Silmarillion Writers' Guild

Over the past forty days, thirty-five different creators have shared over 100,000 words of stories and poetry and sixteen works of art. Putting together a project of this size requires many hundreds of hours of creativity and industry. I am indebted to those whose skills and efforts made the Silmarillion40 possible.

My first thank-you goes always to my comoderators here on the SWG, who support projects like the Silmarillion40 through their planning expertise and devotion of their time: Russandol, Angelica, and Elleth. A very special thank-you goes also to Lyra, who works with me on running the site's challenges and ended up swept into Silmarillion40 planning when I started using our shared challenge document to plan the event. Lyra stepped up to make the beautiful border on the Silmarillion40 site, wrote most of the forty prompts, and authored the introduction when, nearly on the eve of the project's debut, I realized I hadn't done this yet and wouldn't have time. This project would not have had the splendor it did or be nearly as well run without Lyra's assistance.

Three volunteers set aside time every week to make sure that the day's fanworks were shared on our Dreamwidth and LiveJournal communities. Thank you Angelica, Lyra, and Hrymfaxe for taking on this regular obligation and watching out for and helping each other without a word of prompting from me.

Grundy, Fernstrike, and Jenni volunteered as beta readers, a job that cannot be underestimated because having in-house betas available to our authors ensures that no one is left out from participating simply because they don't have a beta in the Silmarillion fandom. Ensuring as many people can participate on the SWG as want to has always been a core value for us. Thank you to our betas for helping make that happen!

I want to give a special thank you to hennethgalad, who pinch-hit for not one but two stories (and the Day One collection!) after authors had to drop out at the last minute. A willingness to write what's needed with only a few days' notice cannot be undervalued, and hennethgalad's swift willingness to step in made my job much less stressful during this event. Thank you also to the other contributors to the Day One collection--Angelica, amyfortuna, Himring, Jenni, Lyra, Vulgarweed, Oshun, Independence1776, LadyBrooke, Fernstrike, Linda Hoyland, and lordnelson100--for collaborating at the last minute so that we'd have a written fanwork to post on the first day.

Lots of people offered friendship and encouragement--a forty-day event is long (and begins well before the first fanwork is posted). My weekend chat buddies Hrymfaxe and Robinka, who listen to me whine and rant on a weekly basis. My friend Oshun, who I know is always there when I need someone (which is a nice way of saying that she also listens to me whine and rant). Lyra, who is not only brilliant and talented but always patient when it takes me more time than I care to admit to reply to her emails (and who is still waiting for me to fix a posting mistake I made on the archive that I promised to fix on Day One ... and here it is Day Forty now. Yikes.) Hennethgalad, who sends me beautiful seascapes and webcams of the ocean just because. My husband Bobby, who has done more than his fair share of livestock feeding, garden harvesting, and housecleaning while I juggled this event, professional coursework, and the start of the school year. So many friends who have encouraged me and the SWG now and over the years, whether promoting the event or reccing a Silm40 fanwork or simply commenting--whether they know I'm listening or not--about how much they are enjoying the event ... all of these seemingly small gestures mean more than I can say. Thank you.

And finally--to those thirty-five creators, who stepped up to make something beautiful or thought-provoking or funny or heartfelt (or all of the above!) for this event. You shared your time, your talent, and your imagination with us. Silmarillion40 would not have happened without you, and I continue to be awed by both the talent and generosity with that talent in our small corner of the fannish world. Thank you all for sharing both with us.

Peace and Elves to all of you,
Dawn Felagund
SWG founder and owner

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• Any prompts you'd like to complete (make sure to let us know if you plan to create writing or art for those prompts!)