Sometimes when people read my zines, they say, “This is so clever! How did you come up with this?” Or another version, “I would never think of making a zine about this topic. It’s so cool that you did.”
Those comments are always meant as compliments, and I say thank you for the nice words.
But I feel the exact same way when I read other people’s zines. 😅 There have been SO MANY times I read other people’s zines and thought, “Wow, how did they even think of this?”
Where do your ideas come from?
This post is for WeblogPoMo AMA, a challenge to write AMA-style (“Ask me anything”) blog posts during November.
I’m answering my own question today. If you decide to answer this question in a post on your site, please let me know.
The question
Where do your ideas come from?
My answer
For context — Earlier today I visited a graphic design class at a local college. The professor invited me to talk to the students about making zines. I gave a short presentation about my process and brought examples of zines made by other people.
During the Q&A, the professor asked how I come up with ideas for zines. How do I decide what topics to make zines about?
My straightforward answer is, I just come up with stuff. But that’s not helpful. If someone is asking you how you come up with ideas, it’s because they realize coming up with ideas is difficult. They want to know how you move past that difficulty.
My more complete answer is, I look for inspiration in a lot of different places.
When it comes to movies, TV shows, and books, I lean toward sci-fi and fantasy. But I go broader than that, too, because there are lots of different things to explore in other genres.
I read a lot of articles, newsletters, and blogs from a wide range of people. I read a lot of non-fiction books, on all kinds of topics.
I make a habit of paying attention to ordinary things. Some of my zines were inspired by a random conversation with a friend or an interesting observation on a normal day.
I keep a running list of zine ideas, and I add ideas even if I’m not sure I’ll ever make a zine on that topic. Then when I have time to sit down and work on a zine, I have a list of topics to choose from. There isn’t any pressure to come up with an idea, and it doesn’t feel like I’m starting from scratch.
My November newsletter is out!
Today finally felt like fall in Lancaser, PA. ☺️🍁
Zoom in on this last photo to see ducks napping. 🥹
🍿 Somewhere in Time (1980) - Streaming for free on Tubi. It’s a well-made movie with a great cast. I feel like it was probably well-received when it came out, but I don’t think it aged well.
I made index pages for my slash pages on kalikambo and Mythical Type.
Online community
This post is for WeblogPoMo AMA, a challenge to write AMA-style (“Ask me anything”) blog posts during November.
The question
Lou Plummer sent me this question:
Can you describe the online community you have treasured the most in your life online?
My answer
Being part of online communities has always been my favorite thing about the internet. When I was a teenager, I spent a lot of time in forums, geeking out over sci-fi and fantasy media with fellow fans.
The site I spent the most time on was Supernatural.tv (which is no longer online, RIP). It was a fansite and forums dedicated to the show Supernatural.
I was an administrator on Supernatural.tv from the very beginning. We launched right with the pilot episode in September 2005. I helped set up the forum structure, wrote initial content, and invited people from other fansites to join.
Because Supernatural.tv was the first fansite for Supernatural, it attracted all the fans from all over the world. At the site’s peak, thousands of people visited the forums after a new episode aired.
The forums included areas to share fanfic and fanart. I organized writing and art competitions with the moderating team. In the summers, we held awards so members could vote on their favorite aspects of the show and the site community.
Keep in mind — This was before major social media platforms were mainstream. Sharing your work in an online community was the social aspect of the web. People were not splintered across different platforms, and that helped in getting to know members and building the community. If you were a Supernatural fan, and you wanted to find fellow fans online, Supernatural.tv was the place.
I loved that community for how thoughtful the discussions were. People really enjoyed sharing theories and debating ideas. The community was so creative with all kinds of art and writing. Yes, there was some in-fighting and cliques, like any fanbase. But most of the time, the positives outweighed the negatives, by a lot.
I stopped watching Supernatural in season 5, but I was still active in the forums for several years after that. I didn’t make many lasting friendships, but the art and writing aspects of the community stuck with me. Supernatural.tv was the main community where I shared my art and writing and found people to collaborate with online.
Out is through
I’m disappointed in the U.S. election results this week, but I’m not totally surprised that Republicans won the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. So many people vote from a place of fear and hate. Republican campaigns lean into that, and here we are. (It’s more complicated than this, I know. But you can read political analysis elsewhere.)
People who want to take care of each other will lean into building community. I’ll continue to look for ways to participate in community, online and offline. I’ll continue to support spaces that are safe and inclusive. I’ll continue to learn how to best show up for communities I’m part of.
My superpower is thinking ahead
This is my first post for WeblogPoMo AMA, a challenge to write AMA-style (“Ask me anything”) blog posts during November.
