My readers. I started publishing free stories and would often get people telling me to go write a book. I laughed and told them I was nowhere near good enough to get paid for writing. They disagreed.

I suppose this is a very cliché answer, but the privilege of getting paid for writing - the freedom it gives you to express yourself and that that expression of your own vision on life, can be interesting enough to others. I also happen to think that the ability to entertain others, to bring happiness to people's lives is one of the greatest things a person can do - and perhaps one of the most difficult. I am still trying.

Everything. They are the reason I write - the ones that told me I was good enough to publish, even when I laughed and said 'no way.'

The Silvan is a Trilogy which is already written but NOT edited. So, the file for book two is open and slowly being dissected. It will take a few months at least, and it will take some encouragement to publish. I am just eager to see what impact, if any, the first instalment has.

Arthur C. Clarke, J.R.R. Tolkien, Somerset Maugham, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury - so many!

Exasperating my neighbours with my atrocious violin skills, cooking and messing around with my dogs.

Oh yes - Childhood's end, by Arthur C. Clarke - what a READ! What a piece of utter mastery. The guy was a creative genius.

Well, this is my first experience. I already had some original, commissioned artwork but knew I could never knock that into shape for a book cover. It took weeks of surfing the net, comparing, procrastinating before I found what I wanted, at a price I could afford.

Completely, and utterly - neat. Everything is lined up, straight, nothing is out of place. No one touches my desk - nobody.

It's as if I don't want to think about it, in case it's a complete disaster. But then I wonder if I might actually sell a few copies, and that someone out there will like it. I have no idea what to expect so I sit and dream, and maybe I'll die that way - who knows.