A rant about The Silmarillion and the nuisance of unknowing husbands.

Hello there

I just wanted to rant a bit about something that I didn't want to annoy everyone on Facebook with.  I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan.  I used to have larger than life posters of Legolas as a teenager and even a cardboard cut out.  As I grew up though, I became enamored with the books and other works of J.R.R. Tolkien.  As a fan of LotR and the Hobbit, you have to appreciate that Tolkien took his stories to another level.  He made a world out of them!  So if you've never read the Silmarillion I would get cracking right away! (My goodness that sounded British)  It is an entire history on Middle Earth and the Gods and Goddesses who made it.

So anyway, back to my rant.  I was watching the Return of the King on Christmas Eve with my husband and son.  When it ended we got into a conversation about the Undying Lands and the ships that sail from Middle Earth.  My husband, while a fan, has never read more than the LotR books and therefore has no knowledge of the history.  He asked me why they can't just come back after they've sailed.  It's a ship and an ocean, obviously there's a way back right?  No...and I couldn't tell whether he was trying to wind me up or not because he knows how much of a nerd I can be when it comes to anything Tolkien related.  I started explaining about the Ainu and Illuvatar and the fact that you don't die when you go there.  Then he asked about the people that died in battle, which opened another huge can of worms.  Finally I got so upset I shouted 'READ THE SILMARILLION I can't explain it to you!  It'd be like explaining Christianity to you from the Bible!'  I nearly threw the book at him.  So my question is, have any of you ever loved a story so much that you couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with information?  Did you ever want to share it with someone and they replied with a blank look?

Welcome back me! And ramblings about how much I love JK Rowling

How much do you love J.K. Rowling?  She is currently my favourite author.  I am rereading the Harry Potter series right now (on Chamber of Secrets) and it stuns me every time.  As a writer (or as close as I'm ever gonna get to it) I am in awe of her.  I cannot fathom how she had that much inspiration.  How did she dream it all up?  How did she have the strength to let others read something that she held so dear to her heart?  I grew up with her words and now that they're done and saved for many years to come in the books I hold so dear I find it hard to find inspiration in my own writing.  It makes me frustrated.  I try to open myself up to creativity and it keeps evading me.  I have a plot, characters and some background for my own dream novel but I can't picture them.  I can't hear their words.  How do I imagine them?

On another note however, I am hoping to come back to this blog more often now to help my skills.  You are very welcome to comment and give me some advice on how to get through this year long writers block.  Hope everyone is staying warm :)

Namarie