23rd September. I've added part 35 of the Eowyn/Legolas challenge, in which we learn what Eowyn saw at the end of the last part.

Don't worry—whatever happens next, it will not be that!

...

I've checked all the links on the Fan Fiction page and added some more L/E stories. Most of the new ones are unfinished, but there are two lovely short pieces about Eowyn and her dog, I Am Of The House Of Eorl and Ease My Heart, by NierielRaina at www.scribeoz.com. The second story, which is very sad, features a friendship between Eowyn and Legolas.

...

I've also added more characters to the Who's Who page.

...

And here are even more icons!

9th September. I've added the Eowyn/Legolas challenge part 34! That means I'm a third of the way through, and it's only taken two years so far!

The new part ends with a bit of a cliffhanger—what does Eowyn see?

...

I've been poring over my website stats recently ('repeat visits' and 'total pageloads') and I just want to say: thank you for coming and, whether you're a new visitor or a repeat visitor, I would love to hear from you!

...

Orlando on stage. No, I haven't been to see him again :-(

But I have listened to a radio interview in which he talks about the play. It's very interesting, especially when he describes how the story seems to stay with people: "It's one of those things where you watch this play and you take it home and let it sit with you a little bit. I've had friends come and see it—they go, 'Yes, I really went home and thought about it afterwards; it really resonated in my life…'" (That's exactly what it did to me).

He also talks about his character's breakdown, and how it's affected him, and then, at the end, he suddenly gets excited, explaining why his stage father (Mr Shaw, played by Tim Healy), is the only character whose life has real meaning.

You can download the interview (as an mp3 file) here:

...

More icons!

29th August. Two updates in one week!

I've added another short story, The servant and the Lady, which is based on a supposedly true tale about an eleventh century English—well, read it and see!

My head is crammed with story ideas at the moment but, unfortunately, not the ones I should be having. I'll make a start on the next long story soon but, in the meantime, I'll be writing more of the Eowyn/Legolas challenge.

26th August. Just a quick update: part 33 of the Eowyn/Legolas challenge, at last—Eowyn makes a decision, what consquences will it have?

…

Some more icons!

Some of my most recent icons use the lovely resources provided by

Thank you to her!

19th August. I thought that the site was looking a bit tired so I've made a few changes—I hope you like them.

I've still got the References section to do, but I have temporary access to a fast connection tonight, so I'm taking the opportunity to upload all the pages I've done so far!

And I hope to have the next part of the Eowyn/Legolas challenge up fairly soon :-)

14th August. Hooray, an update at last!

I've added part 32 of the Eowyn/Legolas challenge: Legolas is reminded of his wolf dream—what does it mean?

I've also added a short story, called Something in the Woods 2, which was inspired by an experience I had at Stonehenge one midsummer's evening—no, I wasn't smoking anything, my brain just couldn't accept that a policeman was sitting on the stones. I think that Something in the Woods will turn out to be a multi-part story that interweaves with the next long story, Season of Mists—I really don't think that Legolas, Eowyn & Gimli will let things rest as they are!

(This is not, btw, the Eowyn-meets-a-fascinating-stranger story I mentioned before. That one is still 'under development').

…

Orlando again. I saw Orlando on stage again, and the news is that, yes, he seems much more confident now! In the second half of the play, he is particularly good: desperately unhappy, awkward, but continually trying to pull himself together and smooth things over. As I said before, he delivers one of the most crucial lines in the play—and now he takes his time over it, and makes sure that we hear it properly. And at the end, when the cast take their bows, he's suddenly a completely different person!

Here are two good reviews from reputable British newspapers:

I wish I could go again!

One interesting thing: the play was written in 1969. On the way out, I overheard two teenage girls discussing why the oldest brother (Andrew) is so angry. One of them said: "Personally, I think that, when he was staying with the neighbour, he was abused." And it occurred to me that, although it was a very valid interpretation of what we had seen, 'abuse' is a modern idea, and I doubt that anyone, including the playwright, would have been thinking about abuse in 1969.

…

More icons!

(Anyone who says that Orlando can't act should just compare the dignified, 3000-year-old elf in the first with the irrepressible young human in the third!)

22nd July. Back to the Eowyn/Legolas challenge.

It may take me a little while longer to get back into the swing of it, but this chapter introduces the next part of the plot :-)

...

Yet more icons!

...

