SF zine fest!

That's my table at the SF Zine Fest! That event was basically the one thing (besides the harassment from my friends) that made me REALLY REALLY sit down and make a new zine after such a long hibernation between issues. I finished the zine two nights before the fest, and copied/stapled it the day before the fest. It was basically my exact zine-making method from college, but with less panicked, sleep deprived chatter and fewer chicken fingers. And it happened! I printed it! It exists!

The fact that the zine exists at all kind of freaks me out, to be honest. It's been a long time since I made something for group consumption (brownies and holiday cards excluded). There is barely any writing, because I've discovered that printing words post-journalism-school makes me hugely nervous. Somehow I can send out a zine with scritchy drawings and wonky margins, but I can't conceive of writing much of anything and feeling super about it (yes! blog! i know!). Maybe someday I will come to peace with all those journalism school ghosts. Is it weird that when I write something informally, I see the faces of my old professors looking at me critically? Yes, I'll draw that, too.



So anyway, the fest! It was a lot of fun. In some ways it felt like I'd never stopped making zines at all. It was completely natural to me to roll up, set up my table, stare at people across the room, and deal with the weird people (present company excluded) who inevitably show up at these things and blow my mind. I met some people who read my old zines, who remembered me, which was terribly exciting. I met some people I'd only heard about in passing, but who were, like, BIG DEALS in the zine world. I made faces at the people across the aisle from me. There was some gossip. Just like old times! Thank you, SF Zine Fest, for the unstated "good to have you back."

So now that I've sent out nearly my entire first print run, I've been thinking about what to do next. I want to make a travel issue, with comics about all the adventures I've been on in recent years. Also? Kind of thinking it would be cool to do a daily comic for the month of September, just to keep the habit of drawing. I'm not saying I'm gonna post it every day, but maybe once a week? Should be interesting, right?