Thanks for your question. I may do a more thorough job of answering at a later time in a separate post, (seems like a perfect "Ask the Author" post - and I'll give  you an SBI share too for that.) 

1. Inspiration is a weird thing... sometimes, it hits you from out of the blue, sometimes it develops slowly. I can't actually remember at this end where the idea came for this method of my characters meeting. It can be difficult to think of new ways all the time! I think the idea for the swamp fight came first, so then, I had to work out why it happened... I just love this scene, actually! So much fun - and really forms strong characters instantly - which is a "win" for me. 

2. Hours for the story??? Impossible to measure, especially when a lot of that time is just thinking... I try to actively sit at the computer around 4 hours a  day, but it's often more, sometimes less... My goal is 1500 words daily x 5 days a week. I often exceed that, but try to make myself stop when I've hit my weekly goal (see my update posts) - then, I can work on other aspects like mapping, keeping my encyclopedia updated, considering putting together a web site too... lots of activities involved in writing a book. 

3. Writers block (to me) means that there's something majorly wrong with the plot as it stands. It's a sign that you need to step back a few hours, days, weeks... then come back to it fresh and see what the problem is. I have one story right now that will hopefully be ready by the time this one ends... It's fought me several times, generally because I'm trying to do too much and have to pull out one or more of the threads I've woven in to wait for another time... They'll come back, but not in this story. I *think* I've got it sussed now and it will be done when I finish reconstructing the days I tore apart most recently! 

Anyway, I think I'll answer more thoroughly for Saturday's post.