW Trilogy Wake, Watch & Wonder which builds on real current science. Most recently Louisa Locke's contributions to the Paradisi Chronicles - and it was even better when I realized this was a universe I could join in on. McCaffrey's Pern stories, and Locke's Paradisi stories are always worth a reread.

But I don't just read SFF - I like mysteries and whodunnits, adventures and thrillers, as well as historical naval stories and sometimes their translation into space. But I've read thousands of authors, and there are so many to choose from. But what I really like is books that cross genre, which give me some of what I expect - but also something that I don't expect.

Who says I get our of bed each day?

Sometimes it is good just to lie there and let ideas percolate - I keep a pen and pad hand so I don't need to get up to get them down in ink, but eventually I need my trusty computer to get into the serious work of writing...

Other times there's a calendar full of events to keep me from my real work...

Teaching and researching, walking or swimming or playing table tennis, reading or watching a movie.
There's also a lot of talking and emailing, administrative jobs, work around the house.

Yes, it was a story about a ghost I wrote in first class when I was 6... My teacher got me to record it as well... And then later when training teachers in a teacher's college she used these as illustrations of what kids could do at that age. When I was 13 she looked me up again and got me to rerecord it - she'd worn out the tape.

I tend to have a whole swathe of ideas. I'm interested in writing SF that is driven by real science rather than contrived coincidences and fake emotions, and I like to be able to see inside the protagonists heads and hearts. So I concentrate on researching all the technical detail and working out exactly who each character is - for me character is not just a person in a story, but a unique and characteristic way each such person behaves, speaks and engages with the world. Once I've understood the science, the plot and the characters, I just write.

I might spend weeks or months making notes (not usually full time), and then write the whole first draft of the novel in a week. Then I go back over and make sure the character of each character is right, and that the logic and chronology are right, that there are no inconsistencies or missing links. And this is where my support team comes in... Do they buy it, have I got a good balance between word and deed, action and dialogue - and most importantly does each character point of view section accurately reflect that character?

Not specially - just that there were a lot of trite children's books that I bypassed. I taught myself to read at two by looking at signs and headlines and asking 'what's that?'. At three I started school and would read what ever I could get my hands on - Enid Blyton's Secret Seven and Famous Five as well as others of her fantasies and mysteries (my favourite series was the five finder-outers and dog), I also quickly met the Bobbsey Twins and Biggles and Daneel (and the rest of Asimov's robots). By five I had graduated to reading Encyclopaedia Britannica, Shakespeare, Homer, Euclid, Einstein (the Britannica and Great Books were right outside my bedroom - and now my 'what's that?' and 'why?' questions were not being answered directly, but referred to these books). Seeing that I actually found and read up these I was given a volume of Children's Britannica each week - and onceI had read it cover to cover (and could answer questions on it) would I get the next volume.

My father was a fan of (Just) William, Hornblower, Tarzan, C.S. Lewis, Isaac Asimov, Anne McCaffrey, Agatha Christies, J.R.R. Tolkien, P.G.Wodehouse, etc. - he also had all the classics, so I always had some books to choose from, but voraciously reading a book or two a day I not only cleaned out my father's substantial library but also read through (alphabetically) the fiction sections of both my public library and my school library. Fortunately I moved around a fair bit... At school in London I also met and loved Jennings, while in France, Germany and Holland I would buy second hand books (often translations) in the corresponding languages and read them (a great way to help learn a language and build vocabulary - I have some books in two or more different languages) and met the likes of Asterix, Tin Tin and Maigret.

That varies - I sign up to mailing lists for authors I like, I search by category - lowest price first or highest rated first. I also look at what's been nominated for awards, authors who are likened to those whose books I like or review them. I also look for introductory sets of books that will introduce me to a range of authors, or sometimes to a range of series by one author - although this can be frustrating as I will then go off and finish their series.

I prefer full length novels (400 pages or 80000 words) or series where there are already several out - it is good to read trilogies and arcs in a sitting or a holiday week. Which is why when producing my own book series I already have the sequel to a book pretty much complete before publishing it.

I have a Kindle DX, a Surface Pro and a Surface Go - the Surface Pro is my preferred device but since I'm not allowed to use the bigger Kindle or Pro during takeoff and landing I tend to use the Go on planes.