The question
Anne wrote this question: What is a skill or acquired ability that you use all the time that you think other people take for granted or don’t understand? AKA what is your superpower and how did you get it?
You can read her response on her blog.
My answer
Here’s my answer, which is a reply to Anne’s question. This isn’t meant to be agreement or argument with her response. WeblogPoMo AMA is a conversation across blogs. 🙂
My superpower power is being able to think a few steps ahead, about anything in my life.
I do it at work.
For context, my day job is in marketing. My core skills are in strategy and writing, but I’m asked to do all kinds of tasks across marketing functions. And that means I have to figure out a lot of things for myself, which makes thinking ahead vital.
Once I have direction on a project, I don’t need anyone to tell me how to get from initial stages to the finished project. I figure out what I need to do, and I do it.
I’m usually the one in meetings asking for clarification and noting if we go this direction, that will be impacted.
I do it with zines.
Everyone’s creative process is different. Some people start with very little planning. Some people plan every step.
I’m somewhere in between. I usually know what I want in the finished zine, and then I figure out steps to get there. What will the format be? Should I start with writing or with art?
I think ahead about what I’m making, but I try not to plan every single step. I make zines for fun, and too much planning makes them feel like work.
I do it with weekend plans.
I rarely overbook myself, and that’s because I think about how one thing on the weekend might impact another thing. For example, if I’m planning to do chores on Saturday, but then there’s an event I want to go to…if my Sunday is free, I can moves chores to Sunday.
When I’m running errands, I try to cover what I need on the same end of town. Three stores all within a few minutes of each other? I can go to all of them in an afternoon. If I need to go across town for something else, I’ll figure out when the best time is to do that.
Does all this planning stress me out?
Usually, no. Even though I plan a lot, I’m also flexible as much as possible. I like knowing the tasks I have to do and thinking about the best way to complete them. But if something doesn’t work out and I have to change plans, that’s okay. I don’t consider my plans to be set in stone.
How did I get my superpower?
It’s chess.
I started playing chess when I was about 6 years old, and I’m convinced learning the game that young got me used to thinking steps ahead.
My uncle taught me how to play—how each piece moves, how to guess at what your opponent would do, and how to look out for traps.
The following year, my class had the opportunity to play chess at school, so I could play against kids my own age. Sometimes I played really well. Sometimes I made careless mistakes. But all of it was practice in thinking ahead.
I don’t play chess regularly anymore. But I have a chess app on my phone and I’ll play against the computer now and then. One of my favorite things to do is make a move, then the computer makes a move, then I undo our moves, and try something else. It’s a good way to understand different possibilities branching off from the same arrangement of pieces.
Some final notes
I don’t think my superpower is rare, but I do think people take it for granted. I think lots of people don’t think ahead unless they’re asked to or they actually have to. I think fewer people are like me, thinking ahead automatically.
I think anyone can learn to think ahead. I think anyone can learn to make it a habit. The next time you have a project to do, think about what you want the final result to be. Then try to figure out what your steps are to reach that final point. You can try working backwards from the final point, too.
You don’t have to follow the steps you thought of. You don’t have to get every step right. (I certainly don’t.)
The point is, you’re thinking ahead to make your work easier and better. It’s about trying to anticipate what will come up over the course of your project. It’s not about being perfect.
I’m going to participate in #WeblogPoMoAMA, at least for a few posts this month. Feel free to ask me a question, and I’ll answer in a post on my blog.
I’m also browsing what other people are asking and answering, so I might write replies that way, too.
I forgot mundane Halloween costumes are a thing in Japan. 😆
The tradition was started in 2014 by a group of adults at Daily Portal Z who kind of wanted to participate in the festivities of Halloween, but were too embarrassed to go all out in witch or zombie costumes. So instead of the flashy and flamboyant costumes they had been seeing gain popularity in Japan, they decided to dress up in mundane, everyday costumes.
via kottke.org
Paved Paradise (or, cars ruin everything)
I finished reading Paved Paradise by Henry Grabar. 📚
Overall, I liked the book. A lot of it is about how parking space requirements determine where and what size buildings can be built. (AKA we can’t have nice things because we need space to store cars.)
Grabar talks a lot about reducing parking spaces but not as much about reducing our reliance on cars.
My main criticisms of the book are 1) the author doesn’t talk much about improving public transportation and 2) the author doesn’t really address accessibility.
Public transportation
Many chapters of the book focus on larger cities with good bus and subway systems. Yes, you can live in New York City without a car. But for smaller cities and towns, a car is often the only way you can get to your destination.
You need good public transportation systems so that reducing parking spaces does not also reduce people’s ability to move around town.
