Here's The Love...

This was an experience much appreciated by my self and all the other people who won't get to take a class like Small Press. Of all the enlightening subjects I've involved myself in I have to say I learned much of what I came to school to learn in that class. Everyone was a joy to work around and learn from and we all know Jonathan is a great teacher. You all are more than welcome to keep in contact with me and also keep this blog up and going. I'll check it every now and then and hang out on it. Shoot I like the darn thing.

Anyways, good luck finding work and getting you creative passions fulfilled as you look and you will reach nirvana...

Bruce Kent
Audio8.com
AV8*ion Publishing

It's All Over

I really enjoyed this class. It gave me the motivation to start up my own zine which I've been wanting to do since last semester when I took Fiction Writers and Publishing. I feel like everyone in the class put in their best effort and everyones projects turned out great. I've already linked up a few of you on StickBall. I can't wait to see where these all go in the future.

Here's the web address for StickBall is anybody needs it. www.stickballzine.com

Also, Candace, I was having trouble linking to Anonymous City so can you give me the link? Thanks a lot.

The End

Well, it's been a lot of fun working on this project and I still feel like I want to go back in and tweak some things and just keep messing with it, but I know it's done. I just have to sit back and enjoy it now, get the word out about it, and then get some more submissions for the next issue. It is a relief to have it all done, though.

I agree with Anna - all the web people should put their urls up. And all the print people should make some more copies and mail them to us :) or sell them at Quimby's.

Kaleidoscopic Resonance's url - http://kaleidoscopicresonance.wordpress.com

It's been fun, everyone! Thanks for a great class, Jonathan!

clink url

http://www.clinkdrunkstories.wordpress.com


could everyone else with websites post their urls, so I can link to them on clink?

In which I get my shit together and everything falls into place at mostly the last second. Funny how that works, huh?

clink is up and running. I solved the video problem, thank goodness. Well, I sort of solved it. I just reshot the Cinderella one with the same chickiba who told it before, only this time she was drunker and she laughed more. And I got more videos. So I am totally happy. I hope you all are so excited to see the site tomorrow night that you won't be able to sleep, eat, or breathe.

I will never be a Luddite

I don't have internet right now. Haven't had it, actually, since May 1. It's been both a blessing and a curse for my project and my life.

The blessing? I've been able to whip out a bunch of prototypes of what I want the physical thing to look like much faster than if I had access to the sundries of the Internet. I even spent more consecutive and cumulative time in front of the computer, er, building the website for Invisible Arc than I would've if I had access to Myspace and Facebook and my stupid blog.

The curse? Communicating with people has been a bitch of a time. I didn't realize I relied so much on e-mail. It's just really frustrating not being able to respond to people the instant I get their e-mail. Really. How did people live without e-mail? And constantly checking the weather. And seeing if I still have enough space on my Flickr account because I'm too cheap to upgrade to a Pro account. And updating my Podcasts. And a billion other things not related to my project.

Anyway, regardless of the 'net situation, I'm still not freaking out really. I feel like I ought to, though, as if it's the sort of thing I need to do. Maybe I've been extremely lucky with this project and it's going to kick my ass so hard when I venture to do my next one (which is happening, definitely, because, c'mon, after interning/working at two lit journals and making my own zine, I think I have the gumption to make more than one). Though, I know that at like two in the morning, I'll wake up, freak out at the stitching in my binding is all muffed up and probably end up rebinding a whole new book because last-minute panics are the best, I guess.

AND. I can't find my phone so I can't even call my lousy artist or writers to make any last minute demands. I have the faintest inkling that it fell out of my pocket or something whilst biking. Technology and I, we don't get along much.

Anonymous City Press Release

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Welcome to Anonymous-City

Myanonymouscity.wordpress.com is the forthcoming, first phase of an online magazine aiming to incite the social and cultural instance based tales from new and emerging student writers. The intention is to briefly commandeer an array of reader’s emotions and ideals for an assortment of flash fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry from Columbia College Chicago’s students, one recent graduate and an adjunct faculty member. A tri-quarterly magazine each year’s three issues will include repeating themes. The premier issue’s theme will be women’s lives/femininity in society and all the relationships, conflicts, triumphs, lessons learned and all that meanders in between. For example, Anonymous City’s first issue includes a young woman’s journey of family love by finding a soul mate in her closest cousin and childhood friend. Separately, a lady entering middle age finally decides to have children but discovers the impossibility within her own uterus and conversely the possibilities of rediscovering her body and femininity without a procreating destiny.

