eantime I've BS _ | no con! wen tyTworines i offense, but | wny neven't peonle who, after encounter: helpfud advi ly part of the perzine by Wesley Sucker (that's me). ‘twentytwortnescom how to Tegnonds (Ps. tke M1 ny“LWANT To MAKE A ZINE SOMEDAY.” No OFFENSE, BUT WHY HAVEN'T You? (a.k.a, gometines T hate navigating conversations) Cak.2, please, just make a vine ///) Given that I make zines myself and that I work on my Ubrary'a on, I end up hearing something along those lines all T think any creator has probably heard something similar about whatever their medium 1s, You say that you Mke painting o> photography or making aines, and someone goes "That's 90 ool, T've always wanted to try that." I kinda hate that phrase, because what | they really meen to say ts: Yy ey | Saying “I'VE always wanted to try that"), but they don't really | want to totk about thenaelves or thet= zelationant with Te Gm ust going 10 safer to ainonaking from heze on oul but 22 equally | spmieo 40 any medium and probetty any hodty). 'T've always wanted to try that, but something hae held me What 19 the right response? 4. How come? B, I really lke 1 because. © It's really fun, T hope you try 14 Option A is tempting. Because everyone likes to talk about ‘themselves, right? And why would they say that 1f they didn't it to talk about 1t? a trap Because whatever the real reason they haven't it 19, 1t'9 something that will be too pergonal to talk ‘en, the P something equally casual ‘that indicates they are comfortatle with not having made a nine yet and confident that 1¢ will happen when they're ready. | |eus © cote tane tv 2 2 Vereen ania oa ‘cooler when the print job is shit And lke I gatd, T can hetp you! If you're stilt hung up for nm, Af you've | Sventubwonines®xmatcom and stil feet stuck, 1¢ you need fore structure, here's what you're gonna do: Take two sheete of paper and fold then tn half. Use cardstock * 2 % Put ohtt your cat 4, Rip the staples out. No need to be gent 5, Slap that greasy pig on your Mbrary's copy machine, Get the Ubrartan's help, we may not be the best with copy machines but we're a peratstent bunch. 6 Give a copy to the Uhrarten as a thank-you. You now have your first reader. 7, Bnail me at bs 1.com (once again, that's ‘bwentytwoxinesOzmaiLcom). You now have your second reader. 8 Ringe and repeat. Eee KEKE EEK EC So you're alt better, right? You're gonna make a aine now, right? If you're note well, guess I can't force you But can you at least stop dangling the “sonedas" in front of my face? I'n not strong enough! T can't stand when sonoone telle me that they ~could~ make a zine, but never will, and so T'N never get to read 14 I want to | Pend your ines! Please! Do tt for a sad, zine-hungry toy![ovat st for everything you could possibly put on that Met, there's a zine out there that's already done tt. Cause zines are if shit Every one of then. Amazing, ‘eautiful pieces , but shit nonetheless, They are ‘vecause book beauty standards cone from the traditional publishing industry, and there's no way that sonething that don't professionally arranged will ever be considered anything lege than bad by that industry. By making a zine, you've already failed, because you haven't made something ‘that was deemed worth a publisher's tine. Ideos are always perfect in your head. It's the tragedy of ‘the artist that no matter what, physical representations wilt never be as g004 a9 how you dn your head. They can't ima way the tdealistic So hard as tt 19, you have to try to divorce yourself from the image in your head, because it's not real, Tt tries to trick you into ‘thinking 1 4s And perhapo more than any other media, zines value yhot's finished Infinitely m TM leave you with that quote from ideas. critictsm designating 1 90", And that Includes your own plece of junk AND your own eritictan! eyes? = yequrtsperrecn = etreu'ts 00H SomcHBLNA)PRUp) ‘if it's not good enough to share it with other people?" T mean, you can probably guess that I'm gonna insist that zines are always good enough to share with other people, Pecause zines are worth sharing by nature Dut T tain your Zeal pzoblon 19 etter 1 you decive the worth of your work dy how its received, and/or 2. you reel Mike you have anyone to share it with who would "get" it. Problem 11s a Me one, and even though T con tel you that your creations are worth it for the action, not the outcome, it's hard to inertia ‘In the neantine, X have @ sotution for both provtenss raze #2 with mo Sortouly! Tf you want #9 snare your sine ‘wow ugly or ed about T vit be te another new ainester that gemaine enthustagn and fer gone zines for trade and T wil? love your zine the way 1 degervea to be loved! | me