Nozescaramelizadas - •❅──✧❅✦❅✧──❅•

tshirt that says "IF U ASK ME ABOUT MY CAREER I WILL KILL MYSELF IN FRONT OF U"

One of the things that’s really struck me while rereading the Lord of the Rings–knowing much more about Tolkien than I did the last time I read it–is how individual a story it is.

We tend to think of it as a genre story now, I think–because it’s so good, and so unprecedented, that Tolkien accidentally inspired a whole new fantasy culture, which is kind of hilarious. Wanting to “write like Tolkien,” I think, is generally seen as “writing an Epic Fantasy Universe with invented races and geography and history and languages, world-saving quests and dragons and kings.” But… But…

Here’s the thing. I don’t think those elements are at all what make The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings so good. Because I’m realizing, as I did not realize when I was a kid, that Tolkien didn’t use those elements because they’re somehow inherently better than other things. He used them purely because they were what he liked and what he knew.

The Shire exists because he was an Englishman who partially grew up in, and loved, the British countryside, and Hobbits are born out of his very English, very traditionalist values. Tom Bombadil was one of his kids’ toys that he had already invented stories about and then incorporated into Middle-Earth. He wrote about elves and dwarves because he knew elves and dwarves from the old literature/mythology that he’d made his career. The Rohirrim are an expression of the ancient cultures he studied. There are a half-dozen invented languages in Middle-Earth because he was a linguist. The themes of war and loss and corruption were important to him, and were things he knew intimately, because of the point in history during which he lived; and all the morality of the stories, the grace and humility and hope-in-despair, was an expression of his Catholic faith. 

J. R. R. Tolkien created an incredible, beautiful, unparalleled world not specifically by writing about elves and dwarves and linguistics, but by embracing all of his strengths and loves and all the things he best understood, and writing about them with all of his skill and talent. The fact that those things happened to be elves and dwarves and linguistics is what makes Middle-Earth Middle-Earth; but it is not what makes Middle-Earth good.

What makes it good is that every element that went into it was an element J. R. R. Tolkien knew and loved and understood. He brought it out of his scholarship and hobbies and life experience and ideals, and he wrote the story no one else could have written… And did it so well that other people have been trying to write it ever since.

So… I think, if we really want to write like Tolkien (as I do), we shouldn’t specifically be trying to write like linguists, or historical experts, or veterans, or or or… We should try to write like people who’ve gathered all their favorite and most important things together, and are playing with the stuff those things are made of just for the joy of it. We need to write like ourselves.

I'm HAPPY about CLEANING for the FIRST time in my LIFE

because it's MY house!!!!!

Happy wrapped day to those who celebrate!

What was the highest song in your top 100 with a location name in the title? (real or fictional, generic or specific)

Question to everyone but especially US Americans: do you guys have a problem with love?

watching TV shows it seems like two people are essentially a couple. they're kissing, they're fucking, they care about each other, they go on dates, etc. But they never say "I love you", they never officialize a relationship, they never put a ring on their fingers - unless they're literally getting married, which kinda seems to come out of nowhere to me, like they're missing important steps in the relationship? First you establish how you feel ("I love you"), then you start Officially Dating (being each other's boyfriend/girlfriend/partner), have a ring on their fingers, *then* it's appropriate to ask if they wanna marry you (and subsequently get married).

But it seems like it's quite normal to be acting like they're together for months or years, never defining anything with words, and it's CLEAR that they both love each other. and then suddenly one day they're like "i can't imagine my life without you (I've noticed they often don't even say "I love you" at this fucking point???? but sometimes they do), will you marry me?" and finally offering a fucking ring.

like. is it just a dumb TV show thing? or is it normal irl as well, to simply not have a logical progression, and just assume the other person loves you back without ever having them say that to you or you to them, in order to ask them to marry you? idk

in my country it's very normal to be like "casually dating" someone (exclusively! bc it's different if you're both just "seeing people") like these TV shows show, for a while (usually 1-3 months, seldom more than 6 bc that would be considered leading someone on), until you both decide you have strong feelings for each other and want to officialize a relationship. at which point it's expected you'll both start wearing rings (simple bands, often silver, on the right hand) to show your commitment. at this point, you have already said I Love You to each other - if you spend 6 months with someone and those words haven't been said yet, either you're both just hanging out with no intention of getting in a relationship ever, or someone's being led on.

like I'm just confused. I've seen this happen in a bunch of different shows. the participants are all grown adults, so it's not like they're teenagers fumbling their first love (hey, it happens to the best of us). it's shown like the normal thing. what the fuck sometimes they're even cohabiting, how do you live with someone you kiss and fuck and love without telling them you love them??? mindblowing

please tell me it's just a TV show thing. thank you

I forgot how much I LOVE Catradora

I lost it at "cheap and affordable". not in my country, it isn't. downloading pirated ebooks is what's cheap and mobile. however, it depends on the cloud, like you said.

i love digesting lactose it’s so easy to do

How to Finish

I drew this poster for Jon Acuff and his FINISH book tour. Big thanks to Jon for this collaboration, his book has some great ideas about how to complete creative and life goals.