2:30 p.m. - 2016-02-13
What I wasted
I logged in to one of my old papers, searched my byline, and pulled up the last 15 stories I wrote.
I don't remember writing any of them, but here's one:
RED KNOTS / CHILE TRIP REVEALS BIRDS' NUMBERS STILL DOWN, AND REASON IS LIKELY IN DELAWARE BAY REGION
Author: xxxxx
It takes three to four hours for Dxx Hxxxxx and his crew to reach Bahia Lomas from the nearest airport, a bone-jarring journey by truck and ferry, ending in a wind-buffeted sheep field. The scrubby grass here is flattened by the wind, and even insects and birds stay low to the ground.
It is summer, but temperatures hover around 50 degrees.
Daylight lasts 18 hours.
The wind never stops.
This is southernmost Chile, jutting toward Antarctica, the fabled tip of South...
Read Complete Article, of 1521 words
I know I never went to Chile but I also know how I got these details out of the person I interviewed. I am a good interviewer. I was writing an article about birds (that's what red knots are) but I knew I had to make the reader see and feel and smell Chile, and I had to get those details out of the biologist I was interviewing. And I did. That's why I was a good reporter.
I pretty much threw that away when I went into nursing. I told myself I'd do some freelance writing on the side but I haven't. I threw away a gift and I definitely hate myself for that.
I suppose I can redeem it but I have to actually do that and I haven't. I have to get some freelance work. I just need to do it.
0 comments
