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ZAUM Sonoma State University's Literary Magazine | |
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Return to current zaum Blog post Chapbooks March 29, 2010 
The zaum committee has come to that time of year in which we, as entrepreneurs of the literature and publishing world, as upstanding citizens that work for the promotion of the creative process and artistic expression, as motivated students with endless amounts of time, energy and ideas, get to make chapbooks.
With our own work. During midterms. I must admit, I came to this project with a little trepidation. I foresaw frustration and great struggles with the poems and stories I would use, tears over cover design and structure, unanswerable questions from other students, and problems with the margins. Despite the earliness with which we introduced the committee to this project, I feared that others, like me, would leave off a bulk of this work until completely necessary--i.e., midterm week. Now I wish I could say that my fears are unfounded. That my prose and poetry walked calmly and gracefully from my hard drive onto the published page, that my cover fell together without effort, that nobody had any questions, and that margins are as meek a thing as cuddly little kittens. I am many things, but I am not a liar. It was not easy. It was not effortless. And I had questions. I struggled, first, with locating those old poems and prose pieces I had been letting gather spiderwebs and dust. Fallen to the back of my laptop, behind a years worth of homework, essays, and study guides, I had to remember to make time to revise and rewrite my creative writing. Next, the design of my cover – what I thought would be the easy part. "I'll be super creative and use an old book cover!" I thought, awed at my own brilliance. But upon closer inspection, my work, despite being printed on heavy weight paper, would not fill the space left by the old biography. Cross that off the list. Maybe vellum? Printer disaster. Transparencies? No good photography that would show up. Woodcuts? Nature prints? Sheet metal? Tissue boxes? Dental floss? No, no, no, no, no. Binding was out of the question until I had the cover planned, and margins couldn't be discussed until I had a cover size. It was a seemingly endless circle of frustration an doom. And then I went shopping. I know it's a cliché for shopping to be the answer to a girl's problems, but it's true. I went to Michael's, Beverley's, and Riley Street – art stores that sell all kinds of papers, paints, thread, fabric and ribbon. I bought my materials on a whim, picking up paper and art supplies that appealed to me. Scrapbook paper, a lace cutout, golden paint, red embroidery thread – all without a concrete picture of what my chapbook would look like. And with my materials came relief. The pressure of having to choose a single path among the countless options of making my own book was gone – now I had something to work with. After a bit of experimenting at 2 AM with sponges, gold paint, an old FedEx box, and a scalpel, I found my chapbook – a deceivingly simple design of cardstock sponge painted with a curly design to look like an antique book, yellowish aged paper printed with a simple Modern No. 20 font and side page numbers, and red embroidery binding. After all the procrastinating, the rushing and pressure helped me to find the perfect chapbook that reflects my work. And so, if I had to give any future zaum committee chapbook-maskers some advice, it wouldn't be don't wait till the last minute, though that is sound and valid advice. I would advise chapbook-makers not to stress when their ideas don't work out perfectly. The mistakes, misprints, unused paper, unfulfilled ideas, and ill planned schemes all have to occur for the perfect chapbook to happen. Don't be afraid to make a mock up, to try different and creative ideas, to mess up and completely fail. And in the end, it really will all fall together - Gini Rhoda Questions for the author? Want to comment on the blog? Email us at nicolais@sonoma.edu and we'll post your questions and comments. | |
