I see comments on a regular basis about people who do not understand writers. In case you did not know, the average Joe, and often even our family members, tend to think we writers are a strange lot. We choose to sit alone in quiet rooms and “work” on our stories. Why? When we could actually be out “doing something fun”: going to parties, eating at restaurants, being thrilled by movies, or even watching TV.

My wife, for instance, does not understand how I can get lost in another world. Have “imaginary” friends whose problems worry me so. How I can get so upset or depressed over what one of these “friends” is feeling. How I can sit at the computer on and on, day after day.

The answer for me is simple. Being a writer is a driving motivating force in my life. I do not need to go on a vacation, sit beside a hotel pool or even the ocean. Currently, I spend much of my time on a space transport visiting other worlds with friends.

Some of the places we go are beautiful, composites of all the best places I have seen. These places live and breathe. Soft leaves crunch under my feet. Canopies of forests shade me. I never get tired. I can walk up mountains and never get winded. Run for miles. Swim across rivers. Some of these places are populated with kind and giving people…

Some places are pure hell…populated with the vilest, most evil people, you—or I can—imagine.

And we get to decide how it all works.

Therefore, I say never feel awkward for dancing to a different beat. Most people are not capable of hearing a beat. Dare to do things other people cannot imagine. Create your friends, your exciting, dangerous worlds. Have fun. And most of all, revel in your craft.