On Monday I introduced you to my collected short story zine, Hearth & Heart, Volume 1 2015 Summer Edition. Today I'd like to turn the spotlight onto the 2015 Autumn Edition.
As I mentioned on Monday, I was having trouble getting the Autumn Edition printed out. It looked like that edition was simply not meant to be. With other projects requiring my time and attention, I forgot about it for the next two years. In fact I even stopped writing during that time.
One day, this past August, I decided I needed to find a way to convince myself seriously that writing was a priority for me. I had gotten into the very bad habit, of relegating story writing to last place on the list of things that needed done. Which of course meant that it never got done. My days were filled with growing food, book binding, seeing BodyTalk clients, cooking, cleaning and doing a thousand things required of me daily. Plus I was taking two classes. I wanted to include writing in there, but I couldn't seem to make it happen.
Patreon seemed to be the answer. If I set up a creator page at Patreon, then I would make a plan, and be able to hold myself accountable. By creating rewards for the Patrons supporting me, I ended up writing daily out of necessity.
For my first goal, I decided I would finish Hearth & Heart Vol. 1 2015 Autumn Edition, once and for all. I used my Patreon creator page to keep myself focused by posting daily progress reports. And even though I didn't have any Patrons, I posted updates as if I had dozens of Patrons cheering me on.
I still had a lot of trouble with it. But this time I refused to give up. The book had been finished for two years, it didn't make sense not to print it, even though it seemed like everything was conspiring to keep me from releasing it. For example, I made three very confusing and discouraging trips to the print shop, before I finally got what I needed. I wasted time, gas, and money working with them, but finally, it happened. I walked into the copy shop with my finished zine and walked out with 30 copies.
I still had a lot of trouble with it. But this time I refused to give up. The book had been finished for two years, it didn't make sense not to print it, even though it seemed like everything was conspiring to keep me from releasing it. For example, I made three very confusing and discouraging trips to the print shop, before I finally got what I needed. I wasted time, gas, and money working with them, but finally, it happened. I walked into the copy shop with my finished zine and walked out with 30 copies.
On September 1st 2017, I released (retroactively) Hearth & Heart Volume 1 2015 Autumn Edition. I know it confused some people for me to do it that way (mostly my husband), but that book was born in 2015. Besides, I already had a 2017 edition started, and I didn't want to combine them, because three weeks later I released Hearth & Heart Volume 2 2017 Autumn Edition.
The 2015 Autumn Edition of Hearth & Heart was such fun to put together, in spite of the fact that it felt like I was being blocked from printing it. It's got some quirks to be sure. For instance the table of contents page had to be glued to another version of the same page. Here's what happened. The copy machine I was using made an acceptable image of the photo I was using for my table of contents, but did not make a successful copy of the illustration on the back of that page. You couldn't even see the pencil sketch illustration, and so I had to have them set the machine to make a darker image. This time the sketch came out very clearly, but the photograph lost the definition I wanted it to have. I used a technique that I use when sewing an illustration into a book and then, to make a single page of the two sheets glued them together. It added time and expense to the project, but it seemed to be the only way to get acceptable results. Over time, the sheets might separate if the glue becomes brittle, but it will be easy for anyone with a glue stick to fix.
The fun part of this edition of Hearth & Heart for me was the lunch box pocket I made to go with A Fairy Tale from 1969. Since this story was inspired by an experience I had when I was 7 years old, I wanted to include an image of the lunch box I used when I was that age. I no longer had the lunch box, but I was able to find a great image of it online. I used the color image to create a pocket to not only hold a tiny book containing a micro story, but also to hold some other surprises.
But it's the stories that are the reason for Hearth & Heart. Besides A Fairy Tale from 1969, I also included an essay titled A Hallowe'en Recollection. Both of these offerings originally appeared in my blog Tea With Whimsy. They were written a week apart in October of 2012. They both seemed to be appropriate material for the kind of stories I wanted to offer in an Autumn edition. And both were inspired from my childhood experiences.
