"The Night Before Christmas" Wrap-up!

Regular followers of this blog have just finished reading my take on Clement Moore's immortal tale, "The Night Before Christmas". I hope you all enjoyed it. New readers can check it out by scrolling down or (if you wanna read it in the correct sequence) by clicking the links to the right.

I was inspired to do this series of posts after I looked through a  version of the story Perfect Wifey had dug up that really had horrible illustrations. "I can do better than this!", thought I. No one, though, really needs to see another traditional version of this tale. So, I thought maybe a parody version might be in order. Yes, I know, there are too many of those too, but this  would be my version.

Since it was doubtful I would ever find a publisher for such an effort, I decided to post it on this blog. Since illustrating an entire book in time for Christmas was a daunting prospect, I decided to take it page-by-page. That way, I could squeeze out a verse or two every day, and still make the Christmas deadline.

I planned nothing. I wrote and drew each post in about a half an hour, with no plan as to where I was going with the story. I didn't even know how the whole storyline was going to turn out,  but I thought that this "seat-of-my-pants" approach might produce some interesting results. It did. What I originally planned as a hilarious parody of the original poem,  with all  kinds of Un-Christmas-y shenanigans, instead became the somewhat saccharine, very preachy piece you've just read. I did learn a thing or two in producing it, though. I learned:

• I am a lousy poet.

• Santa's sleigh and his reindeer team are a pain in the eggnog to draw.

• I should take a bit more  time with my drawings. Even if they are "only" for this blog. Some of the drawings really make me cringe, even now, after "just" drawing them. Too late. "They belong to the ages, now."

• I was also toying with the idea, if the results were any good, of collecting the whole thing into a POD book. Unfortunately, it turned out far too short for that. Do they publish POD Leaflets? 

One other thing I learned is that, all cynicism aside, I really believe in the message of my story. Especially the part about continuing the Spirit of Giving throughout the year. It's easy to give at this time of year (Again, I will direct you to Infinite Hollywood's Toys for Tots Drive, but there are lots of opportunities for extending your generosity out there), however it's not so easy to keep doing it all the year long. I'm gonna try, maybe some of you will too.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed all of this. Thanks for at least tolerating it, and sharing your comments. If you didn't enjoy it, and just wish I'd get back to ranting and raving about various bits o' nonsense, no worries! The posts to follow should take care of that!

Merry Christmas!