The 24-Hour Nothing Thing

This is like the fifth blog post I’ve been trying to write. The other four drafts have all ended up in the trash section of my admin page. For some reason, my writing has turned stale and my level of inspiration is so low, I’m tasting dirt. Another piece of paper gets ripped out of the typewriter, crumpled and tossed.

Anyway, I read a few of my posts from a few years ago (because they’re always so much better than the recent ones) and came across a post I wrote when I first signed up to the 24-Hour Zine Thing challenge. It was my very first time and I was excited at the prospect of staying up all day and all night and doing nothing besides working on a zine.

Since then, I have participated in this challenge three times and produced three motherfucking AMAZING issues of my zine.

But since 2016, I’ve done shitall. Throughout July, as International Zine Month was in full swing, I tried doing something zine-related. I came across posts from other zinesters who were taking part in it and also reread my older posts from my past experiences with IZM. I couldn’t believe how inspired, creative and driven I was, and how I’m the exact opposite of it these days. Even if I manage to create a zine or something here and there, I still don’t feel that enormous sense of accomplishment I felt in the past. Inspiration is still super difficult to come by, and my writing still sucks ass.

There is no way I could participate in the 24-Hour Zine Thing ever again. I know that. But as I was reading that old post I thought “Why not do it anyway? Not in the conventional no-sleep-no-shower kind of way, but in increments. Keep the spontaneous no-prior-planning aspect of it, but take the necessary “breaks” that come with the territory of taking care of a toddler.”

But then I think, how is that any different from making a regular zine? The point of a 24-hour zine is to make it in the space of 24 consecutive hours, start to finish. As it stands, the only way I could make a 24-hour zine is by leaving my baby in my husband’s care, temporarily move to a remote location, with no reception or internet connection, and switch off the maternal part of my brain that is on constant worry-mode.

No way that is happening.

Inspiration is still miles away. I am absolutely disgusted by how stale and moldy my writing has become. And the only thing that could potentially turn any miserable spark of inspiration I have left into an all-consuming blaze (i.e. the 24-Hour Zine Thing) is desperately out of reach.

Fuck this. If I can’t write, I might as well read. Thank Goddess for my constant flow of books.

Peace, love and this is what the end of words feels like.

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Zinesteritis

Zinesteritis. Definitely a virus worth spreading!

I planned to have an art night or whatever crafty event with a couple of friends on Tu Bishvat. The friends invited are all mothers (all but one) and living on opposite sides of the country, so finding a time and place for the art event, plus an arrangement for the kids that would work for everyone was tricky, which is why only one friend showed up.

However, it didn’t take away from the awesomeness of the time I had and only served to encourage both me and my friend to try and set a future date where more people would show up. That’s for later. But for now, I was just happy to be creating again.

After spending a rather frustrating night where I couldn’t fall asleep because of my on-and-off problems with insomnia for one thing, and my daughter’s inability to sleep due to intense teething for another, I was sure that this morning’s art endeavor would go down the drain and I would simply fall asleep on my pile of papers and art supplies.

But no. Quite the opposite. I had such a blast, I totally forgot my sleepiness. And in the spirit of zinestering the winter blues away, I even forgot it was winter and just how much I hate it. Not only did I manage to produce several collages for my upcoming silent issue of PMS Perzine, but I also taught my friend how to make a mini zine! It was her first time making a zine and I gave her my copy of Overthrow the Status Quo zine by my friend (which I already wrote about here) for inspiration and to show her that anybody can make a zine. ANYBODY! And she did, and it came out even more amazing than I expected. For a newbie zinester, she wrote one biching zine! She packed so much power into such a small zine, I was totally blown away that this was actually her first shot at zine-production.

Not to mention that she also felt rather proud of herself and proved to herself that yes, she too can make a zine. I totally know what that feels like. I remember the pride I felt when I first held my first zine in my hands. There is no other feeling like it.

“Not only can we make human beings, we can also make zines,” she stated in a coincidental rhyme.

