Compulsions On My Mind
Two things. First, a couple of weeks ago, I went to the opening of a really great zine-related art show here in San Francisco at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The show, “The Zine UnBound,” features work from the zines K48, Werewolf Express, and Hot & Cold. It is up until the end of December, and worth a visit.
Second, I’ve been getting a lot of submissions for the Compulsions issue—about fifty so far. I’m saving them up to read them closely and respond to at a later date, but a quick skim suggests a few, well, suggestions for contributors to keep in mind. Like:
If you’re going to write about smoking, it better be really vivid, or have an interesting hook. Ditto with face-picking. (Face-picking?! Who knew?)
Also, so far I’ve been seeing a lot of submissions that are about things that could fall under the heading of ‘bad habits’: smoking, picking, chewing on stuff, drinking way too much coffee. These count as compulsions, as it’s defined, but I’ve got a special interest now in hearing about compulsions of a more, how to say this, psychological or interpersonal nature. For instance, one person wrote to me and asked if I’d be interested in reading a story about how she compulsively flirts with people, even folks she’s not particularly attracted to. I totally wanted to read it, but it was a while ago and I’m not sure she’s gonna write back. Perhaps you have a similar story? For God’s sake, send it in!
In the meantime, I’m thinking about my own compulsions, of which there are many. More about those next week maybe.
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