What are you writing about now?

Ent said:

THE GOOD NEWS

Click to expand...

The OTHER GOOD NEWS:
The writing should be much quicker in some respects, due to my familiarity with the primary source texts involved.

The concern comes down to one purely of size and time, if I take it to multiple versions. I'd like to do an 'exhaustive' treatment in the end... (thus, the consideration of doing scaled down versions first, and expanding later.)

'Revised and expanded' has this appeal: if I don't get the exhaustive versions done, at least I can say
...."If I should die before I'm done, I thank the Lord my soul's been won..!"

I can't think of a better arena than this modified concept in which to work for the remainder of time granted me.
"Redeem the time, for the days are evil."

I'm so excited I can't stand myself.
Becoming positively hasty, I am...!

This change in direction lets me set e-Pen to e-Paper immediately, and at last, working on the Prologue, the Introduction and the Preface, all of which have been busily writing themselves in my head as I've been sitting here 'working for the Man' all day.

I can actually be getting to "the writing" as I finish up what reading, research and review I yet want/need to do.
I feared falling into the trap of "endless researching, never writing" going in the other direction. I literally feel I've been 'set free to fly.'

Ent said:

I'm so excited I can't stand myself.
Becoming positively hasty, I am...!

This change in direction lets me set e-Pen to e-Paper immediately, and at last, working on the Prologue, the Introduction and the Preface, all of which have been busily writing themselves in my head as I've been sitting here 'working for the Man' all day.

I can actually be getting to "the writing" as I finish up what reading, research and review I yet want/need to do.
I feared falling into the trap of "endless researching, never writing" going in the other direction. I literally feel I've been 'set free to fly.'

Click to expand...

Sounds exhilarating! Make sure to keep yourself well supplied with Ent-draught, too!

Finished the new edit of Volume II up to page 127 today. Woot!

Need some advice!

Concept: Elves in Lórien organize themselves into groups of people who do similar work. In more primitive times, each group would meet in a different nearby clearing, or glade, in the forest. So the term "glade" came to also mean "a group of people doing much the same thing". There might be a Weaver's Glade, a Glade of Smiths, etc.

Platoon-sized military units scattered around the forest borders would each have a home base and need a clearing to train in, so they also adopted the term.

This is such an old practice that a Nandorin term would have been used and likely would survive the influx of Sindarin.

Make sense?

The best term I've seen so far is "lant.", Sindarin for a clearing in a forest. Plural is laint. Collective plural is lannath. Can't say I like it from a "that word sounds neato!" point of view.

I had just been using the word "glade" for this concept. But in editing, I realized I sometimes mean an actual glade, i.e., clearing in the forest, and sometimes I mean a group of people doing the same thing. It's usually but not always clear from context. I'm thinking that until I find an elvish term for it I like, I could use Glade to mean the group of people and glade to mean the clearing in the forest.

Would that be clear enough? Comments?

@david_wendelken sir...
Combined question and comment.
Are you using footnotes? I forget.,
If you were using footnotes, the first use of glade could be footnoted, with a succinct comment 'glade is a term used for both a platoon's clearing in the forest for training, and for a group of people who do essentially the same kind of work."

I feel even if you capitalize one, and don't capitalize the other, it would still need a footnote or explanation somehow. Ultimately, two. One for the capitalized form, and one for the form not capitalized.

(Or, just explain the difference between the two and which applies to which in ONE footnote on the first use of the word in the work regardless of its own (lack or use of) capitalization.

Of course, 'footnotes' are cumbersome if they are being gathered at the end of a chapter, versus bottom of the page the word is on.

Got nothin' else for ya at this time.... will ponder for later.

Ent said:

@david_wendelken sir...
Combined question and comment.
Are you using footnotes? I forget.,
If you were using footnotes, the first use of glade could be footnoted, with a succinct comment 'glade is a term used for both a platoon's clearing in the forest for training, and for a group of people who do essentially the same kind of work."

I feel even if you capitalize one, and don't capitalize the other, it would still need a footnote or explanation somehow. Ultimately, two. One for the capitalized form, and one for the form not capitalized.

(Or, just explain the difference between the two and which applies to which in ONE footnote on the first use of the word in the work regardless of its own (lack or use of) capitalization.

Of course, 'footnotes' are cumbersome if they are being gathered at the end of a chapter, versus bottom of the page the word is on.

Got nothin' else for ya at this time.... will ponder for later.

Click to expand...

Yes, I am using footnotes. I'm planning on putting the "back story" on the usage of the term in the footnote as well as whatever else is relevant (based on how I proceed). I just don't want people to have to think hard about which I mean after that point.

david_wendelken said:

Need some advice!

Concept: Elves in Lórien organize themselves into groups of people who do similar work. In more primitive times, each group would meet in a different nearby clearing, or glade, in the forest. So the term "glade" came to also mean "a group of people doing much the same thing". There might be a Weaver's Glade, a Glade of Smiths, etc.

