Perks of living in the snack belt. Potentially unnecessary flavors, but fun to try. 🤭
📺 Doctor Who Christmas special - “Joy to the World”
The acting was great, and the concepts were interesting. Plot was a bit messy, and the last few minutes got really sappy. That made the episode feel flat to me. 3/5 ⭐️
Cutting out some magazine images for collaging. No plan. Just gathering stuff.
My December newsletter is out. A little zine preview, some links to share, and what I’ve been watching.
Does anyone have strong opinions about moving a company/business site from WordPress to Webflow? (Specifically from a marketing perspective, because I would not be doing the development or design work.)
📺 I finished watching Black Doves (streaming on Netflix). They left an opening for a season 2 but I would be fine if this were the only season. It’s a complete story. 4/5 ⭐️ overall but 5/5 ⭐️ for casting.
📺 Currently watching Black Doves (streaming on Netflix). It has some awkward moments, but overall I like it so far.
I mistyped my email address on an online order (at a pretty major retail site), and customer service cannot correct the email address on their end.
But their site is clearly tracking me with cookies and sending customer survey emails…to my correct email address.
Pocket chess game where each piece gets promoted after you move. So your pawn becomes a knight, and then a bishop…up to king. It looks fun but also chaotic. 😆
I updated my phone to iOS 18, and I don’t hate the new Photos app. To be fair, I didn’t like the previous version of the Photos app either. I just put up with it. 🤣
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?”
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.
It’s officially fall weather, but I drink iced coffee all year round. 😋
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.
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.