thing holding them back might be as simple as being overwhelned and busy, not feeling Uke they having the bandwidth to try a new activity. You'd think there'd be no shame tn that, but you forget that 1n capttalion, any moment you're not mextntaing your tine and pushing towards sone goal 19 wasted. So now they've accidentally put themselves in goal (trying zinemaking) that they are not working towards (which under capitalism 19 a failure). You have reached the Pereonal Fallure ending. ‘The thing holding then back might be sonething self-talk to me", But no matter what, you'r | and you're probably approaching therapist territory. | Note that they may also say "I don't know what to make a zine about" ~ beware! They are not looking for brainstorm ideas, nor are they seeking encouragenent! This 19 their attempt at ending the conversation before reaching the Personal Patlure ending or the Inner Denong ending! V OOS Cee CaS SSS) | So 2et's move on to Option B, This one is also tempting, and it's probably something you can get away with among good frtende who actually care about you, And 1f you're willing to take the risk, you can sometimes end up with an okay conversation, as long as you | make things sound interesting enough to hold thetr attention. But in general, if they wanted to know what you Mked about tt, they would have asked. FoNowing this path will typically get you short, meaningless responses like nice", and the conversation WIL feel Uke being 2 teenager, trying to talk to your rarento while they're cooking (or if you're one of those freake who actually had parente that listened to you, tmagine a distant uncle or something). At some point, you'lt sense thet they are bored with you, and unless your confidence 1s rock-solid, you'll probatly feel pretty lonely.‘The correct angwer te Option ¢ Yes, 18's a conversation ender, not invite you 40 share wi ou find fun about fron the start). g least ite a 2 ending that docen't make then feel bad or make you look self-centered. PIII III III IDs Alright, alright I lnow that tf you analyze sel talk enough all gonna sound ridiculous. I guess what foels fr Instance 19 Decause T always get 90 excited! Tt 38 a new zinester! Maybe we can swap dene, maybe I can sb Photoco; ‘taps, maybe I can be dock and get thelr thie ts just smal? tal polite, Im fact, there aze probably sone peonle who really have no interest jn making a ine of thel> own, but are trying to express that * ‘reepect and enjoy zines ag 2 madiun To those people, I'd Mke to encourage you to just say that, because 1¢ opens up a whole reala of pogethilities, T’can now ask you what you 2ike atowt then, what swe gone of the most menozable ainep you've read, if you have ony prefered genres. If you like the punk ethos, we can talk about punk tands and underground culture, If you lke the DIY spirit, we can talk ahout other expressions 0: mending to gardening, Heck, if you just ‘talk about aesthetics! Sut you can already gee the ; have not shifted the conversation towards 2 eutject that you don't actually want to talk about. X dunno, I just misg the days when having one thing in common meant you're best friends, you know? And when always wanted pyrene) together!" Thio te the trap of small talk ~ I'm always expecting 1¢ to turn into something mores real, tut you can't get that sense of connection with everyone. T just wish peonle would be more gtralghtforward | sonetinest CIIIII III IF. |19 tor the ponte who cest2y do wont to make sinc, then Yet we ak | you tn this zine since it's protatly never going to be appropriate whe bo out Retin Fen you tse this 1p how gout be atte to Si you dons want ake pains me to hear that sont 90 you can ktck that rengon's ase! I ada! whole thing in terns of somet ind then continue the conversation by asking about thelr '9 only polite). ig that annoys me, but really tion. Tin frustrated because It recs unable to make a gine. T don't want anyone to be held back from gomething 90 enjoyable and Lperating when they many hobhtes, the barrier to entry for ainewmeking ts~ wel, nonexistent! nae Bad Fal ply n't have to he! Bopectally when, unlike with Oe wa CE am Zz So here's a few reasons you might feel held tack from aine making, and sone reninders that those reasons are lying to you and you do ‘the power to kick those barriers In the age: | nave about 19 worth putting Into a nine, Because a aine Literally be a tondo Ust, or crumpled recetpta from the vottom of your bag, oF pages from your diary, or phot therefore allows for UteraNy everything to be printable. & | fine te worth extating Pecauae 19 a ine, not because of tho e you a Ust of prompts, or you could google rr you could take a prompt from the Hist