Books, reading (SF and Thrillers are my faves),music, cinema, psychology, philosophy, intellectual history of ideas, Buber's existential philosophical anthropology, nanotechnology, quantum physics, and robotics.
Other writers, SF writers, and other people who work in the publishing or bookselling business.
Classical--Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. The Moody Blues.
Of course I enjoy SF movies, and I am a major classic movie buff. My favorite SF movies are those based on the work of Philip K. Dick, but I have also enjoyed the Star Trek and Star Wars series and other movies with SF elements. My favorite classic movies include On the Waterfront, Lawrence of Arabia, The Philadelphia Story, etc. Growing up, my brothers also liked Horror Movies so I saw a lot of interesting movies with some science fiction themes and also read and subscribed to Forrest Ackerman's "Famous Monsters of Film Land" as a youth.
Currently I enjoy Stargate and Eureka on the SciFi channel. I was influened by the old Lost in Space TV show, Twilight Zone and Outer Limits, and the original Star Trek Series when I was growing up.
TOO NUMEROUS TO MENTION--in many fields. IN SF, my favorite authors are KEVIN J ANDERSON, Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Rudy Rucker, and Robert Sawyer. I read a lot of authors in this field and am just now getting around to reading more works by some of my Myspace friends! Growing up I was introduced to the various SF magaizines such as Analog, Fantasy & Science Fiction, and later, Asimov's; and let's not forget Omni.
All those who have pursued the dream of writing and struggled, toiled, and bared their souls--and after all is said and done--they wrote. To me a successful writer is someone who has persevered, made the time to write--and got something done. The skilled ones actually get someone to read what they wrote afterwards!