Remembering 10 Years of Back to Middle-earth Month: Discussion Post 2014

[dreamflower]

Discussion post for 2014

The theme for 2014 was "Back to Middle-earth Month 2014: Seasons of Middle-earth".

This year's Back to Middle-earth Month event will involve putting together a compilation of writing and art related to the theme "Four Seasons of Middle-earth." Each day during the month of March, we will post a selection of stories, poetry, and artwork created in response to prompts related to this year's theme.

There will eventually be an ebook of the compilation available.

Participants chose a season, and were assigned a date for their piece to be posted.

Did you participate in the 2014 Four Seasons Challenge? Did you make posts or write stories for it? If you did, please share your experience with us here in the comments. Give us links, share your anecdotes and memories.

Did you miss out on it, but find yourself curious about it? Check out the comments and ask questions and join in the discussions! And if you check out previous works, be sure to let the creator know how you liked them.

Comments

[zdenka]

Hmm, this one didn't really work for me. The idea of signing up and committing to a prompt far in advance made me too nervous, so the compilation was out. I only wrote one thing (non-compilation), and I never finished the final edits on it. I guess the daily prompt format just works better for me! I remember there being some very beautiful banners, though.

[kayleelupin.livejournal.com]

I didn't do the compilation, but I did try to participate as far as I was able. It led to the beginning of my "Aragorn in the North" series (Aragorn's first year as Chieftain) and my exploration of my Arnorverse, for which I shall always be grateful. :)

Kaylee Arafinwiel

[alasse-mirimiel.livejournal.com]

I had the same problem! I I knew I'd be crazy busy and didn't want to sign up for something I wouldn't be able to do.

[hhimring]

You did work on the banners for the review challenge, though, I think. I was going back through the B2MeM tag on my journal and found that the Silmaril banner I picked was made by you.

[zdenka]

You're right, I did make some banners! I'd forgotten that.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

I officially participated in this by signing up for the compilation (I used the occasion to finally finish a costume I'd avoided finishing for years, declaring that it was a Meneltarma dress and therefore suitable for the Midsummer Holiday prompt :P), but never got around to checking out the other entries ("I'll see them once the ebook is done") or do something non-compilation. The spring of 2014 was a rather difficult and busy time IRL, and with that on the one hand and the Silm reread on the other, I just didn't find the time. I should check out what everyone did now, but it's so much!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It was the first year that I participated. Previous years had seemed so complicated, and I got the impression that to participate you needed to write something to post every day, which was so unlike the way I write that I couldn't imagine even trying. (I may not have been right in those impressions - but that was how the ones I had been aware of had struck me.)

So, being able to find a subject I really thought I would like to write, and having time to write it, was what inspired me to join in. And what a pleasure to see something different each day - whether it was a pice of art, a drabble or a 5,000 word story, all following that central theme, but all so very different.

[hhimring]

I was rather anxious about this one, initially--the compilation idea seemed to demand that I should write something especially good, especially long or especially accessible. I also often don't find it all that easy to post to a queue and have to wait for a reveal date. I liked the seasonal theme, though!
I picked a song prompt, because I imagined that would be easiest but did not actually find it so. I like the piece that eventually came out of that, but it wasn't particularly long or all that accessible (in the sense of being very Silmarillion-oriented).
I guess I relaxed eventually; I ended up also writing three non-compilation pieces. And I did the review challenge, too.
This was the year I wrote a summary poem, not about my own stuff but about the whole experience. It's here:
http://b2mem.livejournal.com/276271.html

[suzll.livejournal.com]

My first year!! I can't tell if it's because I hadn't done previous years that were more spontaneous and so just wasn't used to different formats, but I loved how this worked--I had the one assignment I could pour time and energy into, and then had other prompts I could pick and choose throughout the month. I'm still really proud of the fic I wrote for the compilation, Burdens of the Wise, which was the first appearance maaannnnyy of my OCs and headcanons surrounding my Dúnedain-verse. For that alone, I think this year is always going to have a special place in my heart, even going into the future.

[independence1776]

This is the other year that vies for my favorite B2MeM event. It's because the format worked so well for me; it's pretty much how I work normally so being able to do that for B2MeM for once was relaxing. Being able to choose my prompt (though helping choose and then winnow them down gave me a headstart) was the icing on the cake. I still want to eventually return to the 'verse that story set up.