Silmarillion Writers' Guild

Yes, it is that time of the year again when we begin to plan the year's B2MeM event!

For those who may not be familiar with it, Back to Middle-earth Month (B2MeM) is an annual tradition observed every March by our group, usually along with lotr_community/Many Paths to Tread. (We don't yet know if they'll be joining us again, but we hope they will! :) This fandom "holiday" originated after the release of the final movie and was intended to keep the Tolkien fandom alive and active during the inevitable downswing after the excitement from the movies began to die off. The SWG was one of the original participants, and we have participated every year since.

We have offered a different challenge each year, ranging from collections of poems and story excerpts to daily writing prompts to games. (Many past B2MeM projects are on our website; details about B2MeM 2011 are here.) Before we begin planning, we like to get feedback from our members and participants about what kind of challenge they'd like to see.

So this is your chance! If you have an idea or if you liked a particular challenge we've done in the past, please let us know, either in a comment to this post or by email to moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org.

Although our mods will be slightly less buried in real-world obligations this year than they were last, we probably will have to keep in mind the amount of labor the project we choose will require. (So something that requires hours of volunteers' time each day, like 2009's Last Battle, probably won't be feasible this year.)

We also tend to choose projects that writers/artists from the wider Tolkien fandom--versus just the Silmarillion fandom--can participate in.

Finally, if you'd be interested in volunteering, or if you run a fandom group or website and your group would be interested in joining us this year, please let us know that as well.