One of the ways that I mark time through the year is by the newsletter. Each week, I copy the previous week's title and add one to the issue number. This week, we are on Issue 52, the final newsletter for 2024. Next week, I will change not just the issue number but the volume number as well, and we will pass into our twentieth year of newsletters.

The SWG newsletter began as a monthly publication in September 2005. This first newsletter opened with the words: "It is official: The Silmarillion Writers' Guild is now over one month old. Given all that has been accomplished in that month and all the wonderful, new people I've had the chance to meet, it is hard to believe that it is not much longer!"

Now, I would write that as, "It's official! The Silmarillion Writers' Guild is almost twenty years old. It's hard to believe it's been that long!"

Furthermore, I know that making it to this point was not a given. The SWG has had a rich history, but that history has too often and sadly occurred within the context of other archives and communities collapsing around us. Last year, we were only one of five Tolkien fanfiction archives that had new work posted, and we were the only one with significant levels of activity. Our survival amid the challenges of the past twenty years has never been a given, and we owe it to the creators who have continued posting with us, members who keep our communities vibrant and alive, and volunteers who do the too often unseen work behind the scenes to keep the lights on. Thank you all. If you had told me, in September 2005 when I wrote our first newsletter, where we'd be right now, I would not have believed it.

2025 will be a special year for us because we will turn twenty. We are starting off strong with lots happening in January!

First of all, we will be running our annual amnesty challenge as a Jubilee this year, meaning that you can get challenge stamps you missed for any of our challenges from 2017 onward! If there was a challenge before your time that looked cool or you missed a challenge along the way, now is your chance to do it! Details will be available on the website on January 1 and in next week's newsletter (Volume 20, Issue 1!)

Mereth Aderthad is coming up on July 19, and our call for presenters is currently open. Because we want to encourage participation from fans, not just academics and scholars (who are also welcome!), we will be holding a virtual session next Saturday, January 4, at 1:00 PM Eastern Time on how to write a conference proposal. We will stay online afterward for anyone who wants to work on proposals together. All are welcome! You do not need to submit a proposal for Mereth Aderthad, turn on your camera, or say anything (though we welcome questions and discussion, we love lurkers too!) If you even think that someday maybe you might want to present at a Tolkien conference, we hope you will join us. A recording of the session will be available afterward if you can't make the live session. Join the session here or RSVP and we will send you a link.

Finally, for our Jubilee challenge that starts next week, we will hold two Jubilee instadrabbling sessions on January 18 (15:00 UTC) and 19 (18:00 UTC) on our Discord server. Instadrabbling is a long-running Tolkien fandom tradition that is older than we are! Creators gather, create quick fanworks in response to prompts, and share their work live. Instadrabbling is fun and low-key, and this session will include past challenge prompts to help with stamp-collecting efforts. If you're not on our Discord server and want to be, just reply to this email for an invite! If you're already there, show up when you can, create what you can, and enjoy a weekend of fanworks.

Finally, to all of our members, creators, guests, and friends across the years, all the best wishes for a wonderful New Year!