Hello, zine friends!
Gosh golly gee, this week certainly got away from me. From the 24-hour zine sessions on Sunday and Monday (I have about nine hours still on the clock hehehe) to a therapy session to getting all geared up for a sleep test session (check out my Instagram if you want to see me looking like part cyborg), everything really ran away.
But that’s life!
Feral Publication and I have been chatting quite a bit lately about taking on too much, neglecting self-care, and along similar lines. So what I’m trying to do more these days is pay attention and not make myself sick overworking.
Don’t get me wrong – it irritates me to no end to not stick to the schedule I have set up here on the blog, but you have to look after your health. This year has been a bit lesson in that.
Still, I promise that – save for anything major happening – everything will be back to normal next week.
On to catching up with IZM!
Day 19’s prompt is to send your zine to a distro for consideration!
I’m not sure if I mentioned it here or on one of the happy mail videos, but my piggy bank for stamp money is running a bit short. So while I haven’t had the chance to send zines out yet (I’m glancing at a stack of mail ready to go out), I know exactly where I’m going to send my zines: Small Zine Volcano!
I have a stack of Missives ready to rock and roll for them. So it may not happen overnight, but it will happen. 😉
Please check out my resources page (and send me links if I’m missing out!) for all sorts of places to send your zines.
However, if you’re not keen on sending any zines or want to get in on the start of an interesting discussion, check out Feral’s video on today’s prompt about distro experiences. (I don’t want to put you off – and neither does he – but it always helps to have different perspectives.)
On another note, if you were thinking of sending your zine to me for distro consideration, I love that you’ve thought of me so much! However, I pay for zines up front so there’s no confusion and a lot less paperwork. Because of that, SGZ distro is going to grow veeeery slowly. Hehe.
Day 20 is zine shop appreciation day! Woo!
Today is the day I joyfully shout out (because it’s an 8 hour drive to go visit) the one, the only, the iconic Sticky Institute!
If you’re ever in Melbourne, you really need to visit. It’s a really amazing, welcoming space with so much zine goodness. Everyone who works there deserves a big hug (if they’re into hugs). I’m hoping that someday, Adelaide will have a Sticky Sister Shop.
Erm, not sure if that name will work. Haha.
And it’s the day to show your love and support for your local zine library. Like distros, zine libraries can be few and far between. Technically I have the True Zine Marin & Sea Green Zine Library, but I don’t have an offline or online place for you to check it out. Yet.
Once again, you can check out my resources page to have a peek at some of the zine libraries listed.
Day 22 is another day for showing your zine library support by sending or dropping off your zines to a zine library. Often this is the *only* way these libraries get new zines in, so this is a very important way to keep them going.
I’ve sent zines to a few of them over the years – the first being a New Zealand based zine library.
Zine libraries! Please send me an email with your details! I’d love to add you to my resources page.
Ahem. 🙂
Day 23 sees us ordering from a different zine distro! Earlier this month I ordered from Broken Pencil. Oh, my gosh snail mail waiting times. I can hardly wait!
Alas, that is going to have to count for today as well. But I do have my eye on my next order… Zine-O-Matic!
Day 24’s activity is to teach yourself a new zine skill, and I found myself slightly modifying the prompt. For this day, I not so much taught myself a new zine skill but rather let go of my anxieties and preconceived thoughts about myself, and I collaged. And coloured. And drew. And made a comic!
I know it probably sounds strange for me to list those for today, but I’ve spent a lot of time telling myself how much I couldn’t do things. I couldn’t possibly [insert many things]. But various people challenged me to make various things for pages in my 24 hour zine, so I had a go.
And I loved it!
I truly ended up loving the experience, so I’ll definitely try to remember that the next time someone asks if I’d like to try doing something and my first instinct is to say I can’t.
Send your zine out for review to a website or magazine that does reviews!
I do reviews. Hehe. Of course you know I do reviews! Hahaha. And a lot of other great people do, too. At the risk of repeating myself waaaaay too much, definitely check out the resources page. There are reviewers all around the world.
I trade zines with most of them, so I’m counting that for today. Hehe.
And last to catch up, we have today’s activity: organise your zine collection!
I posted about this a while back…
I had to move that shelf and thus the boxes as well to make room for the wall of awesome. However, the boxes are still the way I organise my zines, and I love it! I know it’s not ideal for others for a lot of reasons, but if you can do it, definitely do. It’s easy to find everything, easy to keep everything organised, and permits for having alphabetised boxes as well as person-specific boxes for people I trade with regularly.
Phew! All caught up. Wowza. Congratulations if you’ve made it this far. Haha.
Like I said, this week really got away from me. Next week should be back to the usual swing with the added bonus of me having the weekend yet to get my head on straight. And have a few naps.
Until then…
Others Joining In:
* Hadass: https://hadass420.wordpress.com/
* Phoebe’s Zines: https://www.instagram.com/phoebeszines/
* Feral Publication: https://youtu.be/trS6pVtjsjw
* Enter the Papernet: http://www.enterthepaper.net/
Let me know if/where you are joining in!