I read everything from literary works, old books, new stuff and milk bottles. It's a compulsion. I have to read! My interests are as wide-ranging: from politics (yes, I'm VERY political) to paper-making, flower arranging to cruise travel; I love it all!
I am a very slow writer. It's a big deal if I get 700 words done in a day. Words are hard to come by, and characters too important to rush. I have written full-length novels, only by perservence. But I have finished the works. That's the important part.
Disclosure: I am a developmental editor by day. I also assist people in book packaging, that is, publishing their own work (the dreaded self-publishing!). I am very active in the self-publishing community via the Yahoo/SPAN Self-Publishing discussion group and IBPA articles.