I love books.  One of the many traits and life lessons I have learned from my mother.  A book can teach you so much and the values they instill in us are endless.  While some may find romance novels pointless, I have learned a great deal of life lessons from them.  While some find horror stories (my absolute favorite) scary, I was instead taught that while many times the monster can be defeated in one page, you still have to face your fears and grow as a person in the mean time.  I have picked up and enjoyed countless books.  And I'm not allowed to go into Barnes & Nobles anymore, otherwise I will spend my entire paycheck there.
It was middle school when I finally started to write my own stories.  And I've been working on them ever since, including the first story I ever wrote.  (Keep an eye out for it because one day it will be published--I have my hopes and dreams for it).  Some would say these stories become reality to me.  I would say some times it's nice to escape from reality and fall in love with characters who do what you would never dream of doing.  To watch them grow and change right before your eyes.  Often times growing in front of the author's eyes as well.
I love music.  And if you quick enough, you'll catch the lyrics to the songs I love hidden within my stories. They're my inspiration.  Often times, I turn on Pandora or the radio and just listen and wait for a story idea to just...come to me.
Sometimes the best books are the ones that seem to have slipped into the dusty corner of the book shelf.