In January 2017, we reconfigured our long-running creative challenges to the current format. Participation to this point had fallen off to where many challenges had no participants at all, and our moderator team at the time decided to change things up a bit in a last-ditch effort before shutting down challenges. By this point, many of us had gained experience running fandom events through annual events like Back to Middle-earth Month, and one thing we had learned was that small graphics as "prizes" were motivating and were win-win: participants liked getting them, they didn't cost a thing but the time it took to make them, and, for organizers, creating these graphics was often one of the most fun tasks to complete! We decided to offer small "postage stamps" for both creators and commenters who participated in the challenges.

We are entering our tenth year of the revised challenge system and, therefore, also the tenth year of challenge stamps. Three years ago, we decided to also ask around to see if fandom artists wanted to help with creating these stamps, and we're at that time of the year again! No matter your experience level, if you'd like to make a set of stamps for this year, reply to this email or contact us through the site. On Monday, we will share a sign-up for stamp creators.

You can find more information about the process and expectations for the finished stamps here.

Be aware that the stamp creator sign-up will include brief descriptions of the 2026 challenges and so will be slightly spoiling! If you like to be surprised each month, this might not be the best fit for you.

Also, as many of our members are celebrating the winter holidays, hopefully enjoying some time off, and perhaps wanting to make and share some fanworks, we will be hosting some events on our Discord in the coming weeks.

Tomorrow, 21 December, we will be hosting the Great Beleriand Bake-Off PLUS! Instadrabbling. Get some challenge fanworks created using prompts that offer a twist or go beyond the challenge prompts. The event starts at noon Eastern Time (find this in my timezone). If you've never instadrabbled, you can learn more about it here.

Next Sunday, December 28, we will be hosting a live reading of Tolkien excerpts and fanworks at noon Eastern Time (find this time in my timezone). Anyone is invited to read. If you want to be on the event program, you can sign up here. There will also be an open mic block at the end of the program that is open to anyone who wants to read. All are welcome to listen in as well!

You can join our Discord here. We hope to see you at one of our upcoming events!

As we draw close to the end of the year, we often try to host a few events: opportunities to gather with other Tolkien fans and make, enjoy, and celebrate fanworks and the world Tolkien built. We have a few events coming up in the next month and hope you can join us!

Himring and Dawn will be co-hosting an instradrabbling session in the next couple of weeks, which will include prompts from our current Great Beleriand Bake-Off challenge with additions and twists for the non-bakers among us! We are still in the process of firming up a date and time, so watch our website or social media spaces for the final details. (Not sure what instadrabbling is? Keep reading because the amazing Anna will continue to offer more opportunities for quick, collaborative fanwork-creating in 2026 as well!)

On December 28 at noon Eastern Time (find this in my timezone), we will be hosting a live reading around the theme of celebrations. 2025 was, of course, a major year for celebrations for the SWG: We turned 20 years old and gathered as part of the second-ever Mereth Aderthad event. The season presents many more reasons for celebration: holidays, a new year, and the return of light for those of us in the north.

Live readings are held on the stage channel on our Discord server. Participants can read a selection up to five minutes long, either an excerpt from Tolkien, a fanwork they created, or an excerpt from a fanwork they created.

If you know you want to participate as a reader, you can sign up here. Signing up ahead of time gets your name on the program, which means the audience can follow along with your fanwork as you read, read the full fanwork if you're just presenting an excerpt, and leave you comments. However, you do not have to sign up ahead of time! Not sure if you can make it or still mustering the courage? There will be an open mic session at the end of the program for anyone who wants to read!

Reading selections should be related to the theme of celebrations, but as always, we interpret this broadly and loosely. In other words, your choice does not have to focus on seasonal celebrations, winter celebrations, or holidays.

You should only sign up a fanwork that you wrote. However, if you'd like someone else to read your fanwork for you, you can do so, but please make these arrangements prior to signing up.

And of course listeners are most welcome! Even if you don't want to read, we hope you will join us to hear the wonderful fanworks and Tolkien passages that our readers choose to share!

Finally, as noted above, Anna (IdleLeaves) is generously hosting another round of monthly instadrabbling sessions on the first Saturday of January, February, and March at 18:00/6PM UTC. You can find more details, including these dates and times in your timezone, here. This round will mark a full year of monthly instadrabbling hosted by Anna—truly something to celebrate! If you've never instadrabbled before, this is a longstanding Tolkien fanworks tradition where creators gather in a chat, toss out prompts, and make quick, impromptu fanworks to share with each other and squee over. It is low-key and fun, and all are welcome to join!

All of these events are hosted on our Discord server. Not a member? You can join our Discord server here.

