Michael T. Hare

Birds have always been a love of mine. I can’t explain why that is. Not because I don’t want to, but because I don’t have the words. Something about the avian creatures intrigued me at a young age. They were marvelous to me, marvelous in a way that continues to pique my nineteen-year-old interest.

I remember a time when I was young—perhaps seven or eight—when I heard a commotion in one of the trees across from my house. Knowing what I did about birds, I was convinced a bald eagle or some other raptor had infiltrated a nest. An important fact to keep in mind is that I’d never seen a bald eagle; it was my white whale. The bird I was always looking for.

Convinced that my moment of truth had come, I took a chair from my house and sat outside to watch and wait for my hypothetical bald eagle. For what felt like hours, I sat there, not moving, asking Jesus to finally let me see a bald eagle. I wasn’t going to miss it, and until those birds calmed down, I wasn’t going to give up either. I knew a raptor presence when I heard one.

To my great astonishment and delight, a bald eagle indeed flew out from the branches, head white as snow and beak gleaming beneath the azure sky. The bird I’d only ever seen in pictures now soared over my head, marking the first time I ever audibly thanked Jesus. To this day, I believe He sends me bald eagles to remind me of the day our relationship became personal. Of the day when I said, “When I believe, Lord, I stand firm until I see you. I’m stubborn for your miracles and promises.”

My new protagonist, Owen, is the first birder to appear in my stories. He’s got binoculars, a camera, a photo album, and that good old bird identification guide—all the essentials of a typical birder. I chose this for him because it was part of my history, a history I had long forgotten and neglected.

Untitled Dragon Rider Project is a love letter to the imaginations and passions that built me as a person, the things that (even to this day) keep my heart hoping. I still imagine dragons thriving in distant worlds, hidden from our sight and only accessible through mysterious caves in the mountains. My eyes still scan the trees for eagles and my new white whale, the Harris’ hawk.

These last few months have been a time of growth, which, surprisingly, has led me to old haunts I’ve been needing to revisit. It’s made my writing and hobbies more fruitful and my life generally more enjoyable. All that to say, though, I am still at the beginning and have only just started studying birds again. Identification is a valuable ally in birding.

You’re probably also anxious for an update on Untitled Dragon Rider Project. Well, I regret to inform you that the drafting process is moving more slowly than I would like. A not-so-secret-secret about Michael T. Hare is that I’m not a wizard with consistency and can often go weeks without writing. I’m hoping that, as I dip my toes into birding, my mind will have more space since my main hobby won’t involve copious amounts of mental stress. Writing is fun and all, but it can start feeling like a job pretty quickly.

Until we meet again, traveler!