Platoon-sized military units scattered around the forest borders would each have a home base and need a clearing to train in, so they also adopted the term.

This is such an old practice that a Nandorin term would have been used and likely would survive the influx of Sindarin.

Make sense?

The best term I've seen so far is "lant.", Sindarin for a clearing in a forest. Plural is laint. Collective plural is lannath. Can't say I like it from a "that word sounds neato!" point of view.

I had just been using the word "glade" for this concept. But in editing, I realized I sometimes mean an actual glade, i.e., clearing in the forest, and sometimes I mean a group of people doing the same thing. It's usually but not always clear from context. I'm thinking that until I find an elvish term for it I like, I could use Glade to mean the group of people and glade to mean the clearing in the forest.

Would that be clear enough? Comments?

Click to expand...

Unfortunately I do not know enough about the elvish language to be able to suggest an appropriate word. However, one possible way could be through "show, don't tell", as in you display the capitalized Glade in certain circumstances related to the gatherings of elves and then the uncapitalized glade in other circumstances. You may have already thought of this, but it's all I know of which might help.

Finished the new Grammarly edit up to page 182. Pacing and momentum is improving, so is readability. I'll do a pacing and momentum edit next because (a) there's still room for improvement and (b) it's actually quite helpful on a continuity edit, which I also need to do.

Some of my new bookbinding tools showed up today, the rest should ship tomorrow.

Tomorrow is an enameling day. Need to get those book covers for the prototype done!

Well, slept in past 11am this morning. Chores and honey time meant no energy left over for enamelling. I did get the Grammarly edit up to page 234, though!

Editing done up (and including) page 253. Time to clean off my studio table and start enameling!

Finished the new Grammarly edit on the book, proper, at page 263. Now I have to do the appendices!

Still have these to edit:

Appendix A: The Annals of Lorien (3A 3021 to 4A 311)
Appendix B: Customs of Lorien (A festival and a word game)
Appendix C: Miscellaneous Letters and Tales. (3 tales and a letter from the past, and a new letter to people in Valinor)
Appendix D: Household Inventory (Extensive listing of Household Regalia, 47 items)
Appendix E; List of (sadly still non-existent) Illustrations.

Oh, time to go see if the enamelling kiln has heated up. I've got the first firing of the book's back cover ready to go into it.

david_wendelken said:

Finished the new Grammarly edit on the book, proper, at page 263. Now I have to do the appendices!

Still have these to edit:

Appendix A: The Annals of Lorien (3A 3021 to 4A 311)
Appendix B: Customs of Lorien (A festival and a word game)
Appendix C: Miscellaneous Letters and Tales. (3 tales and a letter from the past, and a new letter to people in Valinor)
Appendix D: Household Inventory (Extensive listing of Household Regalia, 47 items)
Appendix E; List of (sadly still non-existent) Illustrations.

Oh, time to go see if the enamelling kiln has heated up. I've got the first firing of the book's back cover ready to go into it.

Click to expand...

Congratulations! Sounds like you're close!

After some conversation and encouragement from others, I have made some steps towards progress in my own work once more. Since I must first make some study of war and its effects upon the minds of men before I can continue my plot progression, I have decided to make up some individual characters I happen to know will be essential for my story. Amandil had to have sailed with a crew, after all, for only he and his three servants could not have operated a ship on their own.

They must all be unique(as in, I must not make templates and copy-paste, as that would be downright cheating). I have been making notes on the landscape of Númenor and on whatever cultural hints I have found in the Unfinished Tales to try and help me come up with a few things. I know, at the very least, I'll need a doctor, a pilot, sailors and some kind of lore master. This last person I believe to be necessary because of his potential knowledge of the Valar, the Eldar, how to speak to them and what to expect from them, ect. Of course, at the time of their sailing, Amandil had no thought of going to Middle Earth, so he would not have thought to bring specifically fighters, though all his men would have known how to fight and especially how to shoot...

Anyway, before I ramble too much further, this is my update and what I'm working on now.

Well, big life change, folks....
Now the last 2 books are (pretty much) done, as you know I've been struggling with what to do with the 'next season of life.' (In my case, probably the final season of life.)

What I'm about to say will make sense to some, but perhaps not to others.

I've been unable to get to peace about what to do with my remaining time. I've my list of 7 books... and for a short time very recently, I thought it was going to be Tolkien's Works and the Elements of Religion. It seemed to me the work with the greatest Kingdom impact. Yet I still was not at peace.

Praying, I found I was not praying correctly. to discover His will. I was praying, but limiting the scope of the arena to 'the works I was holding on on my plate to do." One cannot limit the scope, if one wants to know His will.

I needed to eliminate 'my plate' from the equation, and open things up to "all things everywhere" to get to His thelema' (preferred will).
Once I did that, the response came: immediately "reconnect with HELPS Ministries, and The Discovery Bible tool." (The Discovery Bible tool is the most incredible thing.)

