Monday, December 2, 2013

The Only Good Reason to Become a Writer

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One of the pleasures of living in one of the Mid-Atlantic states is that any time the urge seizes one to see a bald eagle, all that is necessary is to hop in a car and drive to Conowingo Dam.  Park in the convenient lot, peer about to see where the guys with the really really really big telephoto lenses are pointing their cameras, and there they are.

As am I.

Young writers, the next time somebody points out to you that the chances of making a living writing are vanishingly small, that the same skills would set you up good in advertising, and that none of your heroes died rich, consider this . . .  It's a Monday morning and I feel like looking at eagles.  So I will.

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2 comments:

Laurie Mann said...

When we were in Juneau, Alaska last year, there were spots where eagles were almost as common as ravens, though more people-shy.

In early 2013, a nesting pair of eagles moved into a Pittsburgh hillside overlooking the Monongahela river. I drove out and saw them twice. Since then, I've seen eagles up off of 84 in northeastern Pennsylvania/upstate New York. Not as many as you've been seeing at the dam, but more than I'd seen in the east in many years. I think I'd seen a few eagles in Maine many years ago, but it was rare.

Michael Swanwick said...

Laurie, the return of bald eagles to the East Coast has been one of the great environmental success stories of our time, and reason to believe that continued environmental degradation need not be inevitable.

That said I envy you your Alaskan eagles. I've got to go there someday.