So yes, indeed an awesome, productive and satisfying morning. I can’t wait for the next time I get to engage in badass zinestering, and hopefully have some more people to share it with.

Next up for my silent issue, hand drawings. I’ll try to use color crayons this time.

Peace, love and yes, laundry basket, overthrown.

Overthrow the Laundry Basket

I really miss being crafty. I miss writing and making zines. I miss drawing and making collages. I miss trying out new crafts I’ve never tried before. But mostly, zine-production is my most missed activity. Especially after reading my friend’s zine about zines, Overthrow the Status Quo (which everyone should get, and I would link this to her Etsy page if the issue was being sold there, but it’s not. Here’s the link to ZinesByNyxia anyway because all her zines are awesome).

Good zines inspire me to create zines. Great zines inspire me to go crazy with more inspiration and create more zines. And zines that tell me that I should put off mopping the floor and make a zine instead make me feel silly for doing house chores when the time could be better spent with zine production.

I have free mornings on days when I work the afternoon shift, and I have a couple of free hours in the afternoon on days when I work morning. But then, I have my laundry to wash, dry, fold and store. And then I have dishes. And then I have my daughter’s laundry to wash, dry, fold and store. And then I have more dishes. And if I have any leftover time, I try to sleep (and fail), and then it’s time to go to work or go pick up my daughter, depending on my shift, and any hope for zine production dies.

This is why I write blogs. Because seriously, if I didn’t have that, I would go mad. Writing is important to me. Whether my writing is being read or not is completely irrelevant. Writing is the end in and of itself. But at the same time, deep down, I feel that these blog posts are a temporary treatment until I find time for the ultimate cure (i.e. zines).

So that’s why I miss it. And that’s why it’s not just mopping the floor that needs to be put off but everything else. And my house would need to be a mess, I would need to run out of dishes and my daughter would need to run out of clothes, and then maybe I would actually be able to get cracking on paper cuts and sticky fingers.

Peace, love and thank the goddess that at least my husband does his own laundry and sometimes does the dishes too.

 

 

 

PMS issue 1408

I’m taking a short break from my Fun-a-Day CD reviews to inform you of something you absolutely must have.

Like chocolate and Advil, no PMS spree can go by awesomely without this latest issue of my zine. This is a full color issue featuring photos and stories about my phenomenal trip to Salem and my experience of my first time tabling at a real zine fest in Boston.

If you like zines and spooks, this is the zine for you!

It is now up for sale and for trade.

Check out these awesome pics and tell me you don’t crave this as much as you crave Ben & Jerry’s Cookies n’ Cream ice cream!

Peace, love and can you guess why it’s 1408?

My Feminist Dick

Yesterday, I started writing a zine about my trip to Salem and the Boston Zine Fest. At some point, I recalled a conversation I had with my friend about the common mispronunciation of the word “zine” and suddenly came up with this:

Any person who pronounces that word as “za-in” would not think anything of it. UNLESS they were Israeli/Hebrew-speakers. As the word “za’in” in Hebrew can mean the seventh letter of the alphabet, the number seven and another word for “weapon”, it is most commonly used as the Hebrew pejorative for penis…

A dick is a weapon, right? Both are operated pretty much the same way – point and shoot. However, one is used in the creation of life, while the other one is used in taking it away.

Either way, don’t you think it would be kind of off to refer to my FEMINIST publication as a dick?

And so! if you want to talk to me about my zine, and not my dick or my weapon (neither of which I have), kindly pronounce it properly. It’s ZEEN. Say it with me: ZEEEEEEN!

Peace, love and I would really prefer if you referred to my zine as an ass. A BADass!

More About My Favorite Month

This International Zine Month is fun as shit.

I traded and bought some pretty awesome zines so far. Usually whenever I buy or trade zines, it’s always a gamble because I never know if the zines I get will be any good. Sometimes I end up with zines that aren’t all that good, but I feel bad throwing them out so they just end up cluttering my zine collection.

But this month, so far, all the zines I got in my mailbox were gems and I was so excited to read them all.