Saturday, our monthly instadrabbling session will take place on our Discord, kindly hosted by Anna (IdleLeaves). Instadrabbling has been a creative social activity in Tolkien fanfic circles for more than twenty years. The concept is simple but powerful: create small fanworks in a chat with other creators and share them in real time.

Instadrabbling isn't the only way we have used our Discord server to celebrate Tolkien and fanworks together! We also hold fanfiction book clubs and live readings of fanworks. Like instadrabbling, these are very often hosted by members, not moderators, so if you'd like to gather with fellow fans to discuss fanworks or read your favorite works to each other, check out the FAQs I linked and let a moderator know of your interest! (You can just reply to this email.) We'll work together to help you set up and run your event. And of course, if you have an idea for an event of a type we've never run before, propose your idea, and we'll try to make it happen!

For more casual creative gatherings, we also have the #write-ins and #art-studio channels, if you are looking for some support and fellowship from other fans to get words or paint on the page.

All of this speaks to fanworks as a community as well as solo-creative endeavor. We often think of writers, artists, and creators as solitary types. Fanworks challenge that stereotype, as so much of what we do is done for and in conversation with each other.

We hope you can join us for instadrabbling on Saturday!

This past week was the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, which is a good reminder to me to pause and reflect with gratitude on the many people who make the SWG possible. A group of this scope would be impossible for one person to run; the SWG would have folded years ago, by necessity, if not for the ongoing support of our moderators and volunteers.

First, I want to recognize Saelind, who after six years as a moderator on Discord, is stepping back to pursue other exciting opportunities outside of fandom. Serving as a Discord mod is a role with unique challenges. Our moderator channel looks rather like the stereotypical firehouse, where the firefighter-mods are mostly playing cards, cooking chili, and throwing a ball for the firehouse Dalmatian, until ... fear, fire, foes! Discord allows us to interact in real time, but this also means that conflicts kick off in real time too, and our server mods often must drop what they're doing to handle situations that, in the moment, can feel a lot like a house on fire. Saelind has spent six years helping us through these moments and has always given wise counsel. We wish her the best in her new endeavours!

Also on our mod team, Grundy is a server and challenge mod. She is the person who gives out the challenge stamps! Anyone who remembers the stamp collections on the old site knows I was not so timely as she is! Shadow, also a Discord mod, has stepped up as a third challenge mod in Lyra's old role, as Lyra is on hiatus, and I am grateful for their willingness to take on this new role. Challenges are one of the aspects of our site that keeps it vibrant and lively, but twenty years in, coming up with fresh and new approaches to making fanworks is, pardon the pun, a challenge. Thank you, Janeways, our final Discord mod and the creator of many of the beautiful banners that are featured for our newsletter articles. I am grateful for your willingness to share your artistic talents and to jump in wherever you're needed!

Russandol is my co-admin in running the site from a tech standpoint. She manages much of the backend of the site. She and I have spent many white-knuckle hours in DMs, trying to figure out why the site is broken or running updates that we hope won't break the site. "Why, Drupal, why??" is our motto. I always appreciate her willingness to share her tech skills with us to keep our site secure and running!

On our newsletter staff, our art editor is Anérea, whose vast knowledge of the art side of Tolkien fandom means we have diverse and lovely artwork to accompany newsletter articles. Varda delle Stelle is the assistant art editor and also helps source art and with gaining permissions. Elrond's Library is our Around the World & Web editor, who keeps the announcements in our newsletter updated so that, we hope, SWG members can connect with events and challenges that enchant their muses.

Also assisting on Discord are our Istari, Ettelenë and Nienna, who help to welcome newcomers and answer questions. Anna (IdleLeaves) has been running monthly instadrabbling sessions on Discord as well for the better part of a year, and these are always a highlight of the month! (One is coming up next week.)

I want to note as well something that I've observed about volunteers in my two decades of running this group. Everyone here does much more than what I recognized them for. Despite what is already on their plate as volunteers, theirs are the hands that raise first when something needs to be done, and many of them run events outside of the SWG as well. Much of this work goes unseen and unsung.

Tolkien fandom has existed for many decades now. Thank you to ALL of the fandom volunteers, past and present, who have given their time, energy, and talents to keeping the gates of Middle-earth open so that we can return again and again.

In many temperate climates right now, we are in what we call "stick season" in Vermont: either waiting for winter or waiting for the trees to realize it's spring. At this time of year, evergreen plants are the only color in the landscape in some parts of the world. These trusty trees are always there, always available!

