The Ant and The Gnat

A guest post by Drafting Through Life  

An Ant grew weary of his stature in the writing and publishing world. He felt that ants were rather small, and seldom noticed by bigger creatures. With his ambition and his hard-working nature, he set out to rectify the size of his platform. 

He soon came upon a Beetle. 

“Oh, Beetle!” Ant exclaimed. “You inspire attention, and people often admire you. I want my writing platform to grow large just like yours. Please tell me, what do you do, so that I might get bigger too?”

Beetle was kindly and magnanimous. He answered,

“Hm…well, I rise with the sun, and I eat sweet berries. And I always carry a notebook on me, so that I can jot down my ideas on a whim.” 

Ant thanked Beetle, and returned to his hill. But even though he awoke each dawn and ate all the sweet berries he possibly could, he did not grow at all. He could never keep track of the notebook, and when he did manage to use it he found himself unable to decipher his own handwriting later on. 

Determined, he ventured out again. 

In no time at all, he came upon a Grasshopper. 

“Oh, Grasshopper!” Ant called out. “You make ambitious leaps, and people still keep up with you. I want my writing platform to grow large just like you. Please tell me, what do you do, so that I might get bigger too?” 

Grasshopper was thoughtful and introspective. He answered, 

“Let’s see. I rest in the bright afternoons, and I eat plants and drink their flower’s juices. I also write and publish constantly so readers never have to wait long to hear from me.” 

Ant thanked Grasshopper and rushed home. But even though he bathed in sunlight each afternoon, gobbled down leaves and drank many flowers dry, and wrote and published as much as he could, his writing platform did not grow at all. 

Ant felt discouraged. Solemnly, he returned to his Ant bedtime, and his Ant food. He sulked for a while, until his family had enough and forced him to rejoin the world. He attended a picnic with them, and while there, spotted people reading, and was reminded that the writing world was bigger than himself or the writers he knew. So much bigger, in fact, that he felt a glimmer of motivation to return to his quest. And that night, he dreamed of a writing platform so large that he had his very own author photo. Rejuvenated, Ant once again took off, resolute. 

Ant came upon a dozing spider, and called out, 

“Oh, Spider! You inspire big feelings in all who come across you, and leave your gossamer signature everywhere you’ve been. I want my writing platform to grow large just like yours. Please tell me, what do you do, so that I might get bigger too?” 

Spider was cunning and hungry, but Ant was not big enough to be a meal, so he answered honestly. 

“Generally speaking, I do a lot of call outs and policing of other creators. I spend most of my time waiting to eat.”

“And what do you eat?” Ant asked. 

“Bugs.”  

Ant did not like that answer, and hastily thanked Spider before ducking into nearby leaf-mould. He returned home, dejected. Though he would never admit it, he even considered nibbling on himself, but decided that this would only make him smaller, and that definitely wouldn’t help his writing platform grow. Sighing, he closed himself off from the world, thinking: maybe Ants are just too small for the great big writing world.

He was contemplating his lonesome state when someone rang his doorbell. Annoyed, and thinking that his family had forgotten that he was sulking, he went to greet whoever it was with a huff. But when he opened the door, he didn’t see anyone. 

“Oh, Ant!” came a voice. 

Ant looked down, and spotted a Gnat. 

“Ant,” Gnat continued, “You work well in a team, and are recognizable anywhere you go. I want my writing platform to grow large just like yours. Please tell me, what do you do, so that I might get bigger too?” 

Ant regarded Gnat, who made him think of sunlight prettily catching a wing, and whose voice was gentle and tickled. How could he think he was too small to be a part of the writing world already?

“Well, Gnat. I probably live a lot like you do.” 

Gnat was unsatisfied with that answer. 

“Respectfully, Ant, it feels like you are gatekeeping. I guess I will go to someone else for advice…” 

“Wait!” Ant called out, stopping Gnat in his tracks. “You misunderstand me. I have ventured far and wide, just like you are now. And while learning about how other people write and grow, I realized that I could never be them. I could just be me. But I will tell you the truth…I marathon drafts and then don’t return to them for at least two moon cycles. That is how I grow as a writer. The most important growth happens on the inside.”  

Publicly withhold your self-deprecation, for you might have all that another dreams of. 

The Drafting Through Life Writing Workshop is an eclectic group who come together every couple weeks to critique each other’s works in progress. You can find their writings on Medium at medium.com/@draftingthroughlifewriters.

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Image credits:

Cover image: via Library of Congress: Hooke, Robert. Microscopic View of an Ant. , 1665. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2006690474/.

Intertext images: copyright Drafting Through Life 2026. Used with permission.