What are you writing about now?

I have found a party who is willing to receive my work, notes and thoughts, should I be unable to find a direct successor.
He says he feels unqualified to continue the work himself, but will continue the search on behalf of it.
Oddly, he knows my mind better than anyone else in the world - and could serve as a very adequate collaborator or guide.
He's also very intelligent - clearly something I am not - and very widely conversant with the subject matter, both in "thinking, opinion, and perspective," and in Tolkien's intentions with the "moral and religous elements of Middle-earth and how he handled and incorporated them." .
His feeling of a lack of adequacy or qualification intrigues me.

That said, the things he has to say are also of great import as well. It is enough he offers to serve as a locator of an interested party. Such an offer alone, is a blessing both unexpected, and appreciated. In the end, absent my own locating of one, I may elect not to burden him with it.

@Ashley, here's an example of why I feel words are so important. (I'll stick it over here, where 'writing' is in view, and perhaps less people will view it, inciting some sort of reaction rather than action.)

Let's take the example of a tree - its crown, and its canopy.
First, some disagree a single tree has a 'canopy' - it takes multiple trees to have a 'canopy.'
Then, among those who understand a single tree has both, they feel the two things are the same.
Yet here's the deal:

Crown Definition: The complete top portion of an individual tree, including all its branches, leaves, and reproductive structures (flowers, fruits, seeds).
. The crown intercepts light for photosynthesis, respiration, bears flowers, fruits, and seeds, and aids in how the tree balances its growth. It's thickness is "usually" an indicator of its health.

Canopy Definition: While normally applied to the upper layer formed by multiple trees in a forest, applied to a single tree, “canopy” refers only to the outer leafy covering of its crown.
. The canopy intercepts sunlight, wind and rainfall, moderating the conditions underneath it, reducing water loss from the soil (roots), and shades and regulates temperature. It's the first line of defence against external stresses. (Storm, hail, heavy rain, UV rays.) It also provides a habitat function, giving niches for birds, insects, fungi and the like.

In short, the crown is the entire upper structure of the tree, crucial for its growth, reproduction, and metabolic processes. The canopy is the outer leafy cover of the crown, functioning as protection and regulation for the tree itself and for what lives beneath.

Now... why is this important?
First, because the two are totally distinct, and really 'should not' be used interchangeably as they are.

Second, and far more importantly, so people will understand what Ent means when he says "I'm scratching my canopy on this one..!!"
To scratch more deeply could produce personal harm. it's bad enough I may be disturbing the existence and well-being of 'what lies beneath.' 🤣

Ent said:

Update on the Ent's writing: There is none.
Heavily involved in restructuring and downsizing everything over this next year in preparation for retirement.
The ole heartwood just can't handle all the tendrils pertaining to 'life' at the same time any more.

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You'll find that without a day job sucking up huge amounts of time and energy - after a six-month detoxification period - that you'll have more time and energy for doing what you love to do.

We'll be here hoping that's writing!

This reminds me... I haven't provided the Ent-tale of The Demise of Entish Wealth on the Discord yet.
Something worth sharing, though I've no idea why. Like the other Ent-tales, it's "just there."

Volume I, A Tale of Two Tales, had 109,596 words at the start of the month, now it's at 126,192. I was aiming for 125,000 by the end of this month, so yeah!

I have 45 chapters done, 5 started, and circa 9 more to go in addition to those. Hoping to finish at least one chapter by the end of the month tomorrow.

I've had a good start to Volume 5, the final volume in my fantasy series, but really had no middle or end figured out.

I'm very pleased that last week, a whole bunch of ideas for how to proceed with that book popped into my head. Now I have a bunch of things that will be great to include and which will help me finalize the plot. Yeah!

I'm writing up my War Against Angmar RPG Campaign/FanFic.

My last chapter of the first arc of One Man In The Shadows so coming along slowly but surely. There's just a lot to cover, and I keep getting side-tracked, which means this chapter is going to be much longer than I had expected. (6-7k, based on my earlier assumptions)
But I don't think any of my readers would complain about it getting too long.

I hadn’t been able to write much in recent months, having not the mental capacity nor imagination for it.

However, last week inspiration struck and I was able to produce a short fanfic scene (just under 800 words) called Stars, where Fingon shares his excitement of stargazing with a visitor. For the first time ever, I was able to publish something in the fanfic realm, and I am proud of myself for it. ☺️ I posted it here on TTF as well as on Ao3.

