Linaewen's Lake of Small Birds

It's been even longer between posting new chapters this time around, and for that I am truly sorry. Perhaps no one is even still reading this story that keeps stalling, but I hope I am right in saying that the stalling is finished -- it is my goal to complet this tale this year! To that end, I finally have a new chapter to share.

Thanks in advance for reading!


( Lords of Gondor Chapter 60 -- The Greatest Good News )

I've tried over and over again to post the latest chapter update here, but the cut will simply not work! It cuts the title only, and leaves the long bank of text of the chapter visible -- which defeats the purpose of a cut, of course! So I am going to give up and post a link to the latest chapter instead. 

Lords of Gondor Chapter 58 -- Horns from the North

Sorry for any extra steps it might take to read and/or comment, if you are so inclined!

One of the LotR writing communities I belong to is having a discussion based on a meme called "30 Days of Headcanon", in which each day you explain a little something about your own views of the "universe" you write.  I couldn't resist sharing a little something for Day 2, which concerned "something about a character you are hopelessly in love with."  That would be Boromir, of course.  ;-)

When I first started reading LotR as a young person in 8th grade, I was immediately drawn to the Men of the tale. I was very fond of the hobbits (Sam in particular) but it was the stories involving the Men that really piqued my interest. I started out as an Aragorn fan, but somehow, after a second reading of the trilogy, Boromir worked his way into my affections, and once he got my attention, that was that.

I still have old copies of the trilogy where I have underlined in green pen all the times Boromir was especially cool or honorable or strong. It was always special to me to see how many times he is mentioned or remembered with honor and respect by other characters even after his death! I've underlined every word of it. ;-) My favorite Boromir "adventure" in LotR is the time they spend on Caradhras, where I believe Boroimir's true character shines out as he is instrumental in saving everyone from the snow storm.

Boromir's fall from grace as he is tempted by the Ring endears him to me much more than it angers me, because he is shown as being very much a real person who has faults and weaknesses, and who has the strength of character to acknowledge those weaknesses in the end, even though it is after his fall. Sometimes it takes a hard fall to help people see clearly where they need to change, and I think Boromir was like that. After almost 35 years of loving Boromir, when the idea came to pursue how that acknowledgement of his own weakness and fault might have played out if he had survived at Amon Hen, I couldn't resist, and began exploring through writing Boromir's journey towards home and redemption. That was ten years ago, and I'm still working on it!

I'm only slightly less in love with Boromir's family.  Faramir and Denethor are such a part of Boromir in my headcanon that my love for him extends to them as well -- and even further, to all Men of Gondor!  Having so many awesome Men to write about makes for a pretty fun time, I must say.  ;-)

But Boromir is still my favorite, and there are still many stories about him to be written that I haven't discovered yet in my "universe."  Guess I'll go work on writing some of those now!

The story which won the Finish-a-thon 2012 poll was Lords of Gondor. Thus, I am committed to writing 7,000 words for this story by the due date of June 8th at midnight! Real Life is holding me back from making the progress I wanted to make towards this goal, but I'm not giving up. I'm a third of the way there with this latest chapter, yay!

Here is Lords of Gondor Chapter 49, the first installment towards my Finish-a-thon 2012 goal:


( Lords of Gondor Chapter 49 )

Once upon a time, there was a story that I was writing, posting a new chapter every week.  Due to lots of different things, it got harder to keep to that schedule, but I did try to update fairly often.  Somewhere along the line it came down to posting one new chapter a year, if you can believe it!!  That's been the trend lately.  It hardly seems possible, since this story is always in the back of my mind, but the dates of posting don't lie.

I have, of course, been writing other things, so it's not like I've been totally dormant!  I have written quite a bit this past year, though I do believe I have not gotten around to posting it in my own journal.  Methinks I need to change my posting habits a bit, eh?

In any case, the latest chapter in the Lords of Gondor saga -- half written for more than a year -- is at last complete and ready for your viewing pleasure!  Chapter 48 is now knocking on the door -- and I vow a Gondorian vow that it will be written and posted before the end of the year!

If you need some review of what has happened previously -- or if you are reading for the first time -- just click on the "lords of gondor" tag at the bottom of the post and previous chapters will magically appear!


Thanks for reading!!

Well, the cicada plot bunny really gave the Lords of Gondor epic a run for its money in the Finish-a-thon poll!  They were tied for quite awhile there, right up until the end!  However, Lords of Gondor pulled ahead at the last minute, so that is the tale that I am committed to "finish."

Of course, there really is no way I can finish it in just 8 weeks, which is the amount of time I have to spend on this writing marathon.  So I am going to instead choose a set amount of words to write, and that will be my goal.

So, in order to be accountable to myself and to the Finish-a-thon group, I hereby commit to writing at least 8,000 words for Lords of Gondor by the due date of August 13th!

I actually calculated my average chapter size from past chapters and 8,000 words comes to about 3 chapters -- I should be able to handle that, right?  *hopes*

I still might have to write that cicada tale, also -- but not until after I've made sure I've done what I need to for the winning tale.  ;-)

Well, it's been almost 8 months since my last chapter, ugh.  But we won't think about that!  Because it won't happen again, or Boromir and his pals will have my head.  ;-)

If you need some review or are reading for the first time, just click on the tag at the bottom and previous chapters will magically appear.  Enjoy the tale!


( Lords of Gondor Chaper 45 )


Thanks for reading!

It's March and that means Back to Middle-earth Month.  I missed the beginning of it, being fairly droopy all weekend, but I have something to share today -- a new Lords of Gondor chapter, whew!  Just click on the link and enjoy a journey to Gondor.

If you need some review of what has been happening prior to this, just click on the tag and you'll see all the previous chapters posted as well.  Enjoy!


Thanks for reading!  Now I'm off to catch up on what I missed over the weekend!

Just a few updates here, to keep folks informed:

• We heard from some of our friends in Pakistan; it's fairly dicey there with demonstrations and unrest stemming from people's shock over the assassination, but our friends are safe enough.  One thing we all learned living there was what to do and not do when there was unrest!  Thanks so much for your expressions of concern and for your continued thoughts and prayers!
  
• It's snowing big time here in Wisconsin.  I'm thinking of going out to shovel just for the fun of it.  ;-)   It's going to be a lot of snow, but at least it's not the blizzard my parents had to deal with last weekend.  We plan to drive to see them tomorrow, but it should all be plowed out by then.
• Project End Well is limping along, and it looks like I won't quite end as well as I had hoped, but I plan to judge my success according to quality rather than quantity, so I think I will still be happy with the result.  Anything not accomplished in the next 3.5 days will go into my resolutions for next year.

Speaking of next year, one of the goals I had was to get over my writing slump and get caught up on some of the pieces I have that are half finished.  I have several things I am working on at the moment, and the inspiration is flowing well, so I am very pleased about that.  I won't finish everything in the next few days, but I will finish some!

One of the things I'm happiest about at the moment is that I have finally managed a new chapter in my WIP Lords of Gondor.  It has been four months approaching five since I last posted a chapter, and that's just not good!  So one of my resolutions was to make sure that didn't extend into the new year.

So....  here it is!  If you need some review, just click on the tag and you'll see all the previous chapters posted as well.  Enjoy!


Have a great weekend, everybody!