Category: Zinewrimo

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ZineWriMo Day 2: Brainstorm Zine Ideas

Hello and happy Thursday, zine friends!

It’s day two of ZineWriMo and, if you hadn’t noticed, I went for the slow rev up to actually making zines this month. Get a firm foundation and all that good stuff before jumping right into making things. (Of course, that doesn’t stop you from jumping right in and making things.)

Today the prompt is brainstorming zine ideas.

“What do I make a zine about?” is a variation of a very common question for creatives. There can be so much energy, but with no idea what to do with that energy, things can get frustrating. Hence brainstorming ideas.

How you choose to brainstorm is up to you. There are heaps of possibilities out there from mind mapping to writing down everything you can think of as fast as you can. You may want to write down or print out 51 Ideas for Your Next Zine as a way of getting started.

There’s no wrong way to do it so long as you find your way to inspiration.

How you choose to store your ideas also comes with many options. One fun idea I’ve always liked is the idea jar where you write down your ideas on slips of paper and stick them in a jar (or a box):

Whenever you’re ready to start a new project but aren’t sure what to do, you can pluck an idea or two out of the jar to get you started.

This is my version of the idea jar. It goes with me wherever I go and contains all the strange and wonderful (and not so wonderful) ideas for what to make zines about. Sometimes it’s an idea for a whole zine, while other things are rough sketches or small blurbs to include somewhere. Either way, this little notebook means I don’t forget any ideas I have.

I already have a pretty huge list written down today, so I don’t think I’ll be looking for new zine ideas anytime soon!

Be sure to share links to your posts/pictures showing off your ideas and where you keep them.

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#ZineWriMo Side Note: So What’s a Media Box?

Hello, zine friends!

I’m popping in a little early today with an extra post to explain something a few people asked me about. On day 11 for the daily activities the activity is to make a media box. Inquiring minds want to know:

What’s a Media Box?

A media box doesn’t have to be a box. Basically, it’s a place to keep all the cut and paste bits and pieces that go with and inspire your zine creating. You may keep…

Washi tape

Stickers

Magazine/Newspaper Clippings

Die Cuts

Or all matter of things that you use in creating your zines, collages, mail art, so on and so forth.

You can even use those things to decorate whatever container you use to hold those things.

I hope that answers the question. 🙂 I’ll be back in a few with today’s prompt as well as today’s zine review!

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#ZineWriMo Day 1: Connect With Other Zinemakers

Hello, hello, friends, and welcome to the very first day of ZineWriMo 2017!

I hope the first day of this fine month finds you well and feeling creative. I’m still in mostly-drowsy land, but I am excited about the month to come. I have so many zine ideas that I can hardly keep up with writing them down.

However, today is about connecting with fellow zinemakers!

It’s all too easy to feel alone when you are a creative person. Especially when your art requires spending long periods of time alone. You’re not alone, and it’s important that you have spaces that help remind you of that.

When it comes to zines and ZineWriMo, there are a few spaces to enjoy:

*ZineWriMo Facebook Group
*Zines A Go Go Facebook Group
*We Make Zines
*Pen Fight Distro Community Board (especially if you’d like to do trades or will find calls for submissions inspiring)

You can also search for the hashtag #zinewrimo on Twitter or Instagram
Or the hashtag #zines for a broader search on Twitter or Instagram

Also, it’s more of a directory rather than a place to chat, it’s still worth checking out the good ol’ Zine Wiki to see who and what you can find there.

If you’d like to connect with me, I’m on:
Twitter
Instagram
WeMakeZines
Tumblr

These are just my hangouts, though. I’m sure there are heaps of other places, so be sure to share them in the comments.

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ZineWriMo is Coming!

Hello, zine friends!

The month of October is coming to a close, which means a big month ahead for many people. Why? NaNoWriMo, the event that challenges people to write 50,000 words in one month.

So what does that have to do with ZineWriMo? Well, according to the person who came up with it (as far as I know), Kat Mokus:

ZineWriMo is a new idea that came to me in wanting to combine the original NaNoWriMo and zines!

ZineWriMo is November! We focus on making one, or many, zines in November! Our only goal is to create zines, no word count requirement!

ZineWriMo is a fun, relaxed way to get into the zine making space with friends. There is a ZineWriMo Facebook group to help you connect with others, and the #zinewrimo hashtags on places like Twitter and Instagram if they are your preferred places.

Just to be clear, I definitely didn’t come up with the idea of ZineWriMo. BUT what I did do is come up with a little list of daily activities…

Ta da! I thought it would be fun to have daily prompts for any time you are feeling a little lost or unmotivated when it comes to getting your zine on in November. This is meant to be fun not stressful, so don’t get too wrapped up in accomplishing everything on every day. (But kudos and internet chocolates to you if you do.)

