Changes: Vision. Direction. Motivation.

I have been thinking a lot lately about what I do here with this podcast and how much of a difference it actually makes.

Sure there's a few people who listen, and handful that check the blog, 1/30 of my attempts at humor work, and we no longer have to worry about Matthrim speaking, but there's still a lot to be desired. For instance, my YouTube channel has, in just a few short months, sextuple the amount of regular followers that the podcast does, has surpassed the blog and podcast for content, and overall has proven to be a more effective method of disseminating information, as well as being a far more interactive experience for its followers.

Sure its focus is more "limited," "narrow," or "singular," but these are hardly negative things when painting your objectives in broad strokes leads to your schedule being outlined with crayon. Spitefully.

As these things kept occuring to me I realized that all the passion for podcasting is gone. It has just become a drudgery and exercise in frustration. In addition it seems to continually eat into my limited time and prevents me from accomplishing other goals I have such as reading War and Peace or feeding the pet dog. I also realized that I spend an inordinate amount of time creating a single episode for consumtion. I can spend almost three hours recording, 5 hours editing, and 2 or 3 more hours trying (and failing) to upload what has turned out to be a mere 2 hour long podcast.

With this realization I finally came to my ultimate conclusion, I should quit podcasting.

But that now leaves me with a spare 10-16 hours a week in which to do other stuff (to say nothing of time spent scheduling the podcast, looking for guests, or avoiding getting to the podcast by trying to empty the refrigerator) and nothing to fill the void. I still want to be able to provide some kind of service to the Lord of the Rings Online community and my YouTube channel just doesn't fill those kinds of hours.

So I went looking for inspiration.

And I found it in the community of my home server, Landroval, and its Role Playing community roots and heritage.

You see, there is a major aspect of avid role playing that receives little to no recognition, and yet is vital to its very existence, and that is the creation of characters and their personal stories that detail their lives, adventures, and give us insight into their motivation and beliefs. And the primary place that these back stories (and current stories sometimes) are expressed is in fan fiction.

Writing and the Engelish lgnguaae is one of my oldest loves and I realized that not only could I offer my help with writing and editing, but that I could re-purpose the Through the Palantir blog into a great home for budding fan fictions and authors within the universe provided by Turbine and Warner Brother's vision of J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece. This would not only keep this blog from becoming yet another dead hyperlink on the internet, but fill a niche that is currently empty while allowing people to find new ways to connect and get to know one another's in game avatars in a deeper and more personal way.

This is an official announcement!

Through the Palantir is now becoming the first and foremost archive and home for Lord of the Rings Online fan fiction and a haven for the writers of these works. I myself shall offer my services not only as a host and editor, nor even as another author, but also as a ghostwriter for anyone with a story to tell, but not a lot of time to write it, will to write it, or writing skill.

Any of these services will be available by request and I will have more than enough time to handle everything as we become established in this new role and start to re-aquire more members to the TTPalantir Team to help shoulder the load.

This will by no means be an easy transition, and some will not like it. But the benefits are impossible to ignore. Instead of being a slow, underrated podcast serving up the same news as LOTR Reporter or A Casual Stroll to Mordor but several weeks behind those podcasts, we will be providing service to an unserved area of the community. One that has taken refuge on My.Lotro and other personal blogs and mostly been lost to the depths of archives and ignominity. Until now.

I look forward to moving into this new venture and having you come along with me. With some hard work, we'll make the Lord of the Rings Online Community better and a more open and accessible one.

Let's get to work.

-Ivanues of Through the Palantir, the ultimate LOTRO fiction archive

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