This week, I head out on my first convention of the summer season: Comic-Con. This is a mad media feast that has long since drifted away from its titular purpose of bringing together comic-book fans to collecting pop media fans of all types. Since I work in toys, games, and comics as well as fiction, its a convention tailor made for me.

Next month, I’m off to Gen Con to serve as an Industry Insider Guest of Honor once again. That’s a fancy way of saying that I’m going to sit on a number of panels in exchange for a snazzy free badge and the chance to get together once again with all the friends I’ve made over my 27 years of attending the show in a row. I’ll also get to see the premiere of a proof-of-concept video and live concert stemming from the production of an indie film based on my Brave New World Roleplaying Game, which debuted at the convention 10 years ago.

In September, I’m off to PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) for the first time too. This show is centered around computer games and all things associated with it, another thing I really enjoy.

All this time on the road wreaks havoc with my writing schedule, of course, and there are times that I wonder why I bother spending the time and money on these things. After all, with the internet, I don’t have to be anywhere at any particular place any more, right?

Wrong. While the internet is a reasonable substitute for some interactions, it is not a replacement for it. I have a blast at these shows, as anyone who ever sees me at once could testify, but I go to them to see old friends, meet new ones, get the pulse of my various geek tribes, and—vitally—to drum up work.

Last year at Comic-Con, for instance, I didn’t have much of an agenda. I didn’t have any panels to sit on or signings or seminars to give. I had some fantastic business meetings, though, and I managed to parley stopping by the DK Books booth into a fun gig revising The Marvel Encyclopedia earlier this year.

That was money and time well spent by any metric. It’s one thing to write. It’s another thing entirely to make the contacts that gets that writing published. It’s important to get out of the house every now and then, to meet people, to make those contacts, and—honestly—just to have a good time.

No one wants to read the work of a dull boy (or girl), so take some time to get out and play. Writers who don’t do anything don’t have anything to write about. Break out of your rut and join the rest of your chosen tribes at one kind of gathering or another. And if our paths happen to cross when that happens, be sure to stop me and say hi.

I hope to see you soon.