Orlando on stage. I saw Orlando in In Celebration last weekend!

When I arrived at the theatre, about an hour and a half early, to pick up my ticket, there was already a huge crowd outside, most of them just waiting to see him arrive. I thought, "Give the poor guy a break!", and scurried off into the alleyway round the corner, where I lurked for about an hour, until the doors opened.

The play is set in the north east of England, in the late 1960s. Orlando is the youngest of three brothers who have come back to the family home to celebrate their parents' fortieth wedding anniversary. Their father is a coal miner, a small terrier of a man, just one year from retirement, his health virtually ruined. Their mother is a cold, elegant woman, who married beneath her because, it gradually emerges, she was pregnant (with a child who subsequently died). And it was to appease her, it is implied, that the father sent the boys to a fee-paying school, and then to university, ensuring that they had the best education available, the best future possible.

Except…

As the play progresses, we learn that none of the boys is happy. Andrew, the eldest (a wordy, showy part that Orlando apparently wanted) has given up a successful career in the law to become an artist, despite the fact that he can no longer support his wife and family. Colin, the middle son, is the happiest: rich, successful, and kind to his parents, but without a real relationship. Steven (Orlando), the genius of the family, is a broken, shell of a man who, after seven years of struggling to write a great novel, has finally given up: "What was it about?" "I don't know." "What do you teach?" "Nothing, much." Instead, he spends his nights sobbing into his pillow.

Why are the sons so unhappy? Because they have been educated beyond their station in life: raised to believe that they could be anything, they have grown up to find that there is nothing to be.

But it's far more complicated than that. Andrew's anger, his insistence that his mother is 'to blame', is rooted, it emerges, in the fact that, as a toddler, he was sent to stay with a neighbour for the first few weeks after Steven's birth, and has never recovered from the 'rejection'. Colin, we realise, is better adjusted because, at that same difficult time, he was, as his mother tells him, her 'little treasure', her 'life saver'. Steven's resignation, his decision to live with his misery, his refusal to be angry with his parents, arises from the fact that he is his father's favourite and adores his father in return.

Orlando's is in some ways the most important—and by far the most difficult—role in the play, and yet it's almost entirely silent. Ironically, when Steven does speak he delivers the two most important lines: when he asks Colin how he deals with being a displaced person (and Colin replies that that he doesn't feel displaced); and when he points out to both of his brothers that his father has created in them something that he (the father) despises.

But most of the time, he simply suffers in silence.

In Celebration, though well written, has dated. It's no longer uncommon for the sons of miners to go to university, and the displacement the sons feel is no longer topical. The family issues uncovered are explored, though with less subtlety, in (British) soap operas every week. Many members of the audience were baffled by the low-key plot. I overheard a little girl asking her mother, "Why was Orlando crying?" (And her mother replied, "I don't know.")

Orlando gives it everything he's got (just as he did in Kingdom of Heaven) but I had to agree with Variety, which said that he illustrated the character's pain but lacked the skill to show us why he was suffering. I would add, however, yet. Orlando is a learner, and I believe he will learn quickly. So I've booked another ticket and will be seeing him again in two weeks' time!

Oh yes—the unflattering moustache:

6th July. The End. The End!

Yes! I am the man! (In a manner of speaking ;-)

Well, thank you for staying with it all this time: when I started, I had no idea that it would take so long! I hope you like the ending, and the epilogue, which will eventually become the beginning of a later story… There is also a short easter egg, if you can find it.

Next, I intend to go back to writing the Eowyn/Legolas challenge, at last. I also have another Little Legolas story in mind (in which our favourite elfling unwraps some interesting presents); and another Eowyn-meets-a-fascinating-stranger story; and then I'll be starting the next big story, in which (as you may already have guessed) Cyllien's nasty human boyfriend comes to a sticky end and suspicion falls on a number of people, including Haldir and King Thranduil. Legolas and Eowyn investigate :-)

...

More icons! And there are lots more on the Icons pages:

...

Exciting news. On 14 July, I am going to see Orlando on stage! I've bought a ticket (£50) and I'm going!

11th June. Chapter 28! Yes!

Well, it's all but finished. Just one more chapter. Phew!

Where do you think everyone will end up?

...

