Hello my friends.

It has been a crazy year.  

One year ago I started filming for The West Virginia Storytelling Project, joining storytellers from throughout the state at the Vandalia Festival and the Liars Competition.  Going forward from that memorable weekend, I got to travel the state meeting a community of individuals that are all bound by their love for stories, no matter the format they take.  I was consistently amazed by their generosity and willingness to invite me into their homes and just talk.

It has been a crazy year, but a rewarding one.  I graduated from Emerson with my MFA, this project representing the culmination of production skills I refined there.  Who knows what the future holds?

And today I launched it.  Now, it is far from done.  This is the initial launch, which includes 4 storytellers and a peek at the 2011 Liars competition.  From here, over the next few months, I am going to continue to add material to the site as I continue to refine it.

To keep updated on when I add new content to the site, I encourage you to "Like" the project on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/wvstorytellingproject . 

Over the next few months I will be also working on Kickstarter awards (I bought sock puppet making materials just a few days ago!).  I will double check that your address hasn't changed before mailing any awards out.

Once again, the biggest, most sincere thank you that type on a screen can convey. For your interest.  For your patience.  For your support. 

Now you get to see what you helped create.  : ]

www.wvstorytellingproject.com

--Melissa Rogers 

PS A big congratulations to the 2012 Liars Competition winner, Pete Kosky!  He took the title (and the golden shovel) home at last weekend's competition. (You'll find him on the site as WV's 2011's 2nd place Liar.)

PS (again) If you have any issue viewing any element of the website, please send me a message at melissasrogers@gmail.com describing what browser you are using and the nature of the problem.  I have tested this site a lot over the last few months, but it is hard to catch everything alone!  : ]  That being said, sometimes you may have to let your computer load for a bit before things play smoothly.

With a few days to spare, we did it!  The West Virginia Storytelling Project has reached its funding goal!  Nothing can beat the feeling I got last night when I refreshed the project page and it had nudged over $3,500. 

I am incredibly thankful for each an every one of my 57 backers, and all of those that have helped spread the word about this project.  I couldn't have done it without each and every one of you!

What do we do with these last few days?  We see how far it can go!  As I mentioned in the project statement, $3,500 is the minimum I could go into production with.  All extra funding achieved will go towards reaching out to and interviewing more tellers while I am in WV and post-production costs.

I'll contact all of you once again when the campaign ends on May 12th to let you know how it all turns out.  

In the meantime, thank you.  I hope I will get to hug each of you soon.

Thank you all so very much.

Melissa Rogers : ]

Hello friends and story enthusiasts!

We are at the beginning of the end.

71 hours left in this campaign and we are SO VERY CLOSE to reaching our goal.

A very special thanks to all my backers that have increased their contribution in the last few days, and a brand new thank you to all our new backers! FIFTY ONE PEOPLE believe in this project enough to donate. I am blown away...this is more than I ever expected and I am excited that this project has generated such excitement.

The efforts of my friends, family, and even total strangers in getting the word out about this project has been amazing. Here is a recent article in the Shepherdstown Chronicle about the project!

On another note, as we celebrate the end of this fundraising campaign, that I am confident will succeed, please join me in celebrating my 25th birthday! Yes, the day that this project ends, May 12th, is my birthday. With the generosity of 51 (oh wow...while I was typing this it went up to FIFTY ONE!!!) people backing my mission, you are making it one of the happiest I've ever had.

Thank you all, my friends, new friends, and story enthusiasts. I'll stay in touch as we finish up these final days and as I embark on the next step of this journey and head down to West Virginia later this week.  

Attached are two pictures of a group I was priviledged to be a part of growing up. These pictures were taken at State 4-H Camp (Older Member's Conference) at Jackson's Mill in 2007. We gather around the fire to share stories.

Wow.  It has been an incredible week.  A HEARTY THANK YOU to each of our 35 WONDERFUL BACKERS.  

I am humbled by the support this project has received already, but we now only have 7 days to reach our goal. 

First of all, you've been doing a great job spreading the word, because I have lots of project news!

Articles about the project were published in the Roane County Reporter, my hometown newspaper, this past Sunday.  I didn't know about this until my extended family started calling me and voicing their support.  : ]  Unfortunately, the Reporter is currently working on their website, so I can't link you to it, but it is still exciting.  I can't wait to get my copy.

We are also going to be in at least two more publications:  The Shepherdstown Chronicle and the Shepherd University Magazine.  I'll link you to those articles as they get published.

In further news, I just received word that I was awarded a scholarship to attend an Augusta Heritage Class on Wood Engraving and Letterpress Printing.  This is a summer session class that takes place in August and it will be instrumental in helping me develop my visual approach to my animations, as well as give me the opportunity to work and create side-by-side with West Virginia artists and musicians for a week! I can hardly wait!

Also, we have had some celebrity tweeting going on!  My very dear friend Danielle Corsetto (a West Virginia artist and the animator of the popular web comic Girls with Slingshots) has agreed to help get the word out on our efforts.  Furthermore, some NFL players with WV roots have been retweeting the project as well.  

THANK YOU ALL for what you have done so far.  We are nearly done!  Please continue to tell people about the project and help me make this next week as successful as the last 23 days. Together we will make this project a reality.

I leave you with an image that I have been working on for my friend Ida Stewart.  She came to me in need of art for the cover of her book of poetry that also deals with mountains and Appalachia and many of the same themes I had been exploring with this project.  It is an adaptation of the collage image I made for this project, but the overall feel has changed (there's that tree again).

We are now halfway through our Kickstarter campaign.  A hearty THANK YOU to our 22 wonderful backers that have contributed so far.  

It is pretty hard to believe, but now we only have 15 days to reach our goal.  

I now need your help more than ever. Reaching a variety of networks is key for the success of this project, for stories are nothing without people to listen to them. Please take a moment to repost this on your blogs or Facebook pages, or just tell a few friends about it. If you know of a media outlet or a particular person that would be interested in this project, please send me a message. I am doing my very best to reach out to a variety of different outlets, but having more people on the job will result in greater success in the last half of this effort.

I have been quite busy in the last week, contacting storytellers and setting up interviews. Researching production insurance. Finishing up classes and jumping into full pre-production mode. This journey starts in two weeks and I am so excited to get started.

Attached is a picture I took a few years back at the top of Seneca Rocks, one of West Virginia's most beautiful spots. In the coming updates, as we count down to our goal, I thought I would share with you some of my favorite images I've made within the state, allowing you a sense of my photographic composition as well as a more personal look into the state that is the inspiration for this project and these stories.

With your help, I know this project will have a successful final 15 days and go into production with each and every one of you and your support fueling its vision.  

Thank you so much.

Melissa