Credit Giveway for Blog Explosion members

In order to try to get more people to read this, I'm giving away 10 credits in BE to anyone who adds me to their blogroll. I'll also add you to mine, unless your blog disgusts me, in which case you probably shouldn't blogroll me. I'll also give out two credits per comment on the actual story/poem, up to 30 credits per blogger combined for the link and comments. This applies either until the end of May, or until I give away credits to ten different people.

I'm also offering up to thirty credits for individual illustrations that I can use here, and maybe more if its really good.

Welcome

Everyone visiting this blog should start with the narrative poem beginning with the third post from the top here

If you like what you've read, bookmark it and read more later. Unless you can read it all at once, in which case go for it.

The illustration above was created by Jennifer Fox last year for when I tried to self-publish the pre-verse version of the story in paperback form.

I plan to get more illustrations on this blog in the future.

You can read it for free, but donations are welcome if you think that I deserve one.

"News" Flash?

This would probably work well as a flash animation. It would certainly get more attention than it is right now. But would it be worth the time and effort that it would take to make a flash cartoon out of it? It would have to be done in segments, because otherwise it would take forever and then there would be too much for the attention span of the average flash watcher. Whatever that may be.

I don't even have any idea how to find someone to attempt this endeavor. Especially since I can't pay a cent up front. Any suggestions?

If you want to read the whole thing (the poem/story), go to archives and click here

Inspiration for a sequel

I decided how I want to continue the story , but I am not going to divulge any details quite yet. This could take a while, especially since the first time I wrote it in prose a couple of times before writing in verse and now I'm going straight to verse. I haven't actually written a line yet... just ideas. And the intention to actually do some research this time.

How does one advertise a giant poem?

As the people of Earth plan for the day
I highly doubt any one of them will say
"The best way to spend my extra free time
Is to read a sixty page story in rhyme"

Why bother to read when there is TV
So lazy mind's eyes will not have to see
And overworked people will not have to think
And can drown their corporate sorrows in drink

Not to mention the fact that it doesn't exist
In a form holdable by what can form a fist
It's a whole lot of scrolling that has to be done
For something unknown to almost everyone

Where's the solution? Is anyone reading?
Who has the connections I need for succeeding?
Where have all the mavericks gone? I guess they work alone
With more cooperation less worthy works would be unknown

But the way not to support my advertising needs
Is probably in a blog that I believe no one reads

Could I do this again?

Not this exactly, but something like it. A long, rhyming poem interesting enough that people want to read it, like the Elephant News poem that is the entire point of this blog. But not too much like it that it would seem like I was plagiarizing off of myself. And the answer is - I have no idea. So many different things factored into the creation of Elephant News, and my environment is considerably different now than it was back then. On the other hand, I do have experience with the long rhymed narrative that I didn't have before. So it may be possible, but only if inspiration strikes. It would be much easier if I could force inspiration, but I can't. It should be quite apparent by the quality of this entry that I don't have much of it right now. Hopefully that'll change before I find myself in a situation that gives me no time to write.

The Rewriting of Elephant News

The computer, the laptop, the home of the original electronic manuscript - is no longer functional. It's not important how it got that way, or at least that isn't as important as the fact that it will no longer turn on. I have a theory, but this is not the place for unproveable accusations. This is the place for discussing the ramifications of the sudden laptoppian destruction.
The immediate consequence was that most of the electronic record of what I had written in the Elephant News story disappeared about a day before I expected to finish. I had saved about forty pages through self-email, but the rest was gone outside of my memory. Luckily, since I had done most of that writing in a relatively short period of time and I had recently read most of what I had written aloud (not to myself), hope was not lost.
If I had undertaken any major official responsibilities at the time, it probably would have been hopeless. Since I hadn't, I was able to spend the next week and a half re-writing, first on campus computers and then on my new computer when it arrived. That ordeal was reflected somewhat in the re-write, which I think turned out better than the first time I wrote it. But it wasn't good enough.
Several months later, I still hadn't gotten anywhere with it. But the inspiration for my next step started with a parody of Longfellow's Paul Revere poem for a contest that I didn't win, which led to me writing several other story-poems of at least 1000 words in length. Having done that over the course of one month was part of what convinced me that I could turn this story, which already contained severing rhyming components, into one huge narrative poem.
It took several months to write, but I'm happy with it. I think it turned out well and although some may disagree, I think it was the post possible use of my time at the time. And now it's done.