The story "Helen and All Her Properties" was my attempt to write something that spoke to the beautiful but dangerous aspects of affection.  I've attended many weddings from which I left as a groom.  Many times I have experienced both the gorgeous nature of a woman, the same way a bolt of lightning strikes across a gorgeous night sky, and also the power and danger mixed somewhere within that moment.  The protagonist in this story is learning that.

I have no set schedule, but prefer to write at least a line or two each day when at all possible in a quiet space without distractions.  There are no other specific needs to speak of beyond that.  I've thrown out two dozen or more methods I'd heard or read about other writers keeping.  Output schedules, time schedules.  We all have to find what works for us, I suppose.

Pinckney Benedict's Dogs of God, A Room Forever, a biography of the West Virginia writer Breece D'J Pancake, and re-reading Chris Offutt's Kentucky Straight.  This, of course, in addition to a steady stream of online short fiction from journals too numerous to name.

I would say Michael Ondaatje, Larry Brown and William Gay in no particular order.  Brown and Gay reminded me that I could write about where I'm from and make it interesting.  Ondaatje's work influenced my style of writing.  He proved to me that poetry and prose could be combined without sacrificing story.