1. What is your favorite room in your house/apartment and why?

The sunporch. Warm, breezy, with a view of the gardens. Protected from the unpredictableness of the weather, it's where I meditate, write, read, or just muse.

2. Have you ever read a book you hated, but had to keep reading anyway? What book was it?

Just about every high school textbook encountered.

3. What's the best way to eat a cupcake?

Icing last. And lots of it. So sweet it makes your teeth hurt and you swear you'll never eat another one. Which you do about 20 minutes later.

4. What detail do you remember best in the last book you read?

"Creativity and imagination are not frosting on a cake: They are integral to our sustainability. They are survival mechanisms. They are of the essence of who we are. They constitute our deepest empowerment." Matthew Fox, in Creativity, Where the Divine and the Human Meet.

5. In his Absolute Blank article this month, Stephen Simpson (Macfisto) compares writing a first novel to running a marathon. What sport would you compare your writing process to?

Swimming - in uncured concrete

Questions from Toasted Cheese.