I was a math teacher for sixteen years and mostly used my left brain. I discovered that writing and doing research for a book, even fiction, can incorporate both sides of my mind in a rewarding process. My first book, not yet published, took six months to write and I'm still revising parts of it. After that though, the juices flowed more freely and I wrote and published three ebooks in less than a year. Each of my books has a different inspiration or reason that I created it. Something Fishy in Manhattan , with Japanese customs and chef, came about when my son moved to Japan and my nephew became a chef in NYC.  Walking for exercise caused me to wonder what it'd be like if walking was our only option to get around. I asked myself what circumstances could cause that and my next book, Jigsaw, wrote itself. Finally, A Substitute for Murder reflected some of my experiences as a substitute teacher, except for the murder part, of course. Reading a lot is my most valuable motivation, however. In the room I'm sitting in right now are three bookshelves with everything from encyclopedia and textbooks to James Patterson and Suzanne Collins. I even have the paperbacks double placed as I run out of space. That's the great thing about ebooks, though. The computer has plenty of room.