"Reality is only for those who lack imagination"

I blog on other sites as well as Killer Hobbies.  One of them is InkSpot, for Midnight Ink authors... and I'm in the process of becoming one of them.

The post on Monday addressed writers' imaginations and suggested that we be careful in our use of the way our thoughts can drag us off in many different directions.  That's certainly possible, and we may need to rein some of those thoughts in as we write so as not to go off on too many tangents.  Maybe.

Or maybe we should just let our imaginations run free.

In fact, that's why I used my favorite quote as the headline to this post: "Reality is only for those who lack imagination."

I don't know who said it first, but it definitely works for me.  No matter what else I may be doing, I'm plotting.  Of course I sometimes do other things, like check email or do an online crossword puzzle to let my mind go free and figure out what the next scene I'm writing will be.

My dogs interrupt my writing a lot because they have me well trained to open the front door so they can see the world, or take them into our backyard so they can earn a treat, whatever.  But they inspire my imagination, too.

And reality?  Well, I know it's there, but most of the time I can ignore it while my mind is off somewhere talking to a character or plotting or killing someone else (fictionally, of course!) in one of my mysteries.

How about you--do you let your imagination run amok?  And do you enjoy it?