More Legolas icons, and some more of Eowyn :-)

21st May. I was hoping to post the final three chapters of Shadowland together, in a big finale, but Real Life has been causing me a lot of problems recently, making it hard to concentrate on writing, and I'm not happy with chapters 28 & 29 yet.

So I've decided to post chapter 27 first (even though it's very, very short) and I should think you'll be able to guess what's coming next :-)

I've also added a second sequel to the Little Eowyn story (A memory), called A vision, in which Legolas, still disturbed by what Eowyn has told him, seeks help (no doubt having first asked Haldir's advice ;-) I'm pleased with it; but, to keep the surprise, I won't tell you any more about it here!

...

I've started doing a weekly Live Journal Legolas icon challenge,

So you'll be seeing lots of Legolas icons in coming weeks. Here are the first four, and some pairs of Eowyn icons.

23rd April. Well, I decided that something radical was required to get me writing again, so I took up a challenge that I entered some months ago—another set of 50 sentences, each based on a prompt, but this time I tried to write the sentences as a continuous story.

It doesn’t have much of a plot, but it was very hard to do, and has probably done me some good! It begins,

I've also added yet more Eowyn icons. The second one (below) was inspired by something Miranda Otto says about fighting Orc stuntmen: “It's incredible fun walloping them—every woman should try it.”

:-)

(There are many more, btw, on the icons pages—link to the right).

And I hope to update again in the next few days, fingers crossed.

23rd March. Agggh! This story! Will it ever be finished?

I've added Chapter 26, Preparations, which took an entire holiday to write, and in which, whilst everyone is getting ready for the big battle, 'our' Legolas and Eowyn bond with little Meldon.

I've also made my first batch of

icons, illustrating The lady vanishes—there will be a hundred in all.

And I've made some more Eowyn icons—blue this time!

28th February. March 14th is Eryn Carantaur's official birthday and it's two whole years old! Since I'm going on holiday tomorrow, and will be away for two and a half weeks, I thought I'd celebrate now, so I've written a very short story.

(Yes, I know I said I wouldn't do anything but Shadowland until Shadowland was finished, but I hadn't realised how long that would take! Gone are the days when I could write a chapter in a weekend. I wish they'd come back :-(

Anyway, the story is called What is it, melmenya? and it's a sequel to the Little Eowyn story, A memory, showing how both Legolas and Eowyn react to what Eowyn has remembered.

...

I've also made some Legolas icons; and more Eowyn icons, including a rather Freudian one of her wearing The Evenstar as an earring ;-)

...

I'll be back on 19 March with (with luck) some updates: I'm planning to keep working on Shadowland, and I've signed up for another icon challenge, so I'll be making those as well.

In the meantime, take care,

Ningloreth

24th February. Well, I've added chapter 25 of Shadowland, in which the elves escape from the brothel and Wilawen helps Pharaun deal with the portal...

But will the drow keep his word?

...

On Valentine's Day (travelling home on the train) I had an idea for a short, romantic story, and couldn't resist writing it up. It's called The Flower, and takes place shortly before My bow shall sing with your sword.

...

And here are some more Eowyn icons!

5th February. Phew! I've added chapter 24 of Shadowland!

There's a lot of action in this chapter—Legolas and Eowyn storm the Palace; Haldir and Arador prepare to repel invaders; and Shadow Eowyn makes a big mistake...

I hope it's exciting because it was exhausting to write!

...

I saw this little guy on a forum the other day. Isn't he clever? And cute!

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

...

The eowyn_icontest theme last week was red :-)

26th January. Chapter 23 of Shadowland!

I'm going to allow myself a small celebration.

It's called The escape and it involves Wilawen hiding Valandil in a very interesting place... Lucky they're betrothed.

I'll be starting on chapter 24, in which we will be back with Legolas and Eowyn and their doubles, tomorrow.

…

I've fixed all (I hope) the broken links on the Fan Fiction page, added a new story, called Educating Legolas, by Victoria P, and also added links to a series of

by

on YouTube.

16th January. Well, I've made a (late) New Year's resolution: I am going to finish Shadowland. And I'm not going to do anything else until it's finished!

I've added Chapter 22, in which Haldir and Arador search for the portal, and Legolas and Eowyn finally get some quality time ;-) And I'm about to start on Chapter 23.

I think there will be twenty-six chapters in all, but we'll see!

6th January. Christmas is over :-(

I hope you had a lovely time.

