We can spend a lifetime looking at all the options that are open to us and yet remain where we were when we started looking. This is one of the dangers of educating ourselves beyond our practical requirements. There simply comes a time when knowledge must give way to activity, or else knowledge is no more useful than the proverbial chocolate fire-guard. It merely melts away into the environment; leaving a stain rather than a contribution; something to be cleaned up, rather than polished up.

There is a story concerning three frogs sitting upon a log next to a pond. One of the frogs announces that it has decided to jump from the log into the pond. A few moments later, a passer-by comments to her friend that there are three frogs sitting on the same log. Some of us reading this might think; how can that be? One frog clearly announced its decision to jump from the log into the pond. That is the point. It announced its decision to jump. It did not jump.

This story again highlights what the opening paragraph suggested. There simply comes a time when knowledge, or any other mental phenomena, such as decision, must give way to activity, or else remains no more useful than a chocolate fire-guard.

The situation we are in today is not so much a result of our mental acumen, as our physical activity. Wealth and prosperity are not indicators of intelligence; genius lives in alleyways too. What really separates the various strata’s of society is activity. Remember, the cunning fox will die as fast as the imbecile fox if it does not eat. And the imbecile fox will survive by eating rather than going to whatever educational facility foxes might go to, but not eating.

This is in no way meant to be interpreted as saying that education is not valuable. It is. Of course it is. Yet even though one knows that there are millions of variable methods, and thousands of paths by which to reach the summit of one’s dreams, the failure to implement a method or walk a path can only result in a melting away of knowledge into a troublesome stain.

Activity is necessary, essential and unavoidable to those who wish to become something. Dreams are fine, but actions are finer.

What does all this mean in terms of writing? It means this. Writers are not highly intelligent, highly educated people. Some writers might well be highly intelligent and highly educated, but that is not why they are writers. Writers are writers because they write. Authors are authors because they author.

Writers and authors share the same quality as the street-cleaner. They are described as being what they are because they do what they do.

Trust me, I have met writers and authors who couldn’t tie a simple nautical knot, and I have met sailors who could write about Kant’s Categorical Imperative, but don’t. But could!

All I am saying is that if you want to be a writer, write. If you want to be a published author, publish. If you want to be world famous, do something that will make you world famous – although writing might be a less successful path than you might imagine. There are relatively few writers and authors who are world famous; ever heard of me outside of this article?

Yet I consider myself to be a writer. Not because I am highly intelligent and highly educated (I am not), but because I write. That’s it. Dogs bark. Ducks quack. Trees grow and writers write.

So if you want to be a writer; write. It’s not rocket science as they say.

It is activity!