Foreword riting has a dirty little secret. Authors don’t admit it, editors deny it, and publishers repress it. This secret is so explosive that if ever exposed, it would bring the liter- ary world to its knees. Or so the literary world believes. WWant to know what the secret is? Pictures. For 32,000 years, people have drawn. We’ve written for only 5,000. (And since the first written languages were pictorial, even that date is debatable.) Let me share a few data points: 1 J.K. Rowling, the most successful author of our generation, finally admitted two years ago that she drew Harry Potter’s world before she wrote it. 2 J.R.R. Tolkien drew Middle Earth before writing of it. The Lord of the Rings was originally intended to be illustrated, but his publisher said no. (His books of drawings became available only after the success of Peter Jackson’s movies.) 3 Before he wrote On the Road, Jack Kerouac drew a mandala to visual- ize his plotlines. ix