Fun … Despite not being allowed to sneak in photographs
What drives a person like me to commit to a fortnightly endeavour and write dozens of articles for 10000birds.com? I’d love to state the need to spread ornithological knowledge, but you would see right through that lame excuse. My unwavering support for conservation, then? Again, you’d call me out. The truth is that it’s so much fun, writing down business birding stories and other adventures, and knowing thousands of people will read my Saturday essays like non-birders would read the papers. If only I could just sneak in a decent photograph every now and again … (Peter Penning)
Compulsion … and Selecting Photographs
I am, I suppose, a compulsive writer: I really enjoy writing about the subjects that interest me. I’ve been lucky enough to have made a career out of my modest skill, and have been paid to write about such things as fast cars (yes, everything from Porsches to Ferraris with the odd Aston Martin thrown in) to tennis (I was writing in the days of Borg and McEnroe). However, birds have always been my prime interest, and I’ve probably written more words about them than anything else, which is why I came to start writing for 10,000 Birds.
I discovered 10,000 Birds by accident some years ago, when researching something on the Internet. I enjoyed what I read, and was especially attracted to the international flavour of the site. I even offered to write for it, as I noted that it was short of writers from Britain, a country which probably has more keen birdwatchers than any other in the world. However, at the time, no new contributors were required, so I continued as just a reader.
Then, a couple of years ago, I noticed that Kai, our Chinese-based but German editor-in-chief, was looking for new writers. I’d just stopped writing a weekly column for a magazine that I’d worked on for 24 years, so I had the time to contribute. Kai signed me up (not, sadly, with the lure of a big salary) and I’ve been contributing ever since.
After a career working on magazines, where often a piece I’ve just written might not appear in print for two or three months, the spontaneity of 10,000 Birds came as a bit of a shock. I could write something one day, and see it published immediately … I now have a weekly slot, with my stuff appearing on a Friday, though it’s usually written earlier in the week. I miss not having a sub-editor to check my copy, but it’s great to get to decide which of my photographs I want to use.
My contributions are invariably illustrated with my own photographs, but I do emphasise that I’m a birdwatcher who photographs birds. My camera equipment is as light as I can get it, as I’m much too old to walk around with huge lenses. As any photographer will know, there’s a certain satisfaction in seeing your photographs in print, or even illustrating your work on a website. I enjoy writing the words and taking the photographs: I hope that there’s a few people out there who enjoy reading and looking at them (David Tomlinson).
Opportunities to Use ChatGPT
“A while ago, I wrote the below as a post for my birding website, explaining why I write for that site. Now, I need to cover the same topic again. Could you prepare two versions of my original post? Both should be about half the length of the original. One should essentially have the same statements but maybe be a bit more ironic. The other one should say pretty much the opposite of what I said in my original post.”
ChatGPT:
Version 1: Same statements, more ironic
Why do I write for 10,000 Birds? I used to write for a Shanghai birding site, where my posts were edited with Florida-style journalistic rigor: What’s the story? Where’s the reader benefit? That sounds fine until you wait four months for a piece that now reads like it belongs in a Floridian Sunday supplement.
At 10,000 Birds, it’s different. Authors choose what and when to publish, and guest posts get only the lightest formatting edits. Unless someone starts denying the Holocaust or praising Putin, content remains untouched.
So: freedom, speed, and the right to fail in my own words. That’s why I write here.
Version 2: The opposite, ironic
Why do I write for 10,000 Birds? Because “total freedom” usually just means publishing sloppy posts faster. I learned that when I wrote for a Shanghai site: instant uploads, no real editing, and plenty of cringe to show for it.
At 10,000 Birds, the bar is higher. Posts are shaped with readers in mind, and timing is planned, not impulsive. Guest writers don’t get to fling content online; there’s editing, structure, and standards.
So: discipline, polish, and the chance to be improved against my will. That’s why I write here (Kai Pflug, but mostly ChatGPT).
Passion for Birds
I never think about writing as a pleasure, nor do I think I am any good. Despite this, I have had an extensive career in bureaucratic writing describing arcane nuances of various regulations, laws, or policies, or doing analyses of niche nuclear issues. The effort required was all-consuming and exhausting. So, of course, my experience with writing is wrapped in the angst and trauma of producing pieces like that.
