Branching out and seasonal sharing

A while back you helped me hit my first goal with this Steady project, raising £250 a month to fund up to two days’ research and writing. I’ve now set a further goal: doubling that to raise £500 a month. Here I want to tell you more about what’s ahead.

Projects like this don’t turn into overnight success stories. It takes the generosity and imagination of supporters, but it also takes the persistence, stubbornness and imagination of the creator – me. So lately I’ve been spending some time developing John Garth on Tolkien’s Life and Works.

I’ve been talking to others who run Tolkien crowdfunding projects – thanks, Marcel Buelles and Alan Sisto!

One result of this is a small but much-needed expansion in my membership plans: the introduction of a middle tier between Strider and Wingfoot. I couldn’t rightly call it Trotter, which sounds slower than Strider. I thought Telcontar a bit obscure (and of course it essentially means the same as Strider). And Elessar or Elfstone would have broken with my metaphor of travel. So I’ve gone with Quickbeam, because he’s also a great and speedy traveller. And also because it gives me an excuse to publish the photo above, showing me with a curious-looking companion near where Tolkien trained on Cannock Chase in 1915–16. (It’s by Staffordshire librarian Scott Whitehouse, who organised the Staffordshire Tolkien Trail and accompanying exhibition with Great Haywood historian David Robbie.)

I’ve also been thinking about what this particular Steady project can deliver for you, besides the knowledge that you’re helping fund research towards a further book. And also for me, besides your help with funding. Some of this is reflected in the revised project description here.

These are the salient points…

As a supporter, you’ll receive regular treats in your inbox, also available to members as posts on this website. They’ll include:

● Insights into hugely varied aspects of Tolkien’s life, inspirations and creative genius

● News about my talks, research trips and publications

● Reports on my progress with research and writing

● Thoughts about my experiences of writing and research

I’ll gradually be making available older, previously published articles and papers too.

You can also help by making this a venue for conversation. If my posts spark your own thoughts, I invite you to jump in with your own comments. Soon I hope we can talk directly too, such as via online Q&As, a chat room, Zoom sessions.

Those who have helped me most, whether by dialogue or by funding, will be thanked in print. And simply by supporting this crowdfunding project, all of you will help me do what I’m uniquely good at – so that you can read more exceptional books about Tolkien.

Of course, I aim to do all this without stealing too much from my writing time. Setting up and refining this crowdfunding project has taken time, but looking ahead I hope to settle into a healthy rhythm.

Like any writer I need regular practice. Writing to a regular deadline is good for exercising the brain and good for overall productivity. It will also be a good way to ensure I keep dipping into Tolkien even when I have other priorities.

The fact is that researching and writing the way I do produces an alarming amount of unpublished material. My computer overfloweth with outtakes and tangential thoughts waiting to be shared, and my head sometimes feels fit to burst with further ideas that won't necessarily fit into any book I have in mind. I want to get them out in the open!

Thanks again for all your support so far.

Gift memberships

It’s a time of giving. It’s also a time of head-scratching for gift ideas and wasteful expense on gift wrap and shipping, presents that may just get put away unused, and so on.

Here’s another idea. Do you know someone who appreciates my work on Tolkien and would like to read more? Did you know you can give them membership of this project?

To see how easy it is, just go to the membership page (Opens in a new window) and click on Gift a membership.* You can buy any of the plans, including the new, mid-tier Quickbeam.

As soon as you buy the gift membership, an email goes to the recipient telling them about it and how to access it (but not telling them the price). When the gift expires, it will not auto-renew.

There’s more information here (Opens in a new window).

*No, I don’t like gift as a verb either.

© John Garth, 2023. All rights reserved.