My childhood and preteen years were spent as a hermit in my room, where I wrote make-believe stories, composed poems, painted pictures, sketched and read 800-page books like The Count of Monte Cristo and Wuthering Heights and still didn’t want the story to end. In fact, instead of being sent to my room for punishment, my parents would make me go outside and play because they knew that staying in my room would not be a punishment! As a writer today, I get inspiration from all forms of more...