The Terrible Two Flus… The Fortnight Flus… I will think of a name. Anyway, I am alive and – for the most part – recovered. Back to regular programming soon. 
Hello!
No happy mail this week, hence the lack of a happy mail post. Well, not really, but I’m getting to the lack of posting.
As it just so happens, Wanderer and I had a little celebration of managing not to kill each other for the past however many years. Spectacular, no? I thought so.
My present from Wanderer? A computer and phone-free day.
Let me be clear: I love my technology like I love reading in a hot bath after a long, difficult day. BUT it is nice to unplug – and we definitely unplugged. We got lost. Literally, but not in a panic-laden sense. We more drifted around until we decided to look for something remotely familiar so we could start wandering back home. Even Zine Ninja had a good time.
The next day, we trekked to Melbourne for some Daiso goodness for me (my preeeciousss shoppingses) and some market-fresh meats for Wanderer.
This is probably the longest I’ve been away from the computer for a long while. It was pretty cool.
Anywho, I will be back soon with a zine review.
200th Post!
Bits N’ Bobs
No happy mail for me today, but you need to send mail to receive it…
Anywho, I wanted to a round up sort of post for the day.
For anyone going to the Chicago Zine Fest, there is a DIY reading/after party going on. You can find out more on this Facebook page.
A vegan feminist zine is looking for submissions. Check it out here. With my usual way of doing calls for subs, I don’t have room for everyone, so perhaps more round-ups are in order…
In or around LA? A group of students is organising the Claremont Zinefest on April 25 and they are currently accepting submissions.
More details are here.
Sad face:
Sick Day
Pushed my energy reserves a bit too hard with rush orders recently. I’m going to admit defeat (at 11.15pm) and come back tomorrow with reviews. And maybe a schedule so I stop doing this to myself.
Etsy Store Sale – 50% Off
I’m having a little sale at le Etsy store.
50% off when you spend $5 or more! Just use the coupon code HELLOWORLD
I’m looking at making fewer physical journals and more digital/custom order journals. To support the focus shift, I’m offering 50% off when you spend $5 or more!
Dear Anonymous 3 Now Available on Etsy!
Dig into that letter-y goodness. Dear Anonymous 3 is now on Etsy.
The Good News, The Bad News & The Happy… Mail
The Good News
Fly my pretties, fly! Dear Anonymous 3 contributor copies are flying out into the world. They have been delivered to the postal deities and will arrive at their destinations in 7-10 business days. I’m so glad they are. There’s not a lot that I hate more than missing a deadline when that deadline involves other people.
PS. I may watch Don’t Starve Together play videos while sewing zines. I don’t have a problem…
The Bad News
I had it in the back of my mind that this might happen eventually, but I didn’t give it too much thought because I didn’t think it would happen anytime soon. Alas, it has.
Yeah… Today I went out to the post office to send out contributor copies. Because there were so many contributors (I’m not complaining – it’s awesome!) there were not only a lot of envelopes but the zine also weighed more. As in over 50g. As in jumped up considerably for those mere grams extra.
I wouldn’t say anything, but the fact of the matter is that it was a complete fluke that I even had the money to send all this. Complete fluke. I know I should have figured out the cost going in, but I think I knew it was going to be a lot so I didn’t want to face it. (You can see why I’m rolling in the big bucks after being so financially savvy for my entire life.)
So… It’s with a very sad heart that I have to say Dear Anonymous 3 is the last zine for which I can offer physical copies for contributors.
Sigh.
I seriously did not want to have to do it. I’m sorry.
The Happy Mail!
This lovely envelope of goodness comes from my friend Karley. Karley was one of the first contributors to Dear Anonymous, and she ran an awesome fiction/poetry/music zine called The Filth. She’s sent me a zine she likes that she thought I should check out along with a bunch of clippings from this and that for my various creative works.
Sweeeeet.
WOOHOO!
Do you want to know what this is? No? Darn…
Just kidding. I am so happy! This is a top view of Dear Anonymous 3! It’s finished! Kind of. I still need to make the master copy so I can put this away, make copies and print off the cover as well. But I’m very close to completely finished!
If I recall my numbers correctly, this is twice the size of DA2. I’m still going with the less protective paper to cover it, though, because I can’t find minty/sea green cardstock for the life of me. Grr.
Anyway, woohoo! It’s a touch after 11pm my time, and I’m happy about that. I was shooting for midnight.
Technical Difficulties
It’s interesting how much time, energy and worth we put into technology. I don’t think you can really comprehend the degree to which it is part of your life until the connection with it is threatened.
I’m thinking about this today because my computer is acting up. Anything more complicated than an email has become irritatingly difficult. But it wasn’t until things started freezing and not even opening that I began to feel the threat to that connection.
What I find interesting is that – after I copied my files onto an external drive – I thought of this blog. I was unhappy about the prospect of being late (again) with zine reviews. I didn’t like the thought of being disconnected from this cyberspace. I knew that this blog and the people I am ‘meeting’ here have made me happy, but I didn’t realise to what degree until the possibility of not being here arose.
This post is a bit scattered. You’ll have to pardon me. I meant to simply get on here and post that the zine reviews might be delayed this week.
Alas, sometimes my train of thought is more like an old hiking path – interesting but often hard to follow…
Haha. Until next time!