Many Partings

where you can find my Tolkien work if TikTok gets banned

Three years ago, while out walking my dog Billie in a forest, I filmed a quick video about Samwise Gamgee planting a mallorn tree in the Shire. I’ve been in love with the works of J.R.R. Tolkien since I was 12 years old, but never had a community of people to discuss and share it with. The first time I opened TikTok, I was so intimidated that I instantly logged off. But eventually, instead of saying, “I can’t do this.” I said, “Why not?” took a creative leap and uploaded it to TikTok. 

My video about Samwise and the mallorn tree was imperfect (someone complained that the crunching leaves underfoot were too loud), I got a key piece of the lore wrong because I remembered incorrectly, but I did it. I shared about something I loved. For whatever reason, it connected with people. And, just like that, Tolkien Walks were born.

Since then, I’ve taken walks while talking about the quiet courage of Fredegar Bolger, the wisdom of Merry, the understated tenacity of Frodo, the friendship between Bilbo and Aragorn and how we all need to give Pippin a break because he’s just a little teenager. I’ve answered questions about the Valar and the true nature of Sauron and what happened to Legolas and Gimli after the ring was destroyed. 

I would do all this while exploring the beautiful corner of the world I live in or hanging out in my Tolkien office with my cat. Within three years, my page on TikTok had grown to an audience of 110k. But an issue began to arise: maintaining it was a lot of work without making any income. I was eventually able to get into TikTok’s monetization program but the earnings were meager. 

Some would argue that me having a fulfilling creative outlet should be enough, why would I need to make money on it? Can’t just the act of creating be enough? To that I say: I am genuinely glad—without malice or snark—you’re in a position where pouring hours of work into something every week doesn’t need to bring in income. I am not. 

Another Leap

Two years ago, I decided to take another creative risk and launched this Substack: Many Meetings. I needed a place to host my annual read-throughs of The Lord of the Rings and Many Meetings was perfect for it. I could continue to share about Tolkien and do it in a way that contributed to my family's well being. 

In the past two years I’ve been able to make nearly $20k through this Substack. A small amount to some, a not-small amount to our family who has one parent living with a debilitating chronic illness and the other (my husband) being the only one able to be employed full-time. Having the opportunity to alleviate our family’s financial needs in a way that works for me has been something I’m deeply grateful for. 

But here’s the kicker: by far and away, the majority of my subscribers found me through TikTok. And, as of this week, it’s very likely that app will be getting banned in the US. Maybe not, maybe all this will blow over. But if it goes through, I’m going to be honest: it’ll be a devastating blow to the income I’ve been able to make here these past three years. I’m worried. 

What now?

I’m going to do exactly what I’ve always done: keep going. If I lose access to TikTok, I’m still committed to making Tolkien content for my community. It’s just going to look different than it did before. 

If you’re a subscriber here, you’ll get weekly (free!) Tolkien-related posts from me straight to your inbox. This will be written content as well as filmed content as I continue to experiment with the features available on Substack.  

My plan is to continue filming Tolkien Walks and uploading them to Instagram and eventually YouTube (both linked below).

But for now, if you want Tolkien content from me, please consider becoming a subscriber as this is the best place to continue to find my work moving forward¹.

So…where can you find me if TikTok gets banned?

Primarily here. This is where I will be posting free content once a week. The only posts I will put behind a paywall will be the ones for my read-throughs. The reason for that is because of the amount of time it takes to host them. Hours of writing and research goes into my Tolkien read-throughs. I take the job of making it a fun, educational, welcoming space for everyone very seriously. And it requires a lot of time and effort to make that happen. 

All other posts on this substack will be free. So even if you can’t become a paid subscriber right now (I totally understand, no explanations needed!) make sure you sign up as a free subscriber to keep up with my weekly Tolkien deep dives. 

You can also find me in these places: 

• Instagram  (right now, this will be the best home for my Tolkien Walks)

• Threads (I’ve found the Tolkien community here to be welcoming and very interactive. It’s nice to have a place I can create Tolkien content on low-energy days)

• BlueSky (more of an experimental back-up option, still figuring out if it works for me right now)

• YouTube (I’ve not posted anything here yet, this is one of my goals for 2025!)

Thank You

I’d be so grateful if you shared about this substack in other places. Snag the link and post about it on your social media of choice. Text it to a fellow Tolkien nerd. We found each other before, we can find each other again. 

If I haven’t been clear about this yet, THANK YOU for following along as I’ve shared my journey of falling back in love with these stories in my 30s. In many ways, it felt like coming home. My aim in the future is to pass that feeling along to anyone who encounters my work. I’m so glad you’re here.

And if this is the first time you’re seeing Tolkien content from us, hi! I’m Breanne, this is my dog, Billie, (my cat, Juniper is around here somewhere). We hang out, talk Tolkien and you are welcome to come along if you like.

1. If you want to get a feel for what kind of Tolkien posts will land in your inbox if you subscribe, check out some of my favorite deep dives I’ve done in the past here on substack: