to zine or not to zine….

Just a few short days ago, life was hectic. I had too much work, too many assignments and not enough time. Now, looking four months of study-free existance in the face, time seems endless, empty and unexciting.

Yesterday, I went to Sticky – an independent publishing shop that sells various Zines, Graphic Novels, and other self-published goodies. Despite my aspiration to be published, I hardly knew what a Zine was until a few weeks ago reading about the ‘Riot Grrrl’ Zine fad of the 80s and 90s – a feminist forum for mostly white-middle-class American punk and alternatives attempting to be heard. Zines rose in popularity immensely in the 80s due to the availability of photocopiers and the convenience of mass-production … they were cut-and-paste style brochures, handwritten, often with poor graphics or personal cartoons. At Sticky, there is still alot of Zine’s looking just like that. Others are a bit more advanced, pretty colours, sophisticated designs, glossy paper, evidence of the 21st century and the existance of photoshop. I bought one zine entitled Murder Can Be Fun, an anthology of zine work called Doris, and another self published book of random stories. It got me thinking about making my own zine, after all, it seems like the simplest way to get your name out in the field of writing and publishing. But exactly how I will slant my zine I don’t know. I have alot of pretty photos I used in my ‘vintage photoshoots’, alot of short stories and articles I’ve written for Uni… but how it will all fit together I’m not too sure. Also, does printing your work in a Zine mean that actual publishers or magazine’s won’t publish it because it’s already been distributed? I don’t want to waste my best work in a crappy pamphlet if there’s a chance an actual publication would print it.

While contemplating the relatively empty summer that lies ahead of me, I decided that it was the perfect opportunity to write as much as I could and see if I’m really serious about it. My growing concern that for a 2nd year creative writing major I have done pretty much crap all in terms of actually getting my writing out there is starting to buid into a panic. So really, I now have the time to really research the industry, practise my ‘craft’ and try to get something published! It’s kind of scary though, as with anything, because of the fear of failure. But it’s a risk you have to take to get anywhere, so… no excuses. This Blog is the perfect place to write my ass off, and I’m going to do it.

Today I designed a potential zine cover – with the same title as this blog. I’m going to keep working on the potential zine as well as other stuff. I need to buy some more of the magazine’s I’d be considering submitting to: Voiceworks, The Big Issue, Frankie…. and I need to find out about a truckload more like them (if they exist!). Maybe volunteering for a local newspaper wouldn’t go down too badly either. Lot’s to think about. I’ll keep you informed!