I've taken the Yuletide banner off the front page and removed the snow and now we're all back to normal... And I'm behind with everything as usual. I've added some more Eowyn icons, but I'll be updating properly soon :-)

25th December. Merry Christmas!

I hope you enjoy the festivities, and look forward to seeing you again in the New Year :-)

18th December. Well, I had a lovely email from Belle, who suggested that I should write a story about Little Eowyn for a change...

And I thought about it, and had an idea. I don't know if it's quite what Belle had in mind, but I think it's interesting! The story is called A memory and it takes place during the festivities described behind the last door of the Yuletide calendar...

I hope you like it!

5th December. I've added a short Yuletide story about Little Legolas.

It's called The gyngerbrede and, in it, Legolas does some cooking, King Thranduil does some listening, and they both have some Yuletide fun.

I'm still adding a drabble a day to the Yuletide calendar.

And I've made some more icons ;-)

1st December. It's Yuletide!

I've added the Yuletide calendar. Each door will contain a Yuletide drabble, and I'll be updating it every evening with the next day's installment!

21st November. Another quick update :-)

I've put a Yuletide banner on the front page, which will stay up until January, and I've added parts 29 (very short) and 30 to the Eowyn/Legolas challenge. Part 30 ends with some rather ominous-sounding words from Legolas.

(I've also written 24 Yuletide drabbles—some fluffy, some hot, I hope—for the Yuletide calendar, which I will start posting on 30 November. The one that goes with this icon is fluffy :-)

And I've made some more Eowyn icons...

4th November. You know how it is when you decide to do something and it turns out to be too hard but you just can’t give up?

I saw a post about ‘six word stories’ at Open Scrolls Archive. It seems that Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words and said it was his best work, so Wired magazine ‘asked sci-fi, fantasy, and horror writers from the realms of books, TV, movies, and games to take a shot themselves’. Hemingway’s story was a masterpiece:

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Not one of the other writers got anywhere close. But I thought: what a good idea for icons!

:-(

You can see the results in the Short Stories section.

In the meantime, I've written the next part of the Eowyn/Legolas challenge, in which Eowyn drinks a potion…

And I've made yet more Eowyn icons—the challenge, this time, was to show off her graceful figure—and some more Legolas ones.

24th October. I'm so relieved!

A while ago I developed a terrible phobia about the Wilawen strand of Shadowland. But, this weekend, I did some writing, and some chopping up, and some re-ordering, and some forward planning… And now I'm much more optimistic about it!

I've decided that, having committed myself so far, I have to see it through to the end, even though there are no canon characters left in it, only OCs and crossover characters. (I don't think that Rumil and Orophin can really be counted as canon characters ;-) I've posted two short chapters, and I actually enjoyed writing them, so I hope you'll enjoy reading them! The canon Pharaun is a fascinating character and I hope I've done him justice.

…

(Looking at the picture of Haldir at the top of Chapter 20 again, isn't he lovely?)

…

Over the next few weeks I'll be preparing stuff for Christmas—we're going to have another Yuletide calendar, and a Yuletide Little Legolas story involving lots of stirring and tasting! But I'll continue working on Shadowland and there will be some more Eowyn/Legolas Challenge updates.

In the meantime, here are some more Eowyn icons, and a few of Leggy.

Take care, N.

…

12th October. Hello! Sorry it's been such a long time since the last update. I really don't know where the time goes :-(

I've added part 27 of the Eowyn/Legolas challenge, in which Eowyn gets to 'thank' Legolas for rescuing her ;-)

I've also added a short stort story, called The stew, which was inspired by the stew scene between Eowyn and Aragorn in the extended version of The Two Towers—I started wondering how Legolas would deal with it. It turned out that he quickly learned to tell lies!

Finally, I've added a few more Eowyn icons. I must start making some more Legolas ones.

22nd September. Just a very small update this time—I've added part 26 of the Eowyn/Legolas challenge, in which Legolas finally finds Eowyn… And I think that the next part is going to carry a smut warning ;-)

I've added some more Eowyn icons—last week's theme was You have some skill with a blade.

And I've finished the Ithilien icons, with some that show Leggy and Eowyn enjoying life together in the colony. I think I'll have a break (and get some writing done) before I start on the next batch!

14th September. No, you haven't fallen into a timewarp! I really have posted Chapter 20 of Shadowland before Chapter 19! I am having so much trouble with that pesky chapter, I thought I would sneak up on it from behind, so to speak.

