A friendly get-together and "The Zone"

     "Come meet us for breakfast," my friend said.
     "But I just ate," says I.
     "You need to get out, c'mon," says my friend.
     But I was already "in The Zone."
     What exactly is The Zone? It's this strange, otherworldy place my brain goes to when I'm creating - and I must admit, it's not a completely comfortable place to be. It's a release of myself and everything around me. In the zone, time flies quickly and very little can pull my attention away. I can go into the zone at 11:00am and come out at 4:00pm wondering, "What just happened?" It's a little weird.
     The more I write and illustrate, the more I realize how necessary it is to let The Zone take over. I've discovered that reading emails and checking blogs isn't just procrastination - it's how I slowly wind into The Zone. It's an important part of how I work.
     However, I'm also starting to realize that I have to balance it with a bit of real life. See, the The Zone is slightly addictive. It sucks me in and would really like to keep me there. It wants to rule me - scary!
     But if I let it keep me, I can stay holed up for days without any human interaction, and my social skills really do suffer.
     So this morning I said yes to my friend and I met her and her daughter at Thumbs Up Cafe. I got a take-out salad for lunch and caught up on what she's up to, as well as some other friends who I haven't seen in a bit. And y'know what? I feel better, I feel more human. I am a social creature after all.
     And now that I'm a functioning, interactive part of society, I am once again ready to sit down and go into The Zone.