I’m still waiting on a few packages and will also be sending some out tomorrow. It’s a busy month for the post office!

Plus, I completed my 24-Hour Zine Thing and will be working on yet another zine this Friday afternoon and next Monday night. I’m meeting up with friends and having a crafternoon/art night that is long-overdue. So the Friday crafternoon (July 24) will be the small quasi-zine event that was originally intended for the 25th. I need to remember to bring my camera.

Speaking of cameras, I am also planning what I call a “silent zine”. It will include photos, drawings, comics and collages, but no words. Well, there will be some words, like the titles of the photos/artwork, the name of the zine on the cover, a table of contents and a contact page at the back. But the rest of the pages will be full of visual art as opposed to verbal art. Thus, silent zine.

I am so fucking excited for that issue!! I’ve never done anything like this before. Maybe this could be the new zine skill I’ll be teaching myself this month?

Peace, love and more letter-writing tonight!

Ai Zee Em 2015!

I got back from my honeymoon last Saturday but haven’t had a chance to write a blog about it due to jet-lag coupled with end of the month duties at the office. But I don’t think I’ll write about the honeymoon just yet (even though it was beyond awesome!) because it is now July which means INTERNATIONAL ZINE MONTH!

I think that if I write a daily post of my activities this year as well, I rather do it on We Make Zines because I hardly sign on to it anymore. And what better time to sign on to We Make Zines on a regular basis than during IZM?

But like I did in 2013, the activities listed on the poster will have to be changed around a little to fit my interests and my schedule.

Below is the original poster, followed by my list and edits:

1) Top 10 list of reasons I love zines

2) Re-read my favorite zines

3) Order from Zine Distro

4) I’m from Israel. I ALWAYS read zines from countries other than mine, so this doesn’t apply to me. All activities move back one day so I’ll be organizing my zine collection that day.

5) Updating my ZineWiki posts is something I have trouble with. I think the links there are weird or whatever… So that day, I’ll “try” to update my ZineWiki

6) I’ll focus on postcard-making that day

7) Make flyers for my zine and my Etsy shop

8) I don’t want to write a letter to a zinester I don’t know. So I’ll write one to a zinester I recently met.

9) Send a care package to a friend. I know just what to send and to who.

10) Make some mail art: I’ll continue making postcards

11) Send zine out to be reviewed

12) Zine trade day: I think I’ll trade with my usual partners in zinestering

13) Leave zine in a public place

14) ValenZine’s day: I know who my zine crush will be this year!

15) Send zine to distro for consideration

16) Start 24-Hour Zine Thing

17) Finish 24-Hour Zine Thing

18) Review a zine: probably whatever zine I buy from the distro on July 3

19) The only quasi-zine shop in Jerusalem is Uganda and it’s just another left-wing bar which sucks ass. So on this day I’ll order from a new distro than normal

20) Free Zine day! I don’t know who will be the culprit this year though. I’ll have to figure it out.

21) International Zine Library Day: There are no zine libraries in Jerusalem, so I’ll just send my zine to one.

22) Since I already did the activity on the 21, I’ll do something else, maybe work on a new zine or design the photo album I’ve been planning to do in forever.

23) Instead of a one-page zine, I’ll make a new issue of End of Words, my post-its zine, which is just as small as a one-page zine

24) New skill, new skill… I’ll have to look online for a zine skill I don’t know so I could teach myself.

25) Zine event: My friend wants to have a crafternoon with a new zinester she met. Maybe that could be the zine event!

26) None of my family members are interested in learning about zines, so on that day I’ll just continue working on the zine I started on July 22.

27) Find a compilation zine to submit to.

28) Cook with a recipe from a zine

29) Post a photo of me with a zine

30) Meh, I’ll be reading zines the whole month, so on that day, I will move forward with the zine or photo album I mentioned before.

31) HallowZine: I will commemorate my old zine, Fallopian Falafel.

This month definitely sounds like fun! Follow my progress on my We Make Zines profile.

Peace, love and off to my activity!