On the other side of things, I discovered there’s a Tolkien Horror Week coming up at the end of October, and inspiration has been churning in my mind as a result. It’s part of the reason why I’m reading Dracula right now. 😂 Whether it will ever see the light of day or ultimately live on only in my mind, only time will tell. I’m better with the “screenwriting” stage of writing than I am with actually writing the story itself. 😅

I myself am working on a series of letters to be shown at a personal exhibition hopefully within the next year. There is no exact title for these letters as a whole, but they are all addressed to someone named, "Sardimum." The letters are all written in calligraphic form, so they also hold weight visually. Some of the people writing to Sardimum are, a caterpillar, who has taken resisdence illegally in a tree owned by Sardimum, another is the broker for said tree who lets him know that someone has taken to squatting in the tree (the caterpillar.) And finally the person who has written most of these letters to him is his lover who is unnamed, who writes to him in a very longing way, telling me they are apart and have been for quite some time. Most of the letters from his lover revolve around old memories of them as young lovers, my favorite was one about them being in tangerine groves looking for good citrus to make juice out of while the pickers of said grove were away on a break so they wouldn't get caught.

Making steady progress on Volume 1, A Tale of Two Tales. Our heroine is learning the ways of the shadow world and setting up an orphanage, possibly Middle-earth's first.

128,549 words. 47 chapters done, 4 started, ~8 additional to go.

Indeed, I wonder why such institutions were never mentioned in Tolkien's works.

WatcherWraith said:

Indeed, I wonder why such institutions were never mentioned in Tolkien's works.

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The normal course of events would be that children would be taken in by their clan, or family members, or fellow villagers. Or die, if the societal problem causing their orphan status is severe enough.

I posit that Arthedain has increasing problems as the Witch-king of Angmar gains strength. He brings colder weather to the region, which means a shorter growing season and more frequently ruined crops. More crops are burned by reavers or ruined through sorcerous banes infiltrated into Arthedain. Fewer people have spare food for extra mouths. At a certain point, unless someone steps up to address the problem, kids start dying in droves, either through malnutrition or violence.

Enter our heroine, who sees a need and acts to meet it. She sweet-talks nobles and the wealthy into contributing funds, and her fellow elves in Lindon to help build and run it in a hidden location until humans can be found to do so.

Volume 1, A Tale of Two Tales, 129,305 words, 47 chapters at first draft, 6 more started, and ~5 additional to start. Making slow, steady progress!

Had a very long Friday at school in my figure drawing class. I can already see the progress! Yeah! Learned a variety of good techniques that make it much easier to quickly get the basic body pose correct. That's a biggie!

Just got a Tengwar keyboard for my computer. It's gorgeous. It also makes it a lot easier to type something with the Tengwar letters! Woot!

This is my first try. I've included the Sindarin version of the poem in the Latin alphabet also. Couldn't figure out how to do the dash in e-naur.

david_wendelken said:

Just got a Tengwar keyboard for my computer. It's gorgeous. It also makes it a lot easier to type something with the Tengwar letters! Woot!

This is my first try. I've included the Sindarin version of the poem in the Latin alphabet also. Couldn't figure out how to do the dash in e-naur.View attachment 44434

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A Tengwar keyboard? That's really cool. I had no idea such a thing existed.

Yes, where did you find it?

Google Drop Keyboard Lord of the Rings. They have several versions. Youtube has some videos explaining how to use it with Tengwar fonts. I think their is a Cirth keyboard also

david_wendelken said:

Volume 1, A Tale of Two Tales, 129,305 words, 47 chapters at first draft, 6 more started, and ~5 additional to start. Making slow, steady progress!

Had a very long Friday at school in my figure drawing class. I can already see the progress! Yeah! Learned a variety of good techniques that make it much easier to quickly get the basic body pose correct. That's a biggie!

Click to expand...

Volume 1, A Tale of Two Tales. 133,741 words, 48 chapters done, 4 started, ~5 additional to go.

Steady progress!

Showed my latest chapter to a friend who's been reading them all along. Her comment: "Wow. That was a ride!"

Still had a wrinkle to work out to finish Volume 1, A Tale of Two Tales. I have 4 chapters that cover events in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, the War of Wrath, the sinking of Beleriand, and the diaspora of elves who chose not to go to Valinor. The Nirnaeth chapter has a lot done, the War of Wrath just had a few notes, the Sinking of Beleriand has some written, and the diaspora is written.

But I hadn't quite worked out the specific events that lead to how two characters parted ways and one of those made friends with someone else. Without that knot unravelled, the story wouldn't work.

I think I cracked that nut this morning.

Now I have to get to work on the final 25 figure drawing sketches (of the fifty) I have to turn into drawing class tomorrow.