Today at my workplace a humble bumblebee came to rest on our doorstep (pictured above) obviously fatigued by the welcome warm weather the UK is experiencing at the moment. Concerned, we placed sugared water in its path which it sucked up with relish, every now and then it would attempt a flutter of its wings to see if enough energy had flowed through its plump yet beautiful body.

As I watched this bee, I was struck by the similarity it has to us writers. Its role is to collect nectar much like the writer collects words and deliver it to the hive. In the terms of the writer, it is like taking those words to the hive where ideas, phrases, and thoughts are gathered that then make up the honeycomb of a story, poem or article.

However, just as this bumble bee had become weary so it is with the writer and we too must rest and hope for the inspiration of sugared water to revive us with just enough energy to fly again to the hive. Further inspection of the scene revealed an army of ants, possibly alerted to the sugared water but also a weakened bee, who made no hesitation to make a beeline (pun intended) to the resting Apinae. This made me think of the critics that would seek to devour the writer at his or her weakest moment. Fortunately, it would seem that inspiration had won the day. The bee, revived, takes flight, free to collect for another day.

As I consider this scene, I ask myself: who would bee a writer?