So, in Chapter 20, Legolas and Eowyn join forces with an old friend and Shadow Eowyn and Hentmirë develop a new friendship during a crisis.

…

I've added something that will be of no interest to anyone but me, but that had to be done: a proper timeline for the Eowyn/Legolas challenge. I sat down with a notepad and a pen, a map of Middle Earth and a length of ribbon (to measure the distances) and worked out that, since story 1, the cavalcade has travelled about 200 miles in 15 days and is now about 30 miles north of Lorien ;-)

There are still about 580 miles (and 75 episodes) to go before the story ends, just south of Emyn Arnen, and just before the start of The strange sea road…

Which reminds me: Legolas has been searching for Eowyn on that riverbank for several weeks now, and you know what he's like when Eowyn is in danger. I must put him out of his misery very soon ;-)

…

I've also added a few more Eowyn icons to the Avatars page. Something about her arms in this one reminded me of Captain Jack Sparrow…

I haven't had time to finish the Ithilien set yet. But I'm planning to do Minas Tirith and The lady vanishes after that ;-)

1st September. Quite unexpectedly, I've written another Little Legolas story! It's called The Artist and it's written from Thranduil's point of view, focussing on a certain dilemma that he faces as a single parent...

I've also made a new banner for the Home page, which I'm very pleased with—on my computer it's really pretty colours!

…

I've made some more Ithilien icons:

The third one illustrates The time of the Orcs—I'm going to have some fun trying to show the merman and the underwater fight, and a naked Eowyn! The fourth one is a Wet Elf.

I've also added more Eowyn icons (on the Avatars page).

And yes, my holiday came and went, and no, I'm still way behind with eeverything else, as usual!

22nd August. I've added part 25 of the Eowyn/Legolas challenge, which means I'm a quarter of the way there!

(I do love this little guy! He always looks so happy).

Something quite interesting happens at the end of part 25—you can tell from the banner, I hope—and Leggy will be arriving at any moment…

I've also added Eowyn and the Centaur. (Who could watch Narnia and not wonder what it would be like to ride General Oreius? Ahem). At the moment it's a stand-alone piece but I may, in the future, explore Eowyn and Legolas' reactions to the encounter.

BTW It's about time that Legolas had his own crossover adventure, with a beautiful female. I have an idea—but if you can think of anyone suitable, email me and let me know ;-)

…

I added another batch of Ithilien icons a few days ago, (which, on its own, didn't really warrant an announcement here ;-) The four in the top row (below) illustrate Chapter 10 of My Bow shall sing with your sword; I've also added some more Eowyn icons to the

page.

…

Big apologies to eowynangel for forgetting to mention last time that I'd added her cracking

Thank you to her!

…

I'm on holiday for the rest of the week so I'll be doing some bits of 'maintenance' changing a few colours, replacing a few buttons, and—fingers crossed—finishing the next part of Sh*d*wl*nd.

But you know me…

8th August. Another small update—I was hoping to do more but I'm way behind with everything at the moment :-(

I've added part 24 of the Eowyn/Legolas challenge, The unexpected, which ends with a bit of excitement!

I've also added the next fifteen Ithilien icons.

I'm still working on Shadowland…

And on something else. I'll give you a clue :-)

31st July. Just a small update this time: I've added a sort story, written for an Open Scrolls Archive Legomance challenge.

I've also added the first fifteen Ithilien icons (and I'm pleased with them :-)

They're illustrating My bow shall sing with your sword at the moment. There's a bit of recycling going on, but not much!

…

Eowynangel has sent me another lovely cover—her best yet IMO— for The time of the Orcs, which I will add next time. I'm currently working on Shadowland 19, so keep your fingers crossed!

Take care, N.

19th July. I've added Chapter 18 of Shadowland, in which our heroes depart for Minas Tirith, and everyone gets to say goodbye to everyone else—except for Shadow Legolas, who gets to say hello to Shadow Eowyn (and who also has a little, but very important, accident ;-)

I've also moved the link to the MPA Ceremonies site to the Contacts page.

…

Thank you to Eowynangel for making these lovely

…

Finally, I'm helping to run the Live Journal

We make Eowyn icons every week. Last week's challenge was Eowyn and Eomer:

And here's a nice picture of Leggy, so he doesn't feel left out ;-)