About a year ago, I stated making zines. It was something fun to share with friends, but then the pandemic hit, and we all stayed home. I couldn’t share my zines in person, so I started posting them to Instagram. I had no expectations for how people would respond. People seemed to like them, so every time I made a new zine, I posted it.

I attended a couple online workshops and (virtually) met people who make zines. That created a small community for me, which has been great during a year of limited social interaction.

I post my zines on Instagram and my blog, so anyone can read them digitally. But if anyone wanted a physical copy, there wasn’t an easy way to get one. Last August, I started an Etsy shop. Again, I had no expectations.

This week, I got a message about this zine:

A hand holds a mini zine titled Text Message Moods. The cover has a simple drawing of a smartphone displaying text messages.

A librarian who purchased Text Message Moods asked if she can use it as an example in a student workshop. I said yes because 1) it’s an opportunity to support education and 2) that’s super cool! A year ago, I would have never thought something I made would be in a workshop for students across the country. 

It started with me making zines for friends.

Then I posted zines to Instagram. 

Then I found more people who make zines. 

And then someone who saw my zines reached out to me. 

All of this to say—If you’re working on something (writing, art, poetry, film) and you aren’t sure how it’s going to go…share it anyway. You don’t know if people will like it until they see it. You can’t guess what connections you’ll make through your work. 

Put your creative work out there, and see where it goes. It might lead you somewhere surprisingly good.