Month: May 2017

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No Mail Monday – Exhausting Days Ahead


Image found here

Alas, no mail this week, but after last week’s mail extravaganza, I’m still feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.

Last week I asked for your help deciding on a zine title. The poll is still open, if you’d like to weigh in. However, I’m fairly decided on the title (with the weight of the Twitter poll results thrown into the mix with these results). Funnily enough, it’s the title I’d decided on ages ago but suddenly got panicky about last week.

Weird ol’ Nyx brain strikes again.

On another note, if you have a ‘my first zine’ story you’d like to share, I’d love to include it in the aforementioned zine. 🙂

Things are a bit stressful around here. Wanderer had a small op – just a day surgery – but recovery is slow and painful. Moreso than either of us expected and in a way that leaves him fully occupied with recovering. Top that off with our upcoming rental inspection – a panic-attack inducing event that comes twice a year – and I am struggling to stay calm and relaxed. There’s always so much to do, and now there is a big ol’ load of things to do on top of that.

The silver lining is that all the work needing doing keeps me moving. With winter gearing up and gas an expensive luxury, keeping warm in other ways is a very good thing.

Well, as per always, there are many things to be done. I will leave things here for now and wish you all the best possible week ahead.

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Calling Zine Makers, Libraries, Distros, And the Like

I’m at the very beginning stages of working on a new zine project. As part of this, I would like to include A5/A6 spaces (maybe even A7, if that works for you) that feature things like:

*Zines that have a rolling call for submissions (even if your zine changes theme/topic from issue to issue, an overarching ‘flier’ for the whole series would be awesome)
*Zine distros – whether you want to say ‘check out my distro’, are looking for zines to sell in your distro, or both!
*Zine libraries – again, whether it’s a ‘check us out’, ‘looking for zine donations’, or both, I’d love to see it
*Zine people who want to be included in an ‘open to trades’ section. I’m thinking name, preferred contact (or your mailing addy, if that’s the way you roll), and a few likes/dislikes.

The key thing here is that things be ‘undated’ (hence sharing a zine series rather than one specific call for submissions) so things aren’t out of date before I get the chance to create the thing.

Ideally, I’d like things to be images with text on them because of the limited space involved (with the exception of the trades section, which will be text only). But I want to be flexible, too. This project is really in its early days, so I’m still figuring a lot out.

If you want to get involved straight away (please do!) then you can shoot me an email (theauthor at inkyblots.com)

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Call for Submissions: Blunt Talk Zine

In honor of the annual 420 holiday, I’m launching my next project. Blunt Talk. Blunt Talk is a zine dedicated to providing information about recreational and medical marijuana. Please consider participating and sharing! Happy Holidays!

Requirements & Info: All writing must be 1000 words or less, all imagery must be 300dpi, all submissions must be sent in by midnight on May 31st.

All creators are welcome to be published anonymously if they feel more comfortable. All material is subject to editing and or refusal. All accepted creators will be emailed a PDF of the final zine.

Proceeds from this zine will be directly donated to IMPACT for medical marijuana research. You can donate to IMPACT or read more here: http://www.impactcannabis.org/

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Call for Submissions: True Trans Bike Rebel (Taking the Lane #15)

Taking the Lane #15 is called True Trans Bike Rebel, and we are looking for nonfiction writing about the experience of being transgender and bicycling. Submissions can be essays or reporting about bicycling, or other topics or stories in which bicycles play a part (or other human-powered transportation).

Submissions can be any length; word count between 500 and 2500 words is ideal for this format. Single-color illustrations and photos are also sought. Please submit your work as an attachment or link in an email to elly at taking the lane dot com. The deadline is July 1, 2017.

All contributors will be paid a share of the net profits from the Kickstarter project used to fund the zine.

Taking the Lane is a feminist bicycle zine published since 2010.

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Zine Review: Self-Help 2

Self Help 2
?
selfhelpzine@gmail.com

Self Help 2 is a zine about perfectionism, finding the right self-care, defending your needs, and having hope for the future. It’s also a zine that I found was enhanced by the zine that came before it…

Part of the reason that I decided to put this review up so quickly after my review of the first one is the experience I had in reading them one after the other. They certainly work completely well as standalone zines, but I got some added enjoyment out of reading them together like I did.

The perspective that I liked in Self-Help 1 of looking back on the teenage years with the gaze of someone in their late twenties is echoed in a way in this zine. Instead of the usual jump of a couple months to a year or so in most perzines I’ve read, the jump from the first to the second in this series is a jump from 26/27 years old to 31 years old. Not huge, but certainly significant when it comes to looking back.

