There's a saying among writers: "Write with the door closed. Edit with the door open." I couldn't agree more.

Whenever I write -- or, even more so, whenever I draw -- I need to be alone. Last week I attempted to do something artistic in the presence of another human being and let me tell you, that did not work out well at all.

In college, I hated study groups with an almost perfect hate. People would say, "Oh, you know what?! We should totally all get together and study!" My standard response was, "On this very campus is an electron microscope that you can use to see the tiniest particles on earth. Using this microscope, you would not be able to see how little I've learned by studying in groups." *

I didn't have very many friends.

When it came time for me to do my studying, I would retreat to the third floor of the library, where I had a particular seat next to a particular stained-glass window. The books in that area were old and fairly irrelevant, and no one ever wanted or needed to read them, so no one ever interrupted me.

I've always been irritated by these people who insist on writing and drawing in bars and coffee shops. It's as if they're saying, "Hey, look at me, I'm doing something artistic! I'm an ARTIST and therefore I'm important!" They're akin to those guys you see publicly reading books with black-and-white covers by German authors, trying really hard to simultaneously appear intellectual and to keep the title of the book readable to those who care, which is no one.

Anyway, my point is, I think the laptop is changing all of this for me. I've found that I can now write in public and that I love the wi-fi. Of course, no one knows what it is I'm writing and there's usually a handful of other people around me doing the same thing. There's something liberating about it.

Drawing, however, will probably always be a solitary activity, like personal hygiene. No one needs to see that.

* I stole that line from Frazier.