I would have liked to see more discussion about areas where there aren’t effective public transportation options.
Accessibility
An issue with eliminating street parking is, you take away parking spaces that are the closest to destinations.
People with physical disabilities may not be able to park 5 blocks away from where they want to go. That can be a lot of extra walking for some people. That can be enough of a reason to stay home.
I would have liked to see discussion about accessibility, since limiting where cars can go will also limit where people can go.
Recommendation
If you’re interested in how parking regulations shape cities and neighborhoods, I recommend reading Paved Paradise. But its main discussion—reducing parking spaces—is only one piece of the solution to relying on cars less.
Ice cream truck appearances are circumscribed by unwritten curb-control maps established by custom, negotiated by handshake, and enforced with violence. The history of ice cream truck rivalries is bloody. In 1969, armed rivals held up two Mister Softee garages in Brooklyn and the Bronx, taking nothing but the vital blender blades from thirty-nine trucks—rendering them useless before the blockbuster Fourth of July weekend.
Paved Paradise by Henry Grabar 📚
I was not expecting to read about ice cream truck crime today. 😧
Email privacy and customer communications
I use HEY as my email client. It blocks privacy trackers, so the sender can’t see when I open an email, where I’m located, or what device I use.
Those privacy featurse are great, and I know other email clients have them, too. But I wonder how many companies have figured out how losing that email data affects their operations.
I have an example.
I pay my bills online, and I opt for paperless billing whenever it’s available. But today I got a credit card statement in the mail. The envelope included a note that said my account got switched to paper statements because I haven’t opened an email from the credit card company in a year.
Um…not true. I open those emails, but HEY blocks the tracking for privacy reasons.
The credit card company doesn’t see data from my email opens, but they have other data about my activity. I make my payments on time. I confirm personal info whenever I’m prompted by the website or the app. Why doesn’t that activity count as me being active online for the credit card company?
Why is email activity the indicator they’re using, especially as more email clients shift to stronger privacy features?
Today’s note in the mail told me to sign in online and I can change my settings to paperless statements. So, back to what the setting was, before the credit card company automatically changed it…due to what they see as me not opening their emails.
What do we call this stage of the internet, where better privacy causes inefficient communication?
Why I moved my blog off WordPress
I had a self-hosted WordPress site for my personal blog from 2015 until last weekend, when I migrated Mythical Type to Micro.blog.
The recent drama between WordPress and WP Engine didn’t factor into my decision. For the last few years, I didn’t feel like WordPress was the right fit for my blog. But I didn’t find any alternatives that I liked, either.
WordPress is great for a business site, but it’s too much for me for a personal site. Too many settings. Too many plug-ins. Too much to tinker with and troubleshoot when I simply want an easy way to share my art and writing online. I don’t want to think about which content blocks to use. I want to type, type, type, and hit Post when I’m done.
I don’t like the aspect of managing my own hosting, either. I can figure out a lot of technical things, but I don’t know a lot when it comes to servers and IT infrastructure. It felt tiresome to troubleshoot an issue when all I wanted to do was post on my blog.
Side note: I know the argument for self-hosting is that you have total control of your site. You won’t lose your stuff if/when a platform suddenly goes under. But I don’t buy that argument, because a hosting company could suddenly go out of business, too. So my requirement is that I can export my work and move it somewhere else if I want to. Not that I have to have total control of it.
I’m glad I found Micro.blog and that it’s a good fit for how I like to post online. And I’m happy I don’t have to manage the technical side of websites anymore.
My October newsletter is out. Urban Legends info, resource round-up, and super brief reviews of what I’ve been watching.
Spooky season, spooky zine! 🎃 This is “Wandering Through Wonders” by Vlasinda Stormdrain. Copies are available through their shop. I’m excited to read it!
I accidentally found out about discofox and went down a little rabbit hole. 😃
I’m low-key obsessed with how it’s freeform but also there are certain expected moves. (Yeah this is true for other dances, too. But at least here it looks like if you can stay on beat and not tangle up arms, you can do it. 🙂)
Intelligent but ignorant
Lots of writing advice goes along the lines of “write for your reader” or “know your audience.” That’s the guideline for how to frame your writing, what voice to use, and what level of detail to include.
But what happens if you’re writing for a general audience–not a specific group?
Then how do you frame your writing?
One of my college professors gave advice that I still use: Assume your reader is intelligent but ignorant.
Write with the mindset that the reader doesn’t know your specific topic, but they’re smart and can understand what you’re writing. Then it doesn’t matter what knowledge or experience they have. You’re giving them what they need to follow along.
That’s more useful to me than writing for a specific audience.
This post was originally published on Mythical Type on June 12, 2022.