Author: Nyx

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Struggling

Starting DA3

Starting on Dear Anonymous 3

I’ve been trying to think about how to start this all morning. I suppose the only answer to that is to muddle through and hope for the best.

With recent events in Sydney and now today in Pakistan, I am feeling powerless. And useless. I don’t want to call myself ‘a sensitive soul’ because that sounds like a label only someone else can give you. All that’s left to say is that my heart is aching, my tears are falling, and I’m not sure what to do about it.

What you don’t see here is the paragraph I’d typed, shaming myself for things that I have no control over (like having social anxiety) and for not doing more. But I refuse to do that. Berating myself serves no purpose, and it certainly doesn’t honour those who have died because of violence. My feelings of helplessness? Powerlessness? That means they win – the people who love nothing more than to make people feel afraid and powerless. I’m too competitive to let anyone win and take away my strength.

To the victims of violence: I remember you. I mourn you. I find the strength to keep standing because of you. I do what I can to bring something positive to the world.

Rest in peace.

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Happy Mail + Thoughts on Dear Anonymous

Woo! There wasn’t going to be a Happy Mail post this week, but this little lovely snuck in at the last minute. (Meaning I went to the post box on a Monday.)

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The thing is that I’m not really sure where it came from… Not in a literal sense; the return address is on the envelope. I imagine it’s a trade for something… Or not. I do have a little notebook where I keep track of these things, but it just goes to show that you should always put in a little note with the trade/sale/etc details when sending your zines anywhere.

That’s all for the Happy Mail side of things. I’ve been a bit quiet on the zine front while I’ve been working on other things. Mainly? Christmas cards.

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I’ve been selling cards to supplement my zine addiction income, which hasn’t gone too badly to plan. But it did mean spending a lot of time making cards. Those starburst ones? Each slice is an individually cut and pasted piece of paper. Yep, they took a while.

But this isn’t about Dear Anonymous at all.

Sorry. I got a little sidetracked. Dear Anonymous 3!

DA3 now has nine letters with another one coming, so I will be getting a start on that later today. They probably won’t be sent out until early January so they don’t get lost in the Christmas rush.

DA1 was completely handwritten and drawn by yours truly. My art skills are a bit lacking in the drawing department, so I went for more typing and stamping for letters in DA2. As I look at DA3, I’m thinking there will be a complete transition into typing for the words and more cut/paste type of backgrounds for the letter.

Where the other thoughts come in are in regards to DA from here on out. I want to keep doing it, of course. However, I am thinking I’ll do a short print run (mostly for contributors) of DA3 alone. After that, though? I want to make a bigger zine that incorporates all the letters from 1, 2, and 3.

What do you think? Should I keep them separate and thus recognisable? Or should I do as I like because that’s the way of zine culture?

Decisions, decisions…

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Call for Submissions: Dear Anonymous 3

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Dear Anonymous 3 is on its way and I’m looking for letters!

These letters can be confessionals, but they can also be whatever you like them to be. Write to your life, write to your cat, write to your past or your future… Dear Anonymous is about writing the letters of the things you can’t say for whatever reason.

Basically, you’re right in the 1 – 500 words range, but shorter is better. BUT, this zine is about expression, and I don’t want to force anyone to clamp down on their passion just for me. I’m flexible.

Send letters to theauthor at inkyblots.com If I don’t respond to you within a few days, comment here.

All contributors will receive a copy.

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Do you have a call for submissions for your zine? Let me know!

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Zine Review: Plague

Plague

Plague
Edward J Grug III
A5
http://webcomicsnation.com/grug/
tedprior at yahoo.com

Plague is one of the few full-comic zines I own, and I love it. (Not just for the tragic cat story, either.) I love the thicker card cover and the crisp printing on quality paper. The little things show that extra work and dedication to creating an excellent comic on a tactile level as well as visual.

The amount of detail perfectly suits the story being told, adding to the scene without being distracting. The story is excellent, and I can’t help but make a connection to thinking about a horror Tom and Jerry. The fact that not a single word is said in the comic only helps the impact of the visual story told.

Even more exciting? You can find part two on Grug’s site (listed above).

This will definitely be a permanent part of my zine collection.

