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Today I wanted to share with y’all the different tactics that helped me bust through writer’s block as I crafted my latest zine, catmothcrow three, and a few prompts that helped shape the final form this zine took. Part of writing zines is dealing with writer’s block, but hopefully these tips and ideas will help the block be more of a tiny hurdle you can skip on over, rather than some sort of massive labyrinth that leaves you feeling lost.

Dang, has it really been 4 months since I last posted on the blog? Sometimes life gets away from me and it’s hard to sit down here and just type away. When 2024 began, I told myself that I wanted to write at least one blog post a month, recapping all of the zine-y things that I’ve been up to. But every time that I scribble “write a blog” on my to-do list, the actual writing feels like it gets father and farther away. I plan, I procrastinate, I feel bad about myself, so I make a plan again to do the thing… but often, the cycle just starts again. Plan, […]

Well, this post is coming out a bit later than I had planned! Little did I know when I set out to create a loose IZM schedule for myself that I would be laid out by an especially brutal head cold just a few days into the month. Instead of reading, writing about, and filming zines, I spent most of week one curled up on the couch with a hot cup of chamomile, watching comfort content (Twin Peaks and Halloween). It all sounds pretty dang cozy, albeit for the congestion, headaches, snot, and the awful raked-coals feeling in the back of my throat. I’m glad to report that I’m feeling better, […]

Happy International Zine Month 2023! ✂️🖊 IZM was inaugurated in 2009 by the one-and-only Alex Wrekk of “Stolen Sharpie Revolution” fame. Aside from encouraging folks to read and make lotsa zines in July, the month-long celebration features a prompt list full of ideas for zinecentric activities. 2023’s list was designed by @zineville, and I’ll be posting weekly recaps of how I fulfilled each prompt here on the blog. Day One‘s prompt is to define “zine” — I’ve always said that “zines are handmade, diy publications, typically printed on a copy machine, then folded and bound/stapled by hand.” To expand on that, I think zines are inherently non-commercial, tactile (not digital; I […]

Once you’ve been the zine scene for a while, you’re bound to make a mini-zine, and then you’re bound to show other folks how to make one. There is something a lil’ cool and lil’ magical about making a six-page booklet outta a single sheet of paper with just a couple folds and a snip. So here is my *official* mini-zine tutorial.