People seem willing to do most anything to have their names go down in history. Some go it alone and some go for it as a group. We all know about the sword swallower’s, people pulling buses and trains, longest hair of every imaginable kind, longest toe or finger nails, but what about writers? Yes, there are records to make and break for writer’s too! As mentioned already, some go it alone and others invite people to join in the pursuit. Some for fun and others serious.

When I was doing research on this article I wanted to find the world’s longest poem. I discovered the record for the longest poem changes rapidly. Do an online search on the topic and you will see many results with dates close to each other. Are they false claims? I have no reason to believe so. It seems many are in hot pursuit of the record regularly.

As I stated before, some records are set by a group, rather than individuals. Did you ever think of writing as a tag team event. It is now! (chuckle) During my search I found a site I want to share with you. This site is inviting others to join them in creating the longest poem in the world. The idea: Everyone adds a few lines to the poem to make the new record. I thought some might find it amusing to play a game of tag or just check it out for fun. (smile) I think we could do it better at Triond anyway. Here is the site:

http://forum.esnips.com/posts/list/2863.page

It’s worthy to note that world records don’t necessarily include quality, particularly when it comes to records of the arts. After all, who would do the judging and what would be the standard for such a subjective field.

Their are rules for effective writing, but even the dogmatic teacher’s of writing can’t agree on the appropriate use of the apostrophe, colon or semi-colon. Most qualitative measures to assess the “best”, only work in small communities of like-minded thinkers. Each community seems destined to have its own “best of the best” category, lacking a universally agreed upon standard: even for the dogmatic. I am by no means perfect in my grammatical structure or usage, but I continue to study to attain a level of acceptability. It is a worthwhile pursuit.

The dogmatic teacher gives writers a framework of reason; or a structure to work within, but the vast majority of their students will eventually break away to exercise what some in the arts call: “The artists right of creative expression.” As one teacher of the arts said to me: “I teach you the mechanics that get you started, and you take it, apply it to your work, internalize it, make it your own, and nobody has the right to call it wrong.” Some write with a high degree of passion to get the most pieces published, even if quality suffers a bit. Others are determined to have quality pieces regardless of the number published; while many desire to strike a balance between both. My personal goal is to communicate powerfully what is in my heart, put it in written form as understandably as my current knowledge permits; and love it too much, to allow it to remain the same.

I didn’t really set out to go there, but I did. (smile) Yes, sometimes we get carried away in our free reign of artistic expression. Ironically that brings me to the first “world record of writer’s” I would like to share with you. He seems to break all the rules and surely causes the dogmatic to cringe. Here it is.

Breaking all the rules for determining appropriate titles, except one: Creativity.

Longest Title of a Book: 1,433 Characters or 290 words in length. Who was it written by? Davide Ciliberti. It is a book written about the peculiar ways of the Public Relations world. ( By the way, record holders are not always famous either.)

If 290 words isn’t enough to boggle the mind; try reading it in Italian. In English or Italian: It would qualify for a short essay. I would dare say, most of you reading this article have no idea who this guy is. His long winded title, though a world record, doesn’t seem to have made him famous around the “world”. Is long winded famous anywhere? I will have to read the book to determine if it was intended to be a work of humor. I would think so: After all, he is writing about the peculiar ways of the PR world, and it’s a world known for developing catchy, high impact material that will capture its audience in the shortest time possible. Speaking of capturing an audience in the shortest time possible:

Do you remember the question coming up during President-elect Obama’s campaign: “Is the public tired of hearing about him? Is their too much media attention on Obama, and is that going to hurt him?” Well, the answer to that; whether you are for or against him seems to be no. Obama, a virtual unknown seemed to capture the attention of a huge audience in a small snapshot of time. All we heard was Obama’s name to the point we had to ask: “Is anyone else in the race?” Perhaps that is a question asked of a national paper in India. Why?

The Most Letters Ever Published in a year in the same national paper: The AJ Independent Hindi Daily newspaper published 214 letters by author Shailendra Singh Yadav of India between January 2nd and December 30th of 2007. See the Obama connection? (smile)

You would if you were trying to get a letter published in that national newspaper. Is anyone else in the race? I would guess the author must have presented quality work, not just quantity or the readership would have demanded something different through the course of that year. Perhaps it’s not an issue of over-saturation, but quality saturation. A woman once told a preacher: “There’s no such thing as preaching too long, if you’re not in the brush, talking in circles.”

What is it aspiring authors want to accomplish? Sell our work to the world and beyond: Right? It is said; if you want to know what it takes to be the best, you should study the best. So, let’s look at the best. Guess who is the best (in terms of sales) for the most copyrighted books ever sold? None other than my source for the information contained in this article: Guinness World Records.

They sold their 100 millionth copy of Guinness World Records in November 2003. This is a record for copyrighted material, which is a category separate from the non-copyright material of the Bible. Since first being published in 1955, Guinness has taken the global trail and published its work in 37 different languages. Talk about reaching your maximum audience. Wow!

These are “known” record holders. I believe for every “known” record; there is another that was not known or recorded. We have many potential “best of the best” all around us at Triond. I am convinced of one thing: Everyone needs friends to inspire, motivate, challenge and promote them in reciprocal fashion. We even need the story of legends who have come before us: Those who have already forged an awe-inspiring path for others to follow. A path of hard work, discipline, long hours and intense passion.

“As Iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” Proverbs 27:17

Who is it that sharpens you? How have they helped you? They need to hear from you too.

Who has written the most articles, longest poem, longest article, is the most visited, or most commented on at Triond? I don’t know: Do you? But you do know who is your record holder in categories: Such as, greatest compassion, most inspirational, most informing (helpful), or most romantic author. Share your thoughts with us.

Some authors I have found who fit many of these categories for me is as follows: acecampillo, Adam Henry Sears, Allison Jae, Athlyn Green, BC Doan, Eunice Tan, Gayle Hamilton, Jasin, Liane Schmidt, lindalulu, Marli Diz, nobert soloria bermosa, and nutuba.

I am sure this will not be the end of great influences I will discover, but in my short time on Triond they have each made their own contributions as a blessing to me. I have listed them alphabetically: Not by any degree of preference. Each one of them is tops in their own special way; some sharing similarities with each other; while in points, still unique. Most importantly, they are all inspirational, encouraging, unselfish, and contributor’s to your success. None of them are TOO big to take an interest in you. Look them up in a search by author.

I hope to meet more fine people like them.