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Zine Review (& Giveaway!): The Nutella Cookbook

Nutella Zine

The Nutella Cookbook
Anna Williams
US Half-Fold
saucerville.etsy.com
saucerville at gmail.com

This is the first zine I ever owned, so I decided it was only right that I start up with The Nutella cookbook. Even if only one of three links on the back still works, and the zine appears not to be available right now…

Yummy! I love Nutella, so I’m not surprised this is the first zine I bought. The cover – made of slightly glossy paper makes the Nutella spread background look even more delicious.

The first thing I noticed when I flipped through this zine is that there is a lot of white space – including entire blank pages. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I’m not used to it in zines, and I would have liked even more to read in this zine.

It’s composed mostly of recipes, but it also has ‘My First Nutella’ stories and an introduction to the Unofficial Nutella Test Kitchen (a uni dorm kitchen). The extras rounded out the recipes and made for a more ‘complete’ experience.

I haven’t tried all of the recipes, but I have tried a delicious few. I’ve also tweaked and played until I made my Nutella-inspired creation: peanutellas.

All up, The Nutella Cookbook will remain a part of my collection.

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Now for the giveaway! Yep, I want to celebrate my first review in years. I am giving away one zine pack with all of my zines.

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Don’t Call Me Cupcake, Occupy Melbourne, Dear Anonymous I, Dear Anonymous II

All you have to do to go in the running to win the lot is to leave a comment and say hello (or whatever else you’d like to say). If you haven’t left a comment before, don’t worry if yours doesn’t show up. I have to approve everyone’s first comment.

Have at it, have fun, and all that good stuff. I’ll announce the winner next Thursday.

Open internationally.

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Look What I’ve Found! Sticky Institute Short Documentary

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwLfG2W0wCc&w=560&h=315]

“Kevin McDowell’s My Tribe documentary, about Sticky Institute in Melbourne, for ABC Pool.”

I have a habit of ‘wandering’ YouTube when I have some time, trying to see what treasures and what weirdness I can find. I think this short documentary about Sticky is quite good.

And a bonus!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01zap17j_FM&w=560&h=315]

“Located under Flinders St Station, Sticky Institute is a one-stop shop for zines of all kinds. Adriana heads along to this creative space to find out all about zine making and what kind of publications are on offer.”

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PSA: Sending Stuff to Australia AKA Postage Piss-Offs

Postage to and from Australia can be a bit of a piss off.

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We’re kind of stuck here with a long way to go to get anywhere. So, of course postage is going to suck. Even so, you can imagine my shock when a potential trade went up in smoke because:

I went to the post office… and they wanted to charge me over $20 to send three zines.

Wait… wait… What?

I know we’re far away and all, but in no universe does it cost that much to send zines to Australia. I took a couple pictures to prove it:

Postage

This envelope contained three zines (US half-fold), a greeting-type card and a business card.

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This one contained one zine (US half-fold), a mini-zine, and a single-page note.

If your post office tries to tell you that sending a few zines costs more than $20:

1. Make sure they are charging for letter post, not parcel post. I’m not sure if those are the exact categories in US mail, but it all comes down to sending documents versus sending other items.

2. Ask for other shipping options. They might be trying to put you down for first class, express shipping or some other such stuff. They might be assuming that you want extra cover, sign at the door, blah blah blah.

3. If they still insist that it’s $20+ (and you’re definitely sending paper material only), then screw them and either go to another office or go pre-paid. Even a pre-paid First-Class Mail® International Large Envelope only costs $12.60 USD. How do I know?

4. Look it up on the USPS International Postage Calculator. If you do that, then you can say you did that and hold them accountable.

There’s my little rant for the day. It may seem like a small thing to some, but it’s definitely not to me. For reasons.

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Happy Mail!

Happy mail, happy mail…

This week’s mail post is coming a little bit later than anticipated. I have been quite busy with my Etsy store, custom work, requests for my mad editor skills, and so on. Woo! Heaps on. I am so ready for a holiday. Anyway… to the mail!

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This lovely is a trade from Sarah who has a StoreEnvy shop for her zines.

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This is a trade for my Perfect Pocket Guinness Guide. It’s technically a free zine, but postage to Australia warrants a trade. Trade made possible by Zines A Go Go.

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Last, another trade. This time, it was with Jenn Suxx on WMZ. Funnily enough, she mentioned international mail making her nervous, and the envelope arrived like this…

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Not the worst condition I’ve ever received something in, but it had a rough adventure here. The good news is that the zines inside are in perfect condition.

Well, back to it! Plenty left to do!