One particular topic touched on in this zine that I found interesting is the stigma that exists even within ‘open’ communities when it comes to using ‘traditional’ approaches to mental illness treatment like medication and seeing psychologists/psychiatrists. I like reading about people finding success with those things just as much as I like reading about people who find success in other ways. I think it’s important for people to call out hypocritical behaviour that deters people from finding success in whatever way they can.

This zine still has the ‘scrapbook’ type feel with ‘outside’ pieces included, but this one had a bit more writing and reflection, which I like. There’s also still a focus on perfectionism. As the author writes, “Changing things is a slow, slow, slow process”. Something I feel is reflected in the jump of time between zines but more of a noticeable point when you read the zines one after the other.

I hope anyone who reads this zine can get Self Help 1 at the same time and read them both. I found it inspirational to see someone learning and growing so much in the space of two zines.

A PS for readers outside Australia: This zine comes with seeds, so you may need to request that they are removed before it’s sent.

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Zine Review: Self Help #1

Self Help #1
?
selfhelpzine@gmail.com

This zine is an exercise in self-therapy. It’s not about wallowing in self-pity, or blaming anyone, or trying to dwell unnecessarily on the past… it is necessary. I want to write this zine to help me figure out where I am now.

With a first page like that, you know where you’re going with a zine.

Self Help #1 is not only an exercise in self-therapy but also self-examination. The author examines their teenage years through their adult eyes. You might read that and think that it sounds cliche, but I found it really engaging. I think there’s something validations about looking back and realiseing that it’s not always “just teenage angst”. It’s ‘what we’ve learned’ without the sticky sweet high-horsing morals of an after-school special. These are real things learned by a real person.

I say ‘the author’ because I don’t think a name is mentioned at any point. It’s entirely possible that I missed it, but it also didn’t distract me as much as I thought it would.

I was surprised to see the articles that were included in the zine, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. I feel like it might be a ‘meh’ point for people who read perzines purely for the personal stories. On the other hand, it could be the best of both worlds for other people with most of the articles credited so you could check out more info if you wanted.

The author touches a lot on the subject of perfectionism and how it can drive anxiety. While I’m very familiar with anxiety and perfectionist thinking, perfectionism as its own entity to deal with was new to me and interesting to read about.

The combination of subjects makes it into a zine that I think would hit the mark well with teens as well as those struggling with perfectionism.

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Happy Mail Monday – Overwhelmed by Generosity Edition

This week has been a happy week for happy mail indeed! Cute envelopes, shiny envelopes, letters, zines, and even an interesting heart sketch have made my post box and my life a better place!

Kendy P aka MissMuffcake sent me copies of The Stay at Home Girlfriend and her latest mini-zine! I feel so bad because the postage is so atrocious, but I am so, so thankful for zines in a zine series I love!

I had to take a picture of the envelope alone because it’s so cute! There’s even a kitty sketched on the front!

Happy mail from Germany in a shiny green envelope! I know, I know. Plenty of jokes to be made about Nyx loving shiny things. ^_^ Now a more spread out pic of the zines:

Queer Marshmallow of Queer Trash Distro saw my bullet journal zine on Instagram, and we set up a trade! We’ve both been rather short of spoons lately, so it took a little while, but it happened. Haha.

I am so thrilled. QM did not tell me that I would be receiving so many zines. What a wonderful surprise!

This was a great surprise in my post box today. A completely unexpected envie of happy mail all the way from the UK! Chloe Henderson sent art, zines, postcards, and a flier as well. I like seeing all the different ways people get the word out about their zines, art, and work.

And yes, that heart is exactly what you think it is. Hehehehe. I get to colour it in, too!

Chris has become one if the most prolific penpals I have ever had! There’s something lovely about settling into a cosy chair and reading a nice long letter.

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That’s all the mail for this week. Heaps! Seeing all the fun mail art, the colours, and all of that stuff makes me want to start making happy mail videos so I can better show everything off. If you think that would be fun, please let me know!

As always, I hope you are all having a wonderful week.

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Mail Note:

It’s a bit early, but I figure I should start getting the word out sooner rather than later… I’m moving later this year (late August or September). I will be setting up a new post box as soon as I can in the new location, but as we get closer (starting beginning of August-ish?), you may want to hold off on sending mail. I will get a redirect and everything set up, but I’m a smidge anxious about the whole thing.