Dear Mr. Tolkien…

Dear Mr. Tolkien,

I want to say that you changed my life.

The Lord of the Rings books were the first book that I ever fangirled over. They gave me something to be excited about. I’ve always been a shy person. But your books helped me come out of my shell.

I’d see someone wearing something related to the Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit. At the Medieval fair, I was so excited when I saw someone dressed as Aragorn. (In case you were wondering, I was dressed as Tauriel. I know she’s not one of your original characters… but still.) And then, I lost my shyness and asked the person if they liked your books. If they said yes… well, we could talk for hours.

Before I read your books, I liked writing, sure, but I wasn’t serious about it. I had written some novels, but they were absolutely horrendous. They can’t even be called novels. I shudder to think of them.

But when I read your books, something clicked in me. I don’t know what, but something did.

Suddenly, I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to become a writer. Not just a writer of short stories. I wanted to write great books, classics, like your books are.

No idea if that will ever happen, but it gives me hope on the hard days. My grandma died two years ago, and I lost my passion for every single activity I had loved when she was alive. Fencing, sports…

The Lord of the Rings reignited something in me, something I had missed so much while I was mourning.

And the Lord of the Rings movies, and the Hobbit movies, they gave me my love of acting. Or maybe they just rekindled it. Maybe it was there all along…

So I want to thank you for writing your amazing books, because without them, who knows where I would be right now?

Oh, and happy birthday.

Sincerely,

Chloë Mali

Did Mr. Tolkien change your life in any way? Is there some other author that changed your life?