I devour books by my favourite authors, and learn from what they do well. I try to read outside my genre to develop better skills in description or characterization, and always follow the news. If I am not actually writing then I am plotting, or thinking about plotting, whether I am cooking dinner, buying groceries or chauffering kids around. My characters appear, baggage in hand, and drag me off with them to their situation. To map out their journey and connect the dots, I plot extensively, then jump in.