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While There's Breath... by Lindelea	5 Review(s)
lmw	Reviewed Chapter: Author's Notes on 1/24/2005
I have stumbled my way into the Hobbit section of fiction here, said hobbits not my most favourite characters. After reading some of your stories, I am changing my mind some, at least, the way you write them. After starting this one, I decided it would be best to start at the beginning of your impressive list,(chronologically speaking) and have just finished 'At the End of His Rope'. What an adventure! I am pretty much speechless (or wordless). Your characterisation (?) is so 'real', and the interaction between husbands and wives, and friends and the 'help', and the children....so easy to read and believe. I laughed, I shed a few tears, I worried, I had a marvelous time. Thank you. Off to read some more. Author Reply: How heartening! It is always nice to make a new acquaintance. Was a little puzzled--sometimes I take things too literally. Did you mean you started with the first story posted here at SoA (possibly "SpiderWebs", I forget for sure), or that you started with the earliest on the timeline ("Shire")? Just curious. Anyhow, nice to meet you, and you're welcome, and please drop me an occasional line; it is nice to hear from a reader that they didn't just click into a chapter by accident and click out again immediately! Funny what the imagination does on cold meds, isn't it? Thanks!

TopazTook	Reviewed Chapter: Author's Notes on 1/20/2005
If the wooden bridge was already damaged, it would make sense that that would be the particular spot at which it broke. But I don't think that's necessary. The force of raging water is certainly enough in and of itself to destroy wooden pilings. (Kind of reminds me of tornado destruction in a way -- some things can be left standing perfectly fine, while the house that used to stand next door is demolished and completely swept away.) Author Reply: Ah, good, that's what I had in mind. The bridge was not yet damaged, but the force of the flood that came down after the debris dam was breached was enough to sweep most of the bridge away. Thanks!

TopazTook	Reviewed Chapter: Author's Notes on 1/20/2005
(These are comments on a few chapters, as I’m sure you can tell.) Hmm. I thought perhaps the temporary blinding in this story was a contributing factor to Ferdi’s later experiences -- kind of a buildup of things going wrong, like wiith Pippin’s health. The rescue-breathing doesn’t jolt me out of Middle Earth, but unfortunately the “Good Night, Irene” discussion does. I find it interesting what you’re doing with the song titles, and I’m enjoying the story iitself, but when I read the discussions of the song in the notes and reviews (which I like to read to gain greater understanding of a story), I can’t help thinking about the elderly, blinded neighbor for whom I did light housekeeping as an 11/12-year-old. Obviously, her name was Irene, which is where I first learned of this song. I’m absolutely sure, though, that this problem is just me.:) Walking onto a flooded bridge is incredibly stupid. I count it as among the two stupidest things I’ve done in my life. At least Pippin had the excuse of being tired and suffering the pony version of highway hypnosis so he wasn’t even thinking about it! If you ever revise this story, you might want to add in some foreshadowing as Ferdi stands on the bridge and tests it: as a Took unaware of rivers, he probably wouldn’t realize the significance, but you can feel the bridge moving under you -- kind of vibrating, withthe currents of the water -- if you’re standing on one that the water is rushing over. Even if the water isn’t there yet, you can feel a kind of thrumming and rocking if you’re in a car on a not-quite-flooded-yet-but awfully-close bridge. (The flooding of the Mississippi River in Iowa in 1993 was referred to as a “500-year flood.”) I thought the description of Pippin as forgetting how to see and being unaware of his surroundings except for his concentration on Ferdi was very gripping. Tend to agree with Connie, though, that they’re both going to feel betrayed/guilty with Pippin’s hand pulling away. Author Reply: I was very interested to read your description of flooded bridges. I've never walked onto one and could only imagine. Will look at adding the foreshadowing you mentioned. Do you suppose that last wooden bridge was already damaged, or would the flash flood coming down, full of trees and tree branches and other debris, be enough to do it in if it were still in good shape? The funny thing is that the flooded bridges were safely crossed, and it was the bridge that wasn't flooded (at least, when they rode onto it, for the flash flood came down when they'd just about reached the centre point) that nearly did them in. Guess we're going to have to deal with guilt/betrayal in the next chapter. Thanks! Author Reply: p.s. It is quite possible that the temporary blindness here contributed to the later long-lasting blindness. I had thought at the time of writing that the blindness in "Merlin" was of the hysterical sort (did a lot of research into shellshocked soldiers from the Great War), but there might well have been a biological component, with very slow healing. As a matter of fact, I'm sure there was a physical component, considering the blinding headaches he suffered over the years as a result of the earlier head injuries. Goodness, listen to me discuss a character as if he's my next-door neighbor or relative or someone like that! But then I've spent so much time amongst Tooks that I practically feel like a Took myself. What fun!

Grey Wonderer	Reviewed Chapter: Author's Notes on 1/17/2005
So far, I seem to be up to speed. I knew what was what as I read, but I do think that these notes are a very good idea. You most likely will have someone new to your stories start with this one and this chapter of notes will be invaluable to them. Once they are hooked, they will have to back up and read the others. I know that was what I did. Author Reply: Well, glad to hear that the notes will be of value. I had someone critique a story, saying that the background comments were too distracting, and that's when I started putting the background into author's notes. I think it started with "Gentle Rain". People who are bothered by the notes, who get to a chapter by clicking on the link in a notification e-mail, can simply not hit the "next" link at the bottom of the chapter, which will probably lead to the notes! Even if I post two chapters in one day, it'll be hours apart, as I don't usually get big enough chunks of computer time to type in two chapters at a time from the draft. The "notes" may not be added to with every chapter posted (see "All that Glisters" for an example: big gap there!), but we'll leave them up for anyone who is interested in the background and in seeing the writing-editing process at work.

FantasyFan	Reviewed Chapter: Author's Notes on 1/17/2005
And these are just the notes for chapter 1! If we are lucky and you spoil us like this for all the chapters, we might get an insight to your prolific writing process and a bit of that background information your editor is always urging you to leave out. Just curious (it's a failing of mine): have you added up your word count for all the stories you've written in the last couple of years? I keep meaning to compile them all into a book, but you write them too fast for me. Author Reply: chuckle You don't know what a relief it is to hear you're pleased about the notes. Editor-friend and I had a long heart-to-heart about the matter; we decided that either people would love it (people like us, who compulsively read footnotes but hate to be interrupted by them in a chapter), or they'd hate it, clicking on the "Next" button in hopes of seeing another chapter and rolling their eyes with a "Not this again!" Actually, it's a bit of a shortcut in the writing-editing process--she can check on continuity more easily this way, and add notes to remind me of things I've overlooked. The notes may be deleted once the story is posted in full, being "working notes", or if you think they add to the reader's enjoyment we'll consider keeping them. Unfortunately she's much too busy with the after-holiday catch-up at work to look at the "old" stories; she has barely enough time to look at each new chapter posted to catch major "oopses", much less go over anything with a fine-tooth comb. Don't know what the total word-count is. Not sure if that's available on SoA. According to ff.net I've posted some 860,000 words. There's a lot on SoA that is not on ff.net, yet, so I haven't a clue as to a real total. Can't just do a word count on my Word files, either, as they are full of editing notes and research notes. Thanks! (Gee, aren't school holidays fun? Still, we've got to do something productive today or I'll be in trouble with the Principal.)

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