Once Upon a Time, Tolkien Felt Like a Failure

Give your failure some time, and it may become your truest success

One time J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a short story to help him through some frustration with his own body of work. The story, called Leaf by Niggle, was about an artist who got commissioned to paint a mural on the side of city hall. Niggle spent his whole career trying to complete that mural as he envisioned a robust, color-filled tree that would inspire for g…