I cannot remember ever not knowing Loki, Erik the Red, or Greenland.

In 2005 I started research after reading Carolyne Larrington's claim that the Norse Myths could not unite under a single narrative. Challenge accepted.

I grew fond of the Old Icelandic spellings as opposed to the contemporary Icelandic. By early 2008 I had already read and reread many sources, especially The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland, a work that I feel like will pose a challenge not to copy from.

However, I have taken from other author's retellings. But not of Norse Mythology itself, but that which it has influenced. How easy to borrow back from Tolkien the camaraderie between Gandalf and Strider into Odin and pick anyone. Also, note that Tolkien took Gandalf's name at least from Snorri.

In 2009, a thief broke in and stole a bag of mine that had my current notebook. Late in that year I started my graduate studies. The combination of the loss of momentum and the academic load effectively halted my project.

After graduate school, I started recollecting books that I had originally found at the county and university libraries. Particularly, three that I left off on and lost many notes included HR Ellis Davidson's The Road to Hel, Eirikur Magnusson's Odin's Horse Yggdrasill, and Jenny Jochens's Old Norse Images of Women.

Earlier this year, 2016, I regathered all of my paperwork and files.

Earlier this month I learned that a popular author, Neil Gaiman, has plans to release a retelling of the myths, for publication due sometime early next year. However, I feel skeptical after seeing a Marvel Comics style Mjolnir and a Wagnerism of the Twilight of the Gods. Does the capitalism or even simply the fanaticism constitute cultural appropriation? I hope not.

Either way this gives me either the opportunity, the spark to rekindle my task, or the ability to read someone else's work as either a guide or a warning for lessons learned.

To differentiate the story, I had decided to write it in first person, past tense, meant for the reader to read aloud to others. What I have written to date I have written from the point of view of Odin, though not initially named as such; he had so many names. But over time I changed my mind; the Sagas, which I grew fonder and fonder of, always read like a journal.

Another point to make: I have no motivation for anything but the survival of the work. And because my loyalty to the freedom of use and because I would honour the fact these stories date before me or anyone in my known tree, I must give it back. So, I will make it a point to release parts of the story ever so often. I target the release of Lokasenna before that of the Gaiman's publication.