I eavesdrop shamelessly. Charity shops are wonderful places. So too are check out queues at the supermarket. I read the problem pages in magazines and the newspapers. Old photographs and postcards are another source of inspiration. I even wrote a story once after a visit to the Council Recycling Centre. No experience is wasted.
I joined the Romantic Novelists' Association. Under their New Writers' Scheme you used to have to submit a novel every year - it was a great discipline to get me going.
The re-writing.Getting the first draft down is what I find hardest, but after that I'm away.
I can write a short story in a day, but I always put it away to rest. It's amazing what leaps up at you when you come back to it. Originally I trained as a shorthand typist and I do all my own typing, but I still make the most horrendous typing mistakes, so check and double check is my motto.
That's a difficult one to answer because they are different. Obviously a short story is quicker but it can pose as many problems as a novel. If pressed I suppose I would say a novel is harder work but very rewarding.
You mean after I'd finished dancing on the ceiling? It was absolutely wonderful. The thrill never goes away.
Believe in yourself. Try to write something every day. Never give up.