The difference is. . .

I am a writer. One day, I hope to become an author. “But aren’t they the same thing?”, you may ask. No. The difference between a writer and an author is that a writer just knows how to write. An author knows when to stop writing. An author knows when a story has run its course. An author will leave you waiting for the next time s/he writes.

Writers give you no such luxury. They write and write and write and then when they think they have written too much, they begin to fade their story. A great story should never fade. Like human life, it is the difference between withering away and dying an honoree death.

Your value is greater when it can be remembered how great you were, than to pretend your greatness can defy the inalienable diminishing returns of time. Unless those returns are great memories, there aren’t any returns; they’re droppings, if you get my drift; or perhaps, if you take a drift on what I am saying.

An author’s story never ends. No matter how many titles s/he may come up with, it is all from the same story; the story inside your head. It has neither beginning nor end. It is a part of the continuous stream we call life, but is so much more than that. The ‘line’ we live on that continues time immemorial allows us to be but tiny specs on its existence. Blips, that if we’re lucky will be passed down the line to future generations. . .that is if our impact is strong enough.

What turns a writer into an author is his ability to compartmentalize his life. How can I give a beginning and an end to one particular phase? Don’t get me wrong, a writer can tell a great story, but it takes an author to put understandable parameters around “what I want to say. . .”, “what I am saying. . .”, “what I said.” If the reader can walk away answering those 3 questions on behalf of the penman, then it is a good authored story.

I am a writer. One day, I hope to become an author. . .(fading)