Editor's Note: In the course of human events, we're more often staring down the mouth of a tiger than that of a gift horse. Society can be hurtful and unforgiving in wanton ways, particularly when we grow up with features that stand out: a funny middle name, a big nose, an unfashionable wardrobe. Our behavior, too, is carefully watched and judged. John Elder Robison is all too familiar with society's slights. From a distance, John's life story is no sore thumb. He was born in Athens, Georgia to a poet-mother and philosopher-father. A born tinkerer, Robison started to design electronic circuits, then served as a sound adviser for Pink Floyd and KISS, and went on to build one of the largest specialty auto-shops for high-end vehicles in his own backyard.

Robison did not realize he had Asperger syndrome until he was thirty-nine years old. Once realized, his childhood began to make more sense. In his seminal memoir "Look Me In the Eye," he recalls a youth rife with awkward moments, a sense of disconnectedness, and an inability to enter seamlessly into idle conversation with other kids. Since then, he has become one of the most outspoken activists for autism awareness, touring the country to enlighten and educate people with his stories. Now with a grown child of his own, "Raising Cubby" is Robison's new and tender reflection on the bond he shares with his son, who also falls "on the spectrum" of autism. Together they take delight in shared interests, eccentric hobbies, and frequent laughs, all while defending the notion that "misfits" can fit in just fine. In this installment of Behind the Books, John has given us a great many things to ponder: the toothy four-legged predators of night, the necessity of vision to fulfill your dreams, an Imperial War Pug with a literary palette, and the comfort of knowledge a good book brings.

What’s your writing routine? Where, when, and how does it happen?

I pretty much write wherever I feel like. In a sense, I am lucky to be unemployable because it forced me to start my own business, where I am free to write, talk to people, or do anything else instead of what people think I do at work. And I write at home. I am writing this in my library, looking out over my yard as darkness falls and toothy four-legged predators emerge from the fringes of the woods to take back the night. They do that more and more, these past few years.

Given the situation outside my window, writing seems like a safe alternative. Even so, I am prepared. I have a brilliant spotlight and a pump shotgun right here, next to my iced tea. Because you never know when the "large aminals" (as my son called them) will make the leap from looking in the windows to breaking down the doors.

It’s coming. People have known for years. Mike and the Mechanics had a song about it, way back in 1985. They sang, "There's a gun and ammunition / Just inside the door. / Use it only in emergency."

So where does that leave me? I write at all hours – during the day or at night. The key thing is to remain vigilant. You will get no joy from seeing your work read if you have been eaten or discorporeated before it happens.

To the aspiring writer, what advice would you give?

If you want to be a storyteller kind of writer, you should do a wide variety of things in order to gain a broad base of experience. Join the Foreign Legion. Smuggle. Run for political office. Work on a farm. Ride a motorcycle. Steal a car, but stay out of trouble. Remember, jail is a short-term experience. State prison goes on for years and it sucks. Avoid it.

If you want to be a reporter kind of writer, get a journalism degree and get a job at a newspaper while there are still a few good papers left in business. Once the last one is gone you will have to pay for your own internship, writing for free on the Internet.

The thing you need most of all – whether you want to be a writer or anything else – is a vision. You need to know what you want to be and have a plan to get there. Too many people enter school and assume they will figure it out later, after the party, maybe in grad school. Meanwhile, the people who know they want to be the next Hemingway, or get elected to the Senate, or invent the successor to Pokémon ... those people leave all their aimless or lost brethren in the dust.

You and your brother, Augusten Burroughs, are both established writers. Do you two ever trade writing tips or help counsel one another when you've hit a rough patch in your writing?

Not really. When I began writing what became "Look Me in the Eye" my brother said, “Don’t even show it to me. If I say anything and people find out, critics will say I helped write it.” Indeed, it is pretty rare for two brothers to write bestsellers independently. But I’ve always been independent, ever since I left home at sixteen. I’m very conscious of being on my own.

As a high school dropout, I have always had a problem feeling like a fraud, so I am very conscious of the need to think everything up on my own. I don’t really ask for counsel until the book reaches my publisher and my editor, Rachel Klayman, helps shape it into final form. If there is a main person I look to for counsel, it would be her, but only at the end. Earlier on, I talk about ideas with my family and my literary agent, but that’s it. Otherwise it’s just me.

I believe my brother is the same. I have never known him to share his writing until the day an advance reader’s copy arrives in the mail. He may write me and say he doesn't know how he can finish, whether he’s got another book in him at all, or whether his next book will never get done. But somehow it does. “I thought it would get easier,” he wrote me once. “But it doesn't. It gets harder instead.”

He’s written eight books; I am on number four. I wonder if the same will prove true for me. Time will tell.

With the help of your debut book, "Look Me in the Eye," memoirs about Asperger’s syndrome and the autism spectrum have risen in popularity. Are there any books you’ve read, beside your own, that have helped shed unique light on the subject of autism?

I really enjoyed Daniel Tammet’s "Born on a Blue Day," which came out shortly before "Look Me in the Eye." David Finch wrote an excellent book on Asperger’s and marriage called the "Journal of Best Practices." Kathy Hoopman wrote a wonderful picture book for kids called "All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome" and followed it up with "Inside Asperger’s Looking Out." Temple Grandin’s books are all insightful, and I came to better understand the female perspective through Rudy Simone’s "Aspergirls."

What book are you currently recommending?

I just read "Train Wreck: The Forensics of Rail Disasters." It’s an excellent book if you want to understand the engineering issues that underlie rail safety in the United States and indeed all over the world. Is that a recommendation? I don’t know, but it’s a good book. Well written, with few errors of spelling, grammar, or punctuation. Many new facts were revealed to me, and there was a lot I hadn't known before. Thanks to that book, I can make more intelligent seating decisions whenever I ride a train. But I have no idea if you would enjoy it at all. Maybe you don’t even ride trains.

That is why I don’t usually recommend books. How do I know what you like? It’s like the situation at my car company when someone walks in and says, “Tell me why I want to buy a Rolls-Royce.” How do I know why they want a Rolls-Royce? Is it a drunken fantasy or the culmination of a dream that began forty years ago? I have no idea. If they don’t know, it’s not my place to tell them. If they do know, we’re here and we’ll find one.