I've been writing for 19 years, but only started looking towards improving my writing to publishable levels in the last 2-3. I've had a couple short stories published, in M-Brane SF Magazine and the anthology Beauty Has Her Way from Dark Quest Books (2011). My nonfiction's been published in Fantasy Magazine.
Since founding Crossed Genres in Sept. 2008 most of my reading has been slush for CG Magazine, for which I was co-editor for 2 years. Recently I've had more time to read for pleasure. I used to read far more fantasy (Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series, Lord of the Rings), but have found my tastes shifting towards SF (Doctorow, Scalzi). It depends on the writer, though. I like everything Connie Willis writes, and I enjoyed the Harry Potter books.
In January I founded and launched Rise Reviews (http://risereviews.com), dedicated to reviewing speculative fiction that didn't receive pro rates. This has helped slant my current reading towards mostly small-press publications.