NaNoWriMo, here I come

In an attempt to force myself to do something—anything—creative, I signed up for National Novel Writing Month. I have a sort of loose idea about characters but I can’t write a plot to save my life so this will be allllll kinds of fun. Fortunately the goal isn’t quality, it’s quantity, so I’ve got a chance. I can definitely write a 50,000-word crap novel in a month.

What else, what else? I still have a zine in the works. Been sitting on it for, oh, a year. No big deal. Yikes. I should do something with that.

Haven’t been crafting. At all. So sad.

Have been playing lots of music. No, I don’t have links.

Zombie homecoming!

My zombie pamphlet came home!

So, I made this pamphlet five years ago after reading Max Brooks’ The Zombie Survival Guide and distributed a couple dozen copies around my campus. A few days later, I got an e-mail from a random in Edmonton who said his friend had found one of the copies I’d left and mailed it to him. He had a radio show and talked about this pamphlet on the air. Kickass!

Foolishly, I neglected to keep a copy of said pamphlet for myself and of course lost the digital file. However, last week a bouquet of flowers arrived at my office with this inside the envelope!

Thus, a reissuing of “ZOMBIES! What you should know in case of attack, infection, infestation, or other non-voodoo master related zombie threat”* is in order. I’m going to re-copy it, update the contact information, and again leave copies in random places. With all the folks coming into Vancouver from out of town in the next few months, who knows where it will end up?

*Obviously I didn’t include voodoo master-related zombie threats in this guide because it’s easy to deal with that particular threat: just kill the voodoo master, right?

Maybe it’s time to open the vault

My on-paper journal has been filling up in during the summer (side note: NOT ENOUGH SUMMER) and I’m definitely thinking about a new zine—more of the same sadsack ridiculousness that Short Poems for Small People featured. Is it a cop-out to call it Short Poems for Small People 2? Maybe just a subtle “Volume 2″ somewheres on the cover?

Oh short poems. What would I do without you?

Here’s a preview of something that might make the cut. Please ignore the fact that my metaphor is unoriginal and my lack of punctuation. Poems are too short to need punctuation.

tinder

I grow hot
involuntary crimson
flushes across my face
your proximity is incendiary
you come closer
and I go up
in smoke

Yeah, there’s a reason I don’t do this regularly.

Zine covers

Cover #33 for Short Poems for Small People

A cover for a zine I finished last May and have yet to photocopy and distribute.

It’s called Family Day, look it up

Can I just spout off for a moment here about the bullshit that is Family Day? Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario have it. (Manitoba has Louis Riel Day, which accomplishes the same thing: a day off work. Prince Edward Island doesn’t celebrate Family Day, but they do take off Islander Day earlier in the month.) How come this is not yet a federally established holiday?

February is the absolute worst; it’s short and it’s dark and it’s cold and there’s no vacation. Instead, you get the flu and have to take a week off without pay because you don’t have any sick days. My body has demanded time off in this lousy month by becoming too sick to do anything. The fact that B.C. is being snubbed in the civic holiday department only makes this month lousier.

I am also advocating for a non-denominational holiday in March. Right now, Pi Day is the frontrunner for my endorsement.

Two covers: #3 & #23

Short Poems for Small People

At last, at last, I’m getting myself together enough to put out this zine. If you’d be liking one of your own, you can email me at farmhousepress [at] gmail [dot] com with a mailing address or I can arrange a time to drop them off in person.

As always, zines are free but I’d love it if you’ve got a zine or craft to trade with me—heck, even just drop me a postcard! (I’m a little obsessed with mail because it is awesome.) I promise to send zines out this Friday (December 5) and the following Friday as well (December 12).

An excerpt from the zine:

   
    role playing

    okay, tonight you be
    cold and withholding
    and I'll be quiet

Short poems. Small people. It’s a thing.

Hi-ho. Late night. Going to bread.