About a month ago I sent in the final pages for the sequel to The Do-Over. I still have to finish the cover and some final details, but we’re mostly done with book work!! 🎉 Time to…do something else? catch up with things? rest…??
In that context, me and my friend Gaby decided to go to a local Tamagotchi fan meetup! When I told Rodrigo about it, he said “what if you make a zine to bring to the meetup?”, and I was like…what IF I make a zine to bring to the meetup?? And so, in a little under a week, I came up with this one-page zine about my Tamagotchi collection:
I drew this on Procreate over 2-3 evenings, printed 20 copies next to my workplace, and then cut and folded them the morning before the meetup. It was a very improvised thing, but I had a surprisingly great time making it! After working on the same 2-book contract for FIVE YEARS, making a zine in a week and holding it in your hands right away feels really satisfying. This was also my first time making a one-page zine for myself (not counting the ones I’ve made for the Planetarium), and I’m like…how did it take me so long to get into this?? I’ve been really missing out here!
Anyway, the Tamagotchi meetup was a lot of fun!! We nerded over each other’s tamas, did some paper crafts at the park, I bought some merch…it really felt like “living my best life in my 30s”, just really leaning into my silly little hobbies 🩵 I was a little nervous about meeting so many new people, but the zine worked as a nice conversation starter (there were even some people who already followed me on instagram lol), and overall it’s just a great group of people. I already have the next meetup on my calendar hehe ✨
OK now go make a zine! see you later!!!
PS: I’ve been hanging a bit more on Bluesky lately! Since I already use Instagram for “promoting” my work, I want to keep Bluesky as a more chill and casual thing…so if that’s your vibe, maybe I’ll see you there? :’D