We also have evergreen volunteer roles on the SWG, and so this time when evergreens are so prominent for many of us seems a good time to remind about them. These are volunteer roles that are always open and accepting new volunteers. First is our inclusivity committee. Making the SWG an inclusive space for all Tolkien fans is one of our priorities as an organization. Our inclusivity focus group serves two roles in advancing that goal. First, they consult with our mod team when we are making policies or addressing issues where inclusivity plays a part. Secondly, the inclusivity focus group is available for members to consult with, if they have concerns about inclusivity on the group that the mod team has not be able to satisfactorily resolve. Any SWG member who belongs to a group that has ben marginalized in fandom is welcome to join. You will be able to participate when you can and input is needed, so there is no regular obligations for this role. We meet on Discord but are willing to make accommodations for fans who are unable to use this platform.

Next, we also are always looking for scouts: people who run fandom events and want to post about their events on our site, as part of Around the World & Web. If you run a fandom event and would like the scout role, or if you'd like to join the inclusivity focus group, just reply to this email!

All open volunteer roles can be found here.

Finally, we have updated our Site Etiquette and Terms of Service to better address bot registrations, which due to the ubiquitous creep of AI, have gotten better at outsmarting the barriers we have in place. The addition to the SE/ToS reads as follows:

Once an account is approved, if six months pass and the account is never logged into, we will contact the member using the email registered with the site to confirm their interest in keeping their account open on the site. If we do not receive a reply within two weeks, the account will be deleted. Note that this applies only to accounts where the member never takes the next step after account approval of logging into the account. Once a member logs into their account for the first time, the account will remain open with no requirement of minimal activity. If a member's account is deleted because it is never logged into and that member wishes to set up an account at a later date, they will be able to register again.

As always, reply to this email or contact a moderator with questions!

Today, we are excited to unveil our November/December challenge, the Great Beleriand Bake-Off! Traditionally, we offer a challenge that spans November and December to meet both sets of needs that tend to arise around this season: Those who want to participate but are swamped with holiday-related commitments, and those who lay low from the world of fellow humans and want to lose themselves in fanworks. The Great Beleriand Bake-Off is a daily prompt calendar spanning November 15 through January 15. If you want to immerse yourself in fanworks-making, you can try for as many prompts if you want. If you want the stamp but could use a reprieve from a high-pressure anything, you only need to complete a single prompt to receive the creator stamp. You can complete prompts at any time; you don't have to do them on the day they are featured. Full challenge guidelines can be found here.

Grundy has done an amazing job sourcing baked goods from around the world, some contributed by our members, with a sweet and savory prompt for each day. Prompts are baked goods, each with a description and most with a recipe (or a few!) As always, you can use any part of the prompt to inspire your fanwork, including the linked websites (which often contain interesting historical and cultural tidbits about the featured food), and we welcome offbeat interpretations of the prompts. Fanworks do not need to be about baking or baked goods or feature the foods from the prompt.

Finally, Sundays will be done a little differently with a comment challenge. You can comment on any fanwork on the SWG site, not just fanworks created for the Great Beleriand Bake-Off. Make sure to tell the mods for each challenge you complete, as there is a unique stamp for each comment challenge!

Since we had many newcomers to the SWG during 2025, we also want to note that January 1 through February 15 is our annual amnesty challenge when you can complete any challenges from 2025 to receive stamps that you missed. Yes, that means that although the Great Beleriand Bake-Off prompt calendar will end on January 15, fanworks for the challenge will continue to receive stamps through February 15.

This is not the most exciting title but if you opened it anyway, thank you for reading! Whenever possible, we seek the input of our members on policy changes. These conversations often bring perspectives and considerations that we would have otherwise overlooked. (You can read more about how we govern the SWG here.)

The SWG mods are requesting public comment on a proposed change, intended to help us eliminate bot registrations, on how we manage accounts that are never accessed. When a newcomer registers for the SWG, the account is locked until a moderator can review it. This is not a gatekeeping strategy, and all Tolkien fans are welcome and approved as quickly as we can. However, we cull obvious bot registrations at this time, which based on our most recent registration data, is about 15% of registrations. After moderator approval, the new member is notified and can log into and use their account fully.

Currently, about 20% of those newcomers never log into their account once approved. Some of this is life: Most of us have registered for a website with best intentions of using it and discovered that time or inclination withers away quickly thereafter. This is a normal part of running a site like ours and in no way a concern or problem. However, thanks to the ever-growing creep of AI, we are also aware that bot registrations are likely to become more sophisticated. Unfortunately, my recent attempts to contact a few never-accessed members about their accounts and getting no response confirms that we might have arrived at this era.

It is in the best interest of everyone to not have bot registrations on the site that can potentially use their access to features like fanworks, comments, and member contact forms to bother SWG members with spam or malicious content. Given this, the SWG moderators the following change to our Site Etiquette and Terms of Service:

• If six months pass and a new account is never logged into, we will contact that person using the email registered on the site to allow them to keep their account.
• If we receive a reply, we will keep the account open. There is no obligation for the member to log into the account or use it or maintain any minimum level of activity.
• If we don't hear a reply within two weeks, we will delete the account.
• Note that this applies only to new accounts that have never been logged into. Once a person logs into their account, they can keep it forever and use it as much or as little as they like.