Years ago I worked with HELPS Ministries in many ways. Helped with editing and proofreading in the 7000 page lexicon, helped with training people in how to use The Discovery Bible tool... especially pastors etc. in countries where there is very limiited pastoral training, and the like.

I also helped with BibleHub's new Bible translation, the Berean Study Bible and Berean Literal Bible, making several passes through with editorial and translation suggestions, etc.

HELPS Ministries and BibleHub have worked together for some time.

Well... when that Word came to me 2 days ago, I reached out to HELPS. Of course, they're at a critical time, as they are taking the Berean Bibles to the next level of textual accuracy and translation, and will then fold the Berean Literal Bible into The Discovery Bible tool, linking in all the incredible helps it contains for non-Greek/Hebrew trained people to easily get deeper into what is really being said in the Biblical text. Far deeper than English translations can take us.

So... now I've been asked to sit on the Translation Committee, developing the Translation Guidelines, making sure as the work progresses it stays consistent with the desire for deep accuracy, and is consistently applied throughout the work. Then I'll also be participating in the editing of the language, as we take the Berean Literal Bible into two levels... one a little smoother for use on BibleHub's website, and the other the even more intensely accurate/literal for use in The Discovery Bible tool itself.

I am now at peace, knowing where I am truly to be spending my time, rather than where and how I thought I might be spending my time to make a Kingdom impact in my last season of life.

I'm going to be far more busy than I had thought. Please consider me effectively 'hourned'.

Don't hesitate to tag me directly, if you have any use for anything I might be able to provide... but I will otherwise be in absentia.
(I've got a good deal of research into the depths of the Hebrew and Greek to help support what needs to be done, and help make the guiding decisions on the translation principles and executaion now.)

Obviously, I won't be able to share much about the details of the work here... just wanting to explain why I've gone in a different direction at this time.

I'll once again be asking @Erestor Arcamen to release me from Mod duties... but he keeps telling me he's lost the key to the lock holding my chans in place.
You just gotta love the guy. 😄
But this time, I'm bringing Brakish's Okun Laser to help... (Independence Day: Resurgence.)

Keep at it, folks... every one of you is a star, dappling around in the stellar realms..! Encourage one another.

I wish you all the best. His Will be done and His glory be accomplished.

Best of luck, @Ent ! (Just remember, many seedlings can sprout from the same tree. When your work on religion is blocked, set to work on your own book.)

I have 42 pages in Book 2, spread across three tales, left to edit with Grammarly. They are actually tales out of Book 1 that I put into the appendices of Book 2 (since they are referenced a great deal in that text.)

I confess I've quite lost track of which version of those three tales is the definitive one. So I need to compare them against one another and also edit them.

Here are two photos of my enamelling progress yesterday. This is from the back cover. The mottled parchment/vellum look is taking shape. (It usually takes 1 1/2 coats to get it right, based upon my testing.). The black letters have been enamelled. I have to do the red ones last as the red burns out and turns brown with repeated firings. The golden mallorn leaves are starting to turn gold, they will get more so each time I put the piece in the kiln.

david_wendelken said:

When your work on religion is blocked, set to work on your own book.)

Click to expand...

Yes, there are probably 2 avenues I will have as 'side deals.'
EA is leaving me with Wiki privileges, so I can dapple with words there as time permits, and I will be working on my "romp" of a book, Mankind, Life, and the Religion of Opinion."

Appendix A for MLATROP will be its "Statement of Faith."
Appendix B will be its "Doctrine and Covenants."

It is a book born out of the amusement provided me through my wide-ranging travels in the world and across the internet, observing Opinion, its applcation, impacts, and results, everywhere I have gone.

OK well, here we go - there are actually three things I yet must do before I move on. from this world. (I get to blame @david_wendelken for this, though there's no blame, just insight.)

CONFESSION: (Remember, 'confession' is not a negative or a positive thing in the Greek and Hebrew (biblical) application, Confession is simply "comming into full agreement with the Truth." Much could be said about this, but I refrain.)

First, I am to help bring the next level of work for HELPS/TDB to fruition.
But, I am also to have fun writing Tolkien's Wiorks and the Elements of Religion... as well as Mankind, Life, and the Religion of Opinioon.

Those two books have become so much a part of my mental makeup already, writing them at this point becomes fairly easy. Comforting. Relaxing.

Especially compared to the primary work... things like "making sure the dative when applied to the direct object of a sentence never gets translated as an Accusative or Infinitive, as many translators and translations do, because this changes both the meaning of the statement, and way its rendered," and such things as that.

Helping in developing the "rules" for the translators to use and consistently apply, is going to be a bit fatiguing. Especially since I'm short quite a bit of the fundamental knowledge I'm now working to lay in.

Writing the books as a sideline will be relaxing by comparison...

That said, there WILL be breaks in the primary action, etc.

Perhaps I can post some of the developments of the more relaxed book-writing as I go along, for input, improvement, and if nothing else, your amusements.
"Co-authored by the Writers of The Tolkien Forum". One never knows...!