Smile! was a story written about an experience I had in the late 90s. You never know what may be lurking in doorways. That story is about 70% true life and 30% flight of fancy. I leave it to you to know fact from fiction. Better yet, I leave it to you to just enjoy the story without needing to sort fact from fiction. We get enough of that in the real world, right?
There Be Giants. That story was based on an actual experience. It's a Hallowe'en story with witches and giants. Again that is a story that is about 50% real life and 50% flight of fancy. (You may be surprised to learn that the giants are the real life part of the story, not the witches. I know I was surprised!)
Sky is a short offering that I encased in an illustration, which is pictured at the start of this post. Yes, it's another door. I had visualized it being a window, but after all the trouble I had been having reproducing images, and constructing the zine, I decided to go for a simple door effect. Both Sky and The Witch's Children (a micro story which appears as a tiny book included with this zine) were gleaned from a micro story journal I wrote in 1991.
This edition of Hearth & Heart was my most complicated zine to assemble, but it sure was a lot of fun to design. If you'd like to check it out go over and take a look at Pegana Press.
On Monday I'd like to talk a little bit about Hearth & Heart Volume 2 2017 Autumn Edition. I hope you'll join me.
The 2015 Autumn Edition of Hearth & Heart was such fun to put together, in spite of the fact that it felt like I was being blocked from printing it. It's got some quirks to be sure. For instance the table of contents page had to be glued to another version of the same page. Here's what happened. The copy machine I was using made an acceptable image of the photo I was using for my table of contents, but did not make a successful copy of the illustration on the back of that page. You couldn't even see the pencil sketch illustration, and so I had to have them set the machine to make a darker image. This time the sketch came out very clearly, but the photograph lost the definition I wanted it to have. I used a technique that I use when sewing an illustration into a book and then, to make a single page of the two sheets glued them together. It added time and expense to the project, but it seemed to be the only way to get acceptable results. Over time, the sheets might separate if the glue becomes brittle, but it will be easy for anyone with a glue stick to fix.
The fun part of this edition of Hearth & Heart for me was the lunch box pocket I made to go with A Fairy Tale from 1969. Since this story was inspired by an experience I had when I was 7 years old, I wanted to include an image of the lunch box I used when I was that age. I no longer had the lunch box, but I was able to find a great image of it online. I used the color image to create a pocket to not only hold a tiny book containing a micro story, but also to hold some other surprises.
But it's the stories that are the reason for Hearth & Heart. Besides A Fairy Tale from 1969, I also included an essay titled A Hallowe'en Recollection. Both of these offerings originally appeared in my blog Tea With Whimsy. They were written a week apart in October of 2012. They both seemed to be appropriate material for the kind of stories I wanted to offer in an Autumn edition. And both were inspired from my childhood experiences.
Smile! was a story written about an experience I had in the late 90s. You never know what may be lurking in doorways. That story is about 70% true life and 30% flight of fancy. I leave it to you to know fact from fiction. Better yet, I leave it to you to just enjoy the story without needing to sort fact from fiction. We get enough of that in the real world, right?
There Be Giants. That story was based on an actual experience. It's a Hallowe'en story with witches and giants. Again that is a story that is about 50% real life and 50% flight of fancy. (You may be surprised to learn that the giants are the real life part of the story, not the witches. I know I was surprised!)
Sky is a short offering that I encased in an illustration, which is pictured at the start of this post. Yes, it's another door. I had visualized it being a window, but after all the trouble I had been having reproducing images, and constructing the zine, I decided to go for a simple door effect. Both Sky and The Witch's Children (a micro story which appears as a tiny book included with this zine) were gleaned from a micro story journal I wrote in 1991.
This edition of Hearth & Heart was my most complicated zine to assemble, but it sure was a lot of fun to design. If you'd like to check it out go over and take a look at Pegana Press.
On Monday I'd like to talk a little bit about Hearth & Heart Volume 2 2017 Autumn Edition. I hope you'll join me.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comment