We are interested in input on this policy change. You can share your thoughts by replying to this email or joining the discussion in the #town-hall channel on our Discord. Thank you to all who have shared input so far!

And finally, a reminder that our current challenge, The Only Thing to Fear, has one week remaining during which to post fanworks if you'd like to receive a stamp for your creation.

First and foremost, instadrabbling is happening TODAY on our Discord server (scroll down to the #instadrabbling channel). If you've never instadrabbled before, we'd love for you to join us and give it a try! Instadrabbling is a casual virtual gathering of fanworks creators. Using prompts, we create flash fanworks and share them with each other in the moment. You can learn more about instadrabbling here. Can't make it today? Mark your calendar for our next session on December 6, 2025 at 6PM/18:00 UTC (find this in my timezone). Many thanks to Anna (IdleLeaves) who hosts this monthly event for us!

Our current challenge is The Only Thing to Fear, where the task is to create a fanwork about fear using one of the common phobias from our prompt list. If you want to let fate decide your prompt, Elrond's Library has made a picker wheel that will randomize your prompt for the challenge.

We are approaching the end of 2025 and therefore beginning to think about our final challenge for the year, which always spans two months, November 15 through January 15. The intention behind having the final challenge span two months is to accommodate the various ways people celebrate the winter holidays. For some, this is the busiest time of the year, full of travel and celebrations with friends and family, so we aim for a challenge that can be completed relatively easily. For others, the holidays brings time off and relaxation, so we also aim for a challenge that can occupy a creator who wants to use this season for a lengthier, more involved challenge.

Without giving away the upcoming challenge entirely, which will debut on November 15, we are looking favorite baked goods, sweet or savory, that are made where you live or are important to your own family or tradition. You can send a photo or recipe if you want, but just a name or link works too! Simply reply to this email with your ideas!

Fans engage with their source text in many ways, one of which is collecting. Collecting, however, is typically seen as different and separate from reading, viewing, and creating fanworks. In fact, some fan studies research points to fans who collect and fans who create as occupying completely different niches within the wild, diverse fandom ecosystem.

Where they overlap is bookmarks. How many of you reading this right now have a collection of fannish bookmarks? Favorite fanworks, inspirational art pieces or music, or resources that you return to again and again? Perhaps they are sorted by character, pairing, topic, or theme.

On a related note, how many of you can immediately think of five fanworks—fiction, art, music, meta, and everything in between—for your favorite character, subject, genre, or pairing in fandom that you would immediately recommend to someone looking to get started reading about that topic?

If you are an inveterate bookmark collector, we'd like to invite you to share the gems in your collection as part of our Themed Collections. Themed collections typically consist of five to ten fanworks centered around a particular subject. While not intended to be comprehensive or authoritative, they offer the chance to share your favorite works about a subject that interests you and get other Tolkien fans excited about it too! Themed Collections are shared on our archive and featured in our newsletter.

If you'd be interested in curating some of your favorite bookmarks on your favorite fandom topic, simply reply to this email and let us know what you're thinking! As always, we welcome creators of all ability levels to contribute to the newsletter. All you need to bring to it is a passion for the topic you choose, and we'll help you do the rest!

And don't forget to check out the three Themed Collections on our archive already:

• The Ruling Queens of Númenor by Himring
• Alliterative Verse for Arda by Rhunedhel
• Orcs Are People by cuarthol

Also, remember that our monthly instadrabbling session, hosted by Anna (IdleLeaves), will take place next week, on November 1. Join our Discord if you'd like to participate!

For many of our members, summer is winding down into winter. Leaves fall from the trees to rustle in the wind, and bared branches scratch the sky. The harvest comes to an end, and the long, bitter specter of winter looms. It is a time when fear and the macabre looms large in the imaginations of many creators.

This month's challenge, The Only Thing to Fear, plays on that theme. The premise is simple: create a fanwork about fear using at least one prompt from our list of common fears.

Of course, this challenge lends itself readily to the spookier genres, like horror, suspense, or mystery. However, this is a good time to issue the reminder that not only do we allow but encourage creative interpretation of our challenges and prompts. Fear can take many forms that invite genres and approaches outside of those that come first to mind. For instance, how many romantic comedies center on a fear of commitment? How many dramas are driven by a character trying to overcome the kinds of everyday worries and fears that plague us all as we move through life? Humor, too, can explore the side of fear that is ridiculous or even silly.

As we are in the season where many fandom events are underway, remember too that if you use one of our challenge prompts in a fanwork for another event, and you cannot post the work with us right away due to the other event's schedule, just let the mods know, and we will be happy to award your stamp to you when you are able to post.