Each issue of Anonymous City will be posted by the 16th of January, May and September months. From each contributor their brief biographies, current projects as well as links to their personal websites will be made available following their contribution posts. Included in the premeir issue will be an interview with Amy Schroeder, Editor and Founder of Venus Zine. It's not your average Q and A but we hope you enjoy. For further information please contact the Editor-in-Chief.

Candace Robertson
Address inserted
Crob243@yahoo.com
773-780-8420

The following are a couple of writers Anonymous City thinks that you should look out for:
Jessica Young has a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University in Performance Studies, and this spring she's graduating with an MFA in Fiction Writing from Columbia College Chicago. She's been published in Warpland, Hair Trigger 29 and 30, the 2007 and 2008 Story Week Reader, and she has an essay in the upcoming issue of Ghost Factory. She is a contributor to Chicago Public Radio's Eight Forty Eight. Jessica is currently an adjunct faculty member at Columbia College. She is at work on her first short story collection, and lives in Chicago.

CP Chang received his M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from Columbia College of Chicago in 2007. His fiction and poetry have appeared in Hair Trigger, artisan, Upstairs at Duroc, Atlanta Review, on Nerve.com, on wordriot.org, and in the anthology My Angels and Demons at War. He also writes a column for the suburban newspaper The Evanston Sentinel. A section of his novel-in-progress (tentatively titled Causes) won the Patricia Painton Scholarship at the Paris Writers Workshop and an Honorable Mention with the Helen Fong Dare Scholarship at Columbia College.
He can be heard performing his work as a contributor to the reading series RUI: Reading Under the Influence, at the Kate the Great's bookstore, and as part of the 2nd Story performance group. His photography can be seen in No Touching and on Schmap Chicago.

Monica? Are you there?

Yo Monica. I was wondering if you could email me about your roommate and his willingness to eat cake for booking services. If you get this my email is crissieo@gmail.com

Out Of The Gate, The Race Begins

I finally got the finished file from the designer.  Had little things fixed like switching odd page numbers to the right-side page, etc.  Uploaded it to AlphaGraphics and am waiting to hear from them to go over some specifics.  Now it's off to the races to get it proofed and printed by Tuesday.  They still say that Tuesday by 4:00 p.m. should be "nooo problemo."

*5/9 UPDATE:  AlphaGraphics said the proof will be ready Monday afternoon.  After I look at it and give the okay, the rest of the copies will be ready for pick up at 2:00 Tuesday.

Now...about those other classes I'm taking...  

A Taste of Something New

I received my first unsolicited submission! Finally! The week before this thing is due. I'm so excited though. A couple weeks ago, I posted a call for submissions on Columbia's new classified ad section on the InTheLoop thing for students and alumni and I think that is probably where she learned about my magazine. The best part is that the submission is for the Taste section, which was lacking any content. Now I just need to figure out what to say in the acceptance letter - wish I had some acceptance letters of my own to refer to. I want to write her and be like, "OMG! Thank you, thank you, thank you for your awesome poem! Because I was really getting desperate for something to fill the Taste section and this poem is better than I ever expected to find!" But that really wouldn't be very professional would it? I feel a bit embarrassed though, because the submission comes from a stranger, a Columbia alumni, and is a very well written poem, whereas my other submissions were solicited as favors from my amateur friends - some of which haven't written anything since high school. Not to slam them or anything, because their submissions are much appreciated, but it is not the best work I've ever read in my life. Now, with a real writer other than myself, I feel like the stakes have been raised. It no longer feels like just another class project. This person may actually credit my magazine in her cover letter for future submissions. Whoa.

Preparing for Anonymous City's Premier

In the beginning I constructed this elaborate design for this all art all the time website, somehow forgetting that I don’t know very much about web design and I’m not one for asking others for help. So, I’ve definitely decided to work on the blog site with WordPress and the stories that have been submitted. In my Fiction Writing and Publishing course last semester, we were made aware of the fact that most writers don’t send online magazines their best stuff, so I had to be prepared for the worst. Then, I read the stories and I was pleasantly surprised and grateful they even sent me anything at all.