So there you have it! Share far, and share wide, zine friends. November is going to be busy!

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ZineWriMo Wrap Up (& Life)

Forgive me the later than usual post. So much happening over here!

zinewrimo

ZineWriMo!

I know it’s the 5th of December, but I still wanted to do a sort of wrap up sort of shout out for ZineWriMo (Facebook). November ended up being complicated in a lot of ways, including revamping my asthma attack plan (yeah, asthma ninja skills) because the hayfever hit HARD this year.

ZineWriMo was a really nice bit of extra motivation, and the Facebook group is so, so supportive. There are people there who want to keep the good times going even though November is over, so definitely still check it out if you’re interested.

I am very happy to have finished Don’t Call Me Cupcake 6 and Hairy. (Still a bit weird about that title, but some things name themselves.)

zine-ninja-loves-adelaides-parks

Wanderer and I had another trip over to Adelaide (about a 7 hour drive) that involved driving over on Wednesday and driving back on Thursday. We anticipated it taking a lot out of us, but it was even more full on than we thought.

The good news is that we’re one big step closer to moving to South Australia next year. If everything works out, this will be the last spring lung assault I will have to deal with. (Bendigo is amazing, but I can’t breathe…)

We did get to one appointment way early, though, so we chilled out in the park for a while. Zine Ninja loved it.

jacaranda-tree

Purple tree! There are so many jacarandas around Adelaide. It makes me so happy. (I love purple.)

rainbow-flower

We stopped at the market for breakfast, and I found these gorgeous flowers! How cool are they?! And yes, they are real flowers, in water. Gorgeous.

There will be a lot more to come tomorrow.

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ZineWriMo Update + Don’t Call Me Cupcake 6 Sneak Peek

zinewrimo

The rollercoaster that has been life since… gosh, probably back into August… made me realise that I haven’t really given a ZineWriMo update since I first posted about it. Oops!

zine-ideas-notebook

I’m one of those people who always has so many ideas rather than not any. I want to do all the things on top of all of the things I’m already doing. There’s always something to do. I started my ZineWriMo prep by gathering all the notecards, sticky notes, envelopes, napkins and the like, and putting them into a proper ideas notebook.

I have been working on pieces for Don’t Call Me Cupcake 6, but there has been a particularly insistant idea bouncing around in my mind for a few weeks. When I sat down to dig into zine making this weekend, I found myself naturally gravitating towards creating this zine…

It’s different in size, shape, subject, and pretty much everything else that I’m used to creating in my zines. So, of course I would mess up the pages, end up needing to cut everything and then washi tape it back together so it would copy/print properly.

mini-zine-oops

Oops.

I ended up scanning it into the computer because that was just the simplest way to clean up the pages and make copies. I have yet to make the covers, so this zine is still ‘in progress’. It’s also the first zine that I have yet to be sure if I’m even going to release, as it’s a bit… It makes me feel a bit vulnerable, to be honest. I’m still very glad I made it, either way.

Now, while all this has been going on, I’ve also been working on Don’t Call Me Cupcake 6. I was feeling quite stuck and unsure (no idea why). Whenever that happens in my writing, I go back to longhand. That usually does the trick of getting me out of whatever muck I’m in.

Seeing as I’m running late with it anyway, I thought I would share the very first page of Don’t Call Me Cupcake 6…

dcmc6-page-1

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What is #ZineWriMo?

zinewrimo-participant

After an email came my way over the weekend asking about ZineWriMo, it occurred to me that I could have been a bit more explanatory when I mentioned ZineWriMo last week.

This post is here to provide a little more clarification.

First off: I don’t want this post to be seen as me taking any credit for #ZineWriMo. The entire idea belongs to Kat, and I am just another happy participant.

A happy, zine-obsessed participant who likes to shout about about everything I get excited about. Like ZineWriMo.

While ZineWriMo is a ziney NaNoWriMo alternative, it doesn’t have ‘one goal to rule them all’ like NaNo has. ZineWriMo is all about self-set goals and then getting in with the encouragement of the group to reach the goals you’ve set.

Personally, I’m looking to create Don’t Call Me Cupcake 6, make a few new call outs for collab zine projects I’d like to do (one done so far), and complete at least one more of the zines I have on my ‘zine ideas’ list.

Other people are looking to start/finish their very first zines while others are looking to create zine anthologies. There’s a wide variety of experience levels and projects in the group.

ZineWriMo has a Facebook group as well as a Twitter hashtag ‘group'(?) going.

I think that covers things a bit better than I did before. Please don’t hesitate to ask any other questions you have. Your best bet is probably Kat, though, as this whole thing is their idea.