Turning Written Fragments Into Something Real
A place to put the words that live in the Cloud or the Notes app
Last month I made DEAR DIARY, a simple 6 page zine as a birthday present for someone special.
I’ve been trying to build my savings back up after using them to build new paths in my work. Instead of spending money I didn’t have, I wanted to give them something meaningful. I wanted the present to show the time and thought I’d put into making, not my knack for choosing the ‘right’ gift.
Dear Diary contains snippets from old diary entries. I’d been dreaming up an online workshop where we make small zines like this – to give ourselves a place to put the words that live in the Cloud or the Notes app but don’t yet have a ‘home’. I realise now I was unconsciously channelling my desire into this gift.
Once I’d printed, folded, stapled and made my work ‘real’ what I suspected was confirmed: making a zine is a such a fun, effective and encouraging way to take stock on what you have managed to write.
Words squirrelled away in documents or iPhone notes, and brought together in a scrappy way that pleases you. Or, if you’re sharing as a present, pleasing to the giftee.
As humans we’re natural gatherers. And as people that write, create or make art – regardless of whether we’re technically in a ‘making’ phase – we’re always collecting and connecting, often without realising.
The pressure to have a Great Idea can weigh so heavy! I spent so many years beating myself up for Not Knowing how to arrange what I wanted to say into A Clear Angle and it paralysed me.
I think that desire to turn our creative impulses into a polished, tangible project can completely kill the magic, honestly.
But! Creating scrappily and in order to have fun is a foil to that state of freeze. I think it’s a little step forward you can take, to get yourself closer to whatever the thing may be.
Here’s what helps:
There is already so much material that exists!
It lives in our camera rolls, buried in Notes and draft emails. In old documents and diary entries living in The Cloud.
Amidst what isn’t good lies truthful and beautiful writing. Once gleaned from the crap writing, it stands clean and sharp.
These are the breadcrumb clues in the material that already exists. Instead of starting from scratch you can work from those clues. In doing so, you’ll see more clearly the narrative threads calling you.
The clues will reveal:
The themes or memories you’re unconsciously returning to.
Your original voice lying in plain sight.
The foundational desires & stories right in front of you.
P.S., I did decide to run that (online) zine workshop I was thinking about: MEMORY ZINE Workshop on Sat 13 Sept. Details & two remaining early bird spots here. Come shape your material into something real to hold in your hands <3