Appreciation Post - I have no idea when it will see the light of day.

Taken by myself some point in 2024/25

Greetings to old friends and new.

“It was most kind of you to write to me. I havn’t in fact looked at THE SILMARILLION for over a year and a great deal needs to be done on it and I have no idea when it will see the light of day. I always hope that I will be able to get down and tackle it but I never seem to have the time.”

This is an extract from a letter sent to an N.J. Kyle, in response, as an apology for not

being able to send a longer letter, a letter sent on the 17^th January 1973, fifty three years ago. Now, if you know me as a person behind the blog and Instagram account, and even if you know me as faceless L. Hunt (maybe one day I’ll be brave enough to share my face) one thing that you may know about me is that my writing hero is J.R.R. Tolkien. I read about these things on the websites of Tolkien gateway (https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Letter_to_N.J._Kyle), and Tolkien guide (https://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=1720&viewmode=compact&order=ASC&type=&mode=0&start=0) on the 15^th of January, while I write this post officially on the 17^th of the year 2026.

Though this letter is written by my hero, the words read like sentences I have heard and said myself when it comes to the noble and oft frustrating craft of writing, especially when we’re tired and feel unable to put together two words in a creative manner at all. Sentences like “I haven’t looked at it in ages”, or when someone asks you when you’ll be published “I have no idea when it’ll see the light of day”, or when they ask if you’ll be writing, “I hope to sit down and just write it”, or in a moment of frustration and chaos as life crowds you into a corner “I don’t have the time!”

These statements don’t mean you need to give up. These were said about the Silmarillion, a legendarium that I have read thrice, and find to be a beautiful and fascinating text, and once it may have been like a manuscript of your own, one you’ve not looked at in years, and leave in a corner and think it’ll never come to fruition, one that just seems like you’ll never have the time to write it.

Maybe you do have the time. Maybe you just need to put it down for a little bit, and let yourself dream. Maybe you just need to remember that Tolkien was once in a similar position and be encouraged by the publication of his books.

We can take a break from our writing, focus on other things that need our attentions, and accept that maybe these tales may never see the light of day. That doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy them, though. It doesn’t mean we can’t persist.

No matter how discouraged you may feel about your writing, how far you feel from your craft, continue! Even if it’s small steps, take them. You have no idea when they’ll see the light of day, that day may be closer than you think!

-L.Hunt