Not my most creative title for a blog post, but it’ll do. As you might have guessed, I’m thinking of making a zine, hopefully a series. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while now, but until recently I haven’t allowed myself any time to really stop and plan it out.
Originally, I wanted to create a zine every few months, to serve as a physical portfolio of my music based articles/reviews. Mostly just to keep my creativity alive by doing something different. Clearly this wasn’t different enough, as several months later and no zine. Time to explore something else.
The only thing is that lately, I’ve been lacking ideas/motivation to create content based on anything other than music. I’m not really sure why, I guess I’m just a little busier, or tired from more hours at work, or maybe I’m just emotionally worn out. Perhaps it’s all of the above. I feel obligated to write for Vulture Hound, and annoyingly, that means original content for my blog has fallen behind. It’s something I’m working on fixing and re-balancing.
I recently discovered that July is international zine month, and if that’s not inspiration enough to really kick my zine plan into gear I don’t know what is. I went back to the music ideas, but couldn’t really focus on one key thing I wanted to explore, my mind was all over the place. Then a completely different idea appeared, and I’ve never felt that light bulb shine so bright. What have I been constantly telling myself that I’ll do? Travel more. See the world. Whether it’s going to a city I’ve simply never been to before, or going further afield, I need to explore, and so my idea for a series of travel zines came to light.
A travel zine might not be the most original idea, but I want to start it off with places that are close to home, starting with where I live now, Southampton. I head back to my roots in Kent for a couple weeks next month, so I plan to follow this up with another zine about my time there, by the sea, surrounded by familiarity. Maybe I’ll swap the order around depending on my progress, who knows.
To start with it’s going to be a very personal project. I don’t really plan on distributing the zines, but I’d like to share them with anyone who cares, and I’ll probably do a little write up on here to go alongside them. This project is more about me exploring my creativity as well as different places, and well, my life in general. I want the zines to be about my personal experience in these places, featuring thoughts alongside photos and drawings, like a snapshot of my time spent there. I also want to find out more about the places I go and really get to know them rather than just blindly spending time there.
I’m writing this post in an effort to make sure I actually follow through with my plan. I’ve missed my creativity, but even the tiny little ideas have got me so excited. Another reason I’m writing this now, is to invite you to offer suggestions or just simply ask me about my ideas, as I really think creativity is something that blossoms when you discuss it with others. Not only is it super motivating, it is incredibly enriching, helping to further build on ideas as we draw inspiration from our peers. Instead of wishing I was as good as other people, I’m taking the time to realise their talent and appreciate it. Creativity is not something to get competitive about, it comes in different shapes and sizes and half of the growth you make is made easier by working with others rather than racing against them.
This post turned out to be a little longer than I intended, but I’ve had a real eye opening week and a complete change of perspective on some things, which I think is healthy to talk about. So in summary, I’m planning on creating a series of zines, based on my personal experiences in different places, and hopefully I’ll be happy enough with them to share with you, either in person or online.
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x
SAMANTHA MAE 