one burden off

whew, I've finished my survey of the Tolkien literature of 2005, the latest installment of my scholarly task. Twelve thousand words to the dot, covering 26 books and over 90 articles. I've been working on this, at first sporadically and lately with some concern that a deadline would soon be upon me, since late October - or perhaps since 2005, when I first started reading some of this stuff. But you have to re-read it, really - I do not find it works to keep a diary as I go along, though I do draw on reviews I've written - and read what was missed before, which is what came in October in the form of a bunch of envelopes with journal article photocopies from my editor.

phew, or did I say that already? I'd like to quote you some of my snappier remarks, but that had better wait till this is published.

Now, on to other scholarly tasks, some of them long-postponed.