Then, out of the blue, I discover 10,000 Birds and I meet the editor. Well, after some gentle and supportive cajoling by said editor, I wrote a couple of guest blogs. That experience was not particularly bad, and my insecurity about writing something like a blog about birds dissipated. To my surprise, I have discovered that I like writing about my passion for birds and how it inspires me. This is what 10,000 Birds is doing for me. My confidence is growing, and I am enjoying it after only a couple of guest blogs.
My passion for birds. It is why I am motivated to get out of my comfort zone and into the open and vulnerable state of writing for 10,000 Birds. The readers may find something that connects with them, or they may not, which is fine. I learn as I write, and it feeds my curiosity. I have already learned a bit more about birds, and I look forward to more. No doubt, as a reader of 10,000 Birds, I will continue to learn. Thank you, 10,000 Birds, for finding me. I feel lucky and honored to be a tiny part of the wonder of this world that 10,000 Birds captures every day (Mary Alice Hayward).
Because Writing Is Important
After her death in September 2022, one of Hilary Mantel’s admirers shared this memory of her. The twice awarded Booker Prize winner, for two of the books in her Thomas Cromwell trilogy, was signing books when a man in line asked her, “Do you write everyday?” Startled, she replied, “What, do you think that I’m a hobbyist?” Her response revealed her quick wit and it gave no end of amusement to her friends, publisher and writing colleagues who knew that, not only did she write every day, but that she wrote nearly all the time.
I am no Hilary Mantel and I don’t write all the time. However, I do write everyday and I am a hobbyist. I’ve always been a reader, albeit a slow one, and I think reading good writing tweaked my desire to also write. It became important to me to learn how to express myself with pen and paper (now computer). The more I wrote it became important to develop my writing style.
I write all kinds of things. Book reviews (I love reviewing Big Year books and field guides), Letters to the Editor (recently my university alumni magazine gave my letter the first spot), personal essays (my favorite) especially when I can find my voice.
In 2008, I was enticed to start my blog, Into the Woods and Elsewhere, when an acquaintance shared with me that she had started her blog to practice her writing. Her words, “practice my writing”, rang in my head. Despite some long absences here and there (especially during the Covid pandemic), my blog is still, 17 years later, up and running, and my writing has indeed improved, although my style still needs attention. Earlier this summer, I reached a milestone when I published post #600.
I’ve read many great writers who write about birds and nature: Barry Lopez’s masterpiece Arctic Dreams, where, amongst other things, he wonderfully and accurately described the call of the “oldsquaw” abaalik, abaalik. Jonathan Franzen, novelist and essayist, has written two of my favorite essays, Emptying the Skies (about the killing of songbirds on the islands of Cyprus and Malta) and his complex personal essay The End of the End of the Earth (of the many things that happen in this essay, he spots an Emperor Penguin on a Nat Geo Antarctica cruise). Mary Oliver’s beautiful poetry: The Vulture’s Wings (2014), The Dipper (2003), The Kingfisher (1990), and many others. In this short space, there are too many writers to mention; Kenn Kaufman, Jennifer Ackerman, Christopher Cokinos, and finally, at age 30, Emily Dickinson wrote Hope is the thing with feathers / that perches in the soul … in 1861. This poem has inspired innumerable readers and writers alike.
I worry that while we write, fewer and fewer people are reading. So then, why write? For me, this makes writing all the more important. Not ChatGPT writing, but our own writing using our own words, sentence structure, and style, and observing and learning from our writing. Writing to be accurate, honest, and generous from the heart. Writing to be funny and joyful.
I had known about 10,000 Birds for a while, but only recently subscribed. I was surprised, although I shouldn’t have been, how interesting the pieces were, the innumerable places to bird, the astonishing birds that I, or most of us, will never see, the number of people worldwide who appreciate birds and birding. Americans can be a little USA-centric. I can hear the peals of laughter, but I don’t mean it that way – only that we are over here and almost everyone else is over there, or up there, or down there. It’s so refreshing and enjoyable to have a worldwide view of birds and birding. I’ve learned so much.
I write for 10,000 Birds because of a happy exchange with Kai Pflug after I had written a comment on one of the 10,000 Birds posts. I am grateful for all of his communication and for the enormous help he has offered to me. I am struggling with WordPress functioning and formatting, but this will come, eventually. My favorite ending is always, I hope the reader will enjoy the reading as much as I enjoyed the writing (Catherine Carroll).
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