Write Your Own Words #1

Today's post might seem silly — a whole lot of words about a word, and who gives a dang about a word?

I do.

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Before the internet, weirdos like me connected with other weirdos through zines, and of course, all zines were on paper.

I've read thousands of zines, and published five titles myself, beginning when I was 10 years old. When I had no friends, I had zines. Zines got me a job. Zines got me laid. Zines kept me from going completely mental. My wife and I met by reading each other’s zines. The last zine I published was Zine World, a zine about zines.

So I'm a zine guy. It's only a word, but it’s one of my favorite words — a word that’s been extraordinarily important in my life.

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Whatever it is that makes you you, if you write it and share it, that's your zine. It's not pieces of paper, it's pieces of you.

I love reading 'pieces of people' in their zines, unfiltered by any concerns except whatever the zinester wants to say. I like it raw.

When I published Zine World, we sometimes got snooty about that rawness. If something came in the mail and it looked too slick, too professional, or it had too many ads, we were suspicious. We imagined this dividing line between zines and everything else:

• Magazines and mass media are powered by the profit motive. The underlying question is always Can we make money from this? That’s what drives almost everything that almost anyone reads, or watches, or listens to.
• Zines are powered instead by the passion motive. The underlying question is only, Do I have something to say? If the answer is yes, then you'll publish a zine (and I'd like to see it).

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Since launching this webpage, I’ve called it a blog, but from reading other blogs, it's obvious that it isn't. Not to me, anyway.

Most blogs are about selling something. Go to r/Blogging to see what bloggers are passionate about — search engine optimization, earnings, advertising, etc. I don't give a hoot about any of that.

There are a few blogs I read and enjoy, but most are written by professionals. I read the pro's prose in books and magazines, and I'll read pro blogs, too, but they don't scratch my itch for something zinelike.

A few blogs have that zinelike personal passion, but almost invariably those blogs ceased publishing years ago. I've read dozens of really good dead blogs, and it's sad, like stepping into an abandoned house where the kitchen still smells like stew.

Not counting pro blogs and dead blogs, the number of amateur, passionate, zinelike blogs I’ve found is … charitably, half a dozen? And I haven't given up, so if there's a seventh personal blog that exists, please let me know, but meanwhile ...

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You're reading this online, not on paper, and there are no staples, no stamps, but this is a zine.

7/13/2021
Write your own words