Now it’s time to post everything and I hope that it comes out ok. Knowing that the site won’t be exactly what I want it to be, I have to focus on the stories and their potential. Speaking to that issue, I’ve always considered myself more of a novel person but since Fiction II I can’t put down my Norton’s Anthology, Oxford Book of American Short stories, Sherman Alexie’s “Toughest Indian in the World” and after reading Kelly Link’s “Stranger Things Happen” they’ve changed how I look at short fiction and I believe they have helped my editing of the short stories I’ve received from my contributors. Even thought my contributors’ stories were pretty much finished when I received them, my reading is helping me dig into their meaning or themes as they relate to AC’s first issue’s theme. Hopefully the blog won’t be too bad of a read.

Home Stretch

Found a pro designer that is doing the layout for me.  I see it as paying them to keep my sanity InTact.  Also, I talked to Alpha Graphics today and they say that 6x9, saddle stitch, full-color with nice cover can be turned around in 48-hours.  My artist said all work will be completed by this weekend, so that will give the designer a couple of days to do his magic.  I think all is good in the riding hood.  But next time I will do things different. Like:

• Plan to do the writing myself for the first copy.  Anything submitted by others will be icing on the cake, but not hold me hostage.
• Hire a designer from the get-go.  For the second edition, I will have something in hand that fits my expectations to show a collaborator.
• Artwork is a pain, but it is a necessary one.  After I have a copy in my hands, I don't think finding an artist for a 2nd issue will be as hard.  A real artist sees the first one,  says "That's crap.  I'll do it much better."  Then I dare them to.

Not in Class

Hey Guys I wasn't in class Tuesday so I was wondering if any of you could let me know what is due for next week? Thanks a lot.

Coming down the home stretch

I now have all of my submissions complete with editing and my cover art taken care of. Even with the big stuff taken care of, this task of actually putting it together still seems rather daunting. I finally dealt with that writer problem (or problem writer) and he sent back a re-write. Though it is barely a re-write, he fixed what I asked him to and now I don't really have to bother with him anymore. I guess the next step is heading to Kinko's and spend some quality bonding time with my kitchen floor.

God Porn Press Release

God Por’n

Christopher Watson, John Logan, Camonie Johnson

4873 N. Kenmore Ave.

Chicago, IL 60640

(773) 599-7718

godpornzine@gmail.com

“There aren’t enough exclamation points to puncture a single succulent second of existence!” –God Por’n motto

God Por’n is a new kind of magazine that intends to revolutionize literature and culture through the embrace of passion and the exploration of the infinite possibilities offered by the dawning Information Age. Its content willfully combats the complacency and nonchalance that has become the veneer of our postmodern world without the usual preachiness and gloom of your average revolutionary. In contrast, the magazine embraces the zany and surreal in a conscious attempt to bring their power into the concrete world in an understandable way. Though well educated with degrees in literature, the founders of God Por’n envision the magazine as a blue collar literary showcase. Although deep theosophical, philosophical and ontological issues are addressed, they are discussed in ways translatable and entertaining to the everyday human.

The form of the magazine is loosely based around the concept of literature, though the theme and content of each issue will change dramatically. The Zero Issue (also known as The Six Headed Beast) is centered around six poems by different writers with each of the authors writing short stories and lunatic essays in response to each other to create a wild tapestry of agnostic dread, existential optimism, street music, the loss and regaining of self and the secret immortality hiding in the right kind of smile. The next issue, known as The Manifesto Estate will be a collection of personal, social, political and religious manifestos from some of the brightest and most energetic minds in the Chicago underground.

God Por’n is a zine that has been aching in the heart of Chicago long before it was ever published (June 31^st, 2008, $6) and brings together the city’s loose ends into a beautiful tangle worthy of a new genre. It’s been building into a force whose momentum seems unstoppable as the buzz spreads through different communities and submissions skyrocket. We at God Por’n cordially invite you to be there at the magazine’s inception to review each issue and attend our fundraising parties.

Christopher Watson graduated Columbia College in 2008 with a degree in Fiction Writing. He is the chief A&R executive of the record label Auidio 8 Recordings and is the front man and founder of the band “Harlet Star”.

John Logan graduated from Columbia College in 2008 with a degree in Fiction Writing and a minor in Poetry. He is the founder of LCP Inc., an underground organization of pranksters that has been handing out strange, goofy and philosophical flyers in 3 states since 2001. He is also the front man and founder of the band “The Fighting Scientists”.

