Love From Adelaide – Part 2

Despite having every intention of getting zine reviews done in advance so this exact situation wouldn’t happen… Here we are.

Maybe it doesn’t really mean anything to anyone other than me, but I do like to at least try for consistency here. It’s important to me that this be a place where people can – if nothing else – at least start their journey into the world of zines.

When I was first contemplating making a real go of it here (after my half-hearted attempt years ago), I looked at many, many different zine websites. Mostly zine review websites. While there are certainly those that were and still are going strong (Zine Nation, Xerography Debt, to name a couple), there were many out there that had stopped recently or even years ago.

I began to feel a little despondent, thinking that my reinvigorated passion for the community had come too late. The party had finished, the confetti was on the floor ready to be swept up, and not even the DJ was still around to say that it’d been great while it lasted.

At that point, I realised that, while what came before certainly did matter, the fact that so many thing had already stopped or closed would not stop me. I’m not at this point exactly sure what my ‘end aim’ is – if there even is one at all – but I know I am determined to create a space where people can learn about zines if they are new to the community or feel comfortable to hang around if they aren’t new to the community.

I don’t by any means see myself as anyone special, but I’ve felt that I can maybe – just maybe – create a space that amalgamates everything I love to the extent that it inspires others.

That’s why I become disappointed when I miss a review. That’s why, despite being fairly exhausted, I’m posting this here. I care, and I want to be the person I wish I could have had in so many different ways.

That’s probably a long story that I shouldn’t get into at the moment.

Anyway, what I am getting at in the most long-winded way possible is that I’m sorry I miss reviews – even if it turns out that none of you mind it too much. I am excited to tell you that I should be able to move into my forever home next year. And, no matter what it says of me, I am partly excited because I know that that means for what I will be able to do here.

I thank you all in the most heartfelt way for all the support I have found here, the new friends, the new follows, the everything. I am so happy here in a life where I have had… Well, I’ve had my difficulties. Let’s just say that I’m so happy to be doing what I do here, and the fact that anyone is getting enjoyment out of it (let alone the number of people who have actually said as much to me) is an amazing, wonderful thing to me.

I will accept that things are what they are right now. I will be back home this weekend and will endeavour to catch up with everything. I might even have the time and energy to plan something special for my birthday, but I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself (again). Haha.

My absolute best wishes to you all.