I have two favorite – and completely opposite in message – little stories about being a writer.

The first is the tale, not sure how tall it is, of a writer who went to the Amazon and embedded with a tribe that had never interfaced with modern culture. One of the things he had to do eventually is explain to the chief what he did for a living. Problem is that this tribe had no written language so there were some steps involved and then, finally the light bulb went off and the chief started laughing hysterically.

The writer asked, “What’s so funny?”

To which the chief replied, “That’s the greatest scheme I’ve ever heard of to avoid work.”

True or not, it’s pretty awesome.

The other was a study that was done pre-internet that looked into how many calories per hour were burned doing various activities. It was just a ranking and I don’t recall what number one was – probably something like wrestling sharks – but number three was motocross racing. We can see how hard that is. Number two was, yes, writing. Yes, writing was the second most calorie burning activity and stood above motocross racing.

I may have the order skewed but it was right up there. I know I get very hungry when I write.