christmas gift with zing!

Our little zine fair at the markets was a success! And fun. We had a good position and enjoyed the atmosphere. Stall holders were looked after well, with free tea and coffee and a complimentary cup of popcorn. I wore my new Queensland Writers Centre t-shirt which prompted one stallholder to ask me for assistance in writing assignments for his politics and history degree. Hahaha. We were very near the handmade chocolates stall, and I resisted right until the end and then bought half a dozen Christmas themed chocolates. Yum. Special thanks to Shar who was a great companion at the fair. Shar now owns the storyjeans featured on my slideshow.
For those of you who bought Good Fortune - enjoy your literary snack. For those who bought TEN for the young writers in your life - their creativity is going to go through the roof.

Today's good news - both zines are now in stock at the local Visitor Information Centre (thank you, Kelli). It's a Christmas gift with zing for readers and writers alike. And you get your own special fortune when you buy GF. Go, buy one!

Submissions are now open for issue #3 which will come out next year. Jacaranda zine showcases short fiction and poetry from Fraser Coast writers, with local images. Want to be part of it? Contact me for the guidelines.

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

what's a zine?

Joanna mentioned that people at markets are always asking her what a zine is, so I thought I'd better have an explanation ready myself. These are my notes.

• A literary snack delivered straight from the writer to the reader: independent, organic and handmade
• five minute fiction
• an artistic literary format in which you will find stories, illustrations, images, poetry, reviews, interviews, comic strips, opinions, beliefs, etc.
• quirky
• funky
• they can be privately treasured or shared
• non-mainstream
• it's about self-expression
• it's about exploring your art
• it's about getting sticky with glue and familiar with a photocopier
• it's C6-sized, A4, mini, it's handstitched, it's folded, stapled, coloured, designed, typed, handdrawn, notes in a matchbox, printed on paper, sold, given away - it's whatever you want it to be
• something anyone can make and share.

Which zines do you read?

Good Fortune

Good Fortune, my second issue of Jacaranda zine, will be released into the wild in November at the markets. GF contains two shortish stories, four poems, related images and a treat. Michelle wrote A Christmas wish and I wrote Good Fortune and the poems.
It's 10.5 x 15 cm, 32 pages, printed on white paper and hammered card, stitched with purple tapestry cotton. Costs $3. A Christmas gift with zing!

The Jacaranda project is a collaborative effort with other local writers to showcase our creative work for local readers.
Did you enjoy the zine? Comment below.
Want to be a part of the next issue? Fraser Coast writers can Email me.

Exciting adventures await you

TEN

TEN ways to share your writing, my PowerPoint presentation is now on Slideshare. Right click on the button in the sidebar.
Links are in the notes for you to explore.
A very special thank you to Joanna for the moresome zine images on 10 & 11.

After viewing, please comment on why and how you share your writing. Merci.

After loading, checking, reloading, etc etc, I have just discovered that Slideshare cut the .com off my footer. But the link is in the final notes anyway. Frustration.

creative writing workshop

Today, 9:30-11:00am. Free. First floor, City Library. For young people aged 8-15. Sponsored by Zonta. Included launch of TEN zine. Morning tea kindly provided by the Annes. Stories with zing!

Seventeen young people filled the room with treasure today, using words with zing as they played in the writing gameshow. I had far too many activities planned for a 90 minute session, but we got through Open this way, What a character, Street Poet and a bit of wordplay and talked about entering competitions and sharing their work with family and friends. I launched my TEN zine there, with a free copy for each hard-working writer as well as a goodies bag with a few bits and pieces as well as pens (sorry about the pens, guys - we found out they're rubbish. If I'd got you all my favourite pen, the Pentel metal tip with liquid gel blue ink, then you'd have something to boast about).It was a heap of fun. Young writers came from all over the city, with many creative ideas and stories just waiting to be written and shared. The Annes have invited me back. I love them.And Cynthia Tait is cool too. It was her workshop I went to at QWC last year, Teaching writers to teach, that helped me plan a workshop.Gameshow players, and other young local writers will be invited to submit short stories, microfiction and poetry to me next year for a young writers' edition of the Jacaranda zine. Until then, keep those imaginations sparking, your senses sharp, your pens handy... y'know... keep writing, and look out for your photo in the paper next week. Love your work!

TEN zine

The first public Jacaranda zine (issue 2) is called TEN because it's a tip sheet for young writers with '10 creative sparks, 10 ways to share your work, 10 tips for getting published', etc. It includes black and white illustrations and images. Twenty pages, stapled. 10.5 x 15cm. It's done !!! and I'll launch it at my first writers' workshop later this month. What fun.After that you can buy it locally for $3.Order one or several through wordbox@live.com.au(nospam) - remove (nospam) from the address.

little girl zine

We did it! The first Jacaranda zine! A fun collaboration via email with Nicole in Ohio, the little girl zine celebrates our friendship which began when we lived next door to each other in another place, another time.LGZ had a limited print run of two, one for Nicole and one for me.Production details: 7 pages handwritten and printed text (American Typewriter and Times) with colour and black and white photos and illustrations on pink and white paper, vellum and hammered card, all stitched together using Shar's pink tapestry cotton (great idea Shar!).#1 will be in the mail tomorrow. Love you Nic.
Click on the image to see the card detail. Tough to get a needle through :)

zine day

But creative-in-a-different-way, but kind of similar in that you're writing and illustrating and designing and distributing, is the ancient art of zine-making. Inspired enormously by Joanna's Little 6 and Not a Chance issues received this week. Hope everyone's photocopying themselves silly at Sticky's Festival of the Photocopier throughout February. Jacaranda's in the draft sketch and text stage here, with a couple of other writers interested in contributing. Here's an opposites poem for you with 14th Feb. coming up. It's also Library Lovers Day. I'll be in the library that day.

What is the opposite of love?
Ask me not; find love.

(...in the 100s shelves)