Camonie Johnson graduated UIC in 2005 with a degree in English. He currently works with the non for profit organization Chicago Young Authors to enact social change that encourages writing and literature in Chicago communities. He is also the co-founder of the band “The Innervisionists”.

Just When You Thought Going to Print Meant "Done"

So after an arduous process, I converted everything to PDF and then to FTP only to find out there were some formatting issues. Things like "text subsets" and "embedded codes". These things are not in my vocabulary. As I was speaking with my guys at the printers, I'm giving a lot of "uh-huh" replies. I get off the phone with them, dial up my layout girl, and start biting her head off about why these issues were not taken care of. Suffice to say, beggars can't be choosers. Free help is not easy to negotiate. Fortunately, I put her in touch with their tech person and now things are being smoothed out. I may be a writer and an editor but a graphic designer and code writer I am not.

Web Comic in StickBall?

Well today I got a lovely little message from my friend Mason saying that he would like to submit a web comic. So I told him I would check it out and actually really enjoyed it. Now I originally wanted to keep the zine to all prose but the addition of a web comic seems like a good idea. Instead of the magazine being all about words there will be some visual as well. I really like the idea of that and I also tend to enjoy graphic novel to I'm thinking about allowing that submitted as well.

When Tapes Attack (Or don't, in this case)

So maybe it's the end of the world.

Not really, but I'm about to scream. Here's what happened:

My friend borrowed a camera from his school and brought it to my house on Saturday night, where many people were gathered with alcohol. Don't worry; the camera was not harmed at any point in the night, nor was it stolen, both of which kind of surprised me. Anyway, he set it up and we had this chair and all this great lighting and a line of people who wanted to tell drunk stories and then Pooty, my friend who brought the camera, realized that he didn't have a tape. HE DIDN'T HAVE A TAPE TO RECORD ANY VIDEO ON!!!! This was both of our faults, seeing as I just assumed he'd bring it, and he forgot all about the part where you need a tape to record videos. Because sometimes he is an idiot. But really, I love him for getting the camera.

Anyway, so I didn't get any drunk videos on Saturday, and I still haven't heard from my writers. But it's okay. Because I have decided to use my awesome digital camera to do the video, because it's easier than dragging around Pooty and his borrowed camera, especially because he forgets about tape. And I wrote one drunk story and got a few non-writerly friends of mine to tell me some drunk stories or promise to write them down.

So it's not the end of the world. And I won't get an F in this class, because I WILL actually have something to put up on the internet before the semester is over. I promise.

The editing monster

I've finally set up some sort of plan of attack to finally complete this thing, but alas, plans will only get screwed eventually. The editing thing is my main problem still. The writer of the piece that I believe needs the most editing seemed offended when I suggested a re-write. He said he'd do it, but I have a feeling I'll need to start making some nagging phone calls soon. Other than that piece, I think the others are turning out quite nicely (whew), and I've asked a few people to sketch a cover illustration for me. I figure, if they all actually come through, I'll have options for the cover.

Having decided to make this publication in the kitchen floor/countless late nights/scissors and glue sticks sort of approach, I'm excited to start the hands-on process. It's like painting or molding a book rather than writing.

Any suggestions on how to deal with stubborn/sensitive/slightly asshole writer are welcome.

My love/hate relationship with InDesign.

So I downloaded the free trial of InDesign. And after a couple hours of complete frustration and confusion and wanting to throw my computer out the window, I think I'm finally starting to get it. The only problem now is there's so many options, I'm spending way too much time obsessing over little details like "what font should the title be?" "should I move this paragraph up a little more?" "why won't this last sentence fit onto the previous page?!"
But I'm actually starting to have some fun with it. I still can't find out how to get a picture onto my cover, but I'm surprised at how professional it's starting to look. I was thinking about buying the whole program on a whim, just because there's so much you can do with it- like story boards and menus!- but then I realized I will never have to make either.
Anyway, I guess I'm just really excited about having actually been able to figure it out- and without a tutorial! I was just clicking around randomly.
My next problem is if I just print it out from my printer, and then get it bound at Kinko's, the pages are going to be one sided, and it's not really going to look as nice as I would like. But like we were saying in class, it's only a prototype, right?