Number one question...

"Where do you get your ideas?"

I'll try to answer this one upfront, although it may be a bit cryptic.

My best ideas come from dreams, the gems caught in the filter. Refining those pieces and polishing them are done during long walks where I alternate from being present to being absent -- looking out then looking inward.
Those fragments are connected while in the shower. The steamy rain cleanses the idea with life, but it's still premature and undeveloped. It's substance without a name or purpose. Nowhere to go.
In the absence of thought, pow, it hits you like a Mack truck. You know where to lead your story. Kind of. It's like finding your way out of a Forrest without a compass. Now you must give the story legs and guide it home. Get it walking well and steadily, then you'll be the one following it. Cruise control baby, but watch out for that tree. There'll be obstacles but the more you solve by doing it, the easier it gets. But with all creative children, they're all different with crazily different personalities and each one will have its own unique path and attitude.