How to Fold (and Plan) a Zine

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One concentration during my MFA in writing for children and young adults was comics! I’ve been teaching comics now for five years, and my favorite thing to teach is how to make a zine.

“Zine” comes from “magazine” and is pronounced the same way—zeen. It’s a mini booklet that is independently made, produced, and distributed.

Zines can be on any topic. To get my students started, I like to have them make a zine out of a poem or a recipe. Think SMALL, because zines are little books.

An 8-page zine from a single sheet of copy paper is just one way to make a zine, but it’s always my students’ favorite. I thought I’d share the resource I created for them, with you!

Here’s how to fold a zine. Click on the image for the PDF.

Click on the image above to download and print my handout on how to fold AND how to plan an 8-page zine (or a 6-page zine with a front and back cover).

In the future, I’ll share some of my zines that you can read here or print to create your own library, so be sure to subscribe for more goodies!

I would love to see your zines. Share them on social media and tag me @larathelark or link to them in the comments!

Printable Summer Reading Log

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This year my kids are 14, 12, and 2.5, and I wanted to log their reading this summer but wasn’t finding printable ones online I liked. So I looked to bullet journals for inspiration and created this printable reading log, which you fill out by crossing off or highlighting each 5 minutes you read.

On this example above, I tried a few different ways of highlighting to make it ~*aesthetic*~: one color per book, alternating analogous colors, and cycling through the rainbow for each reading session. My favorite is what I started with—one color per book. You can still see how long each reading session is with a highlighter, and you don’t have to grab a different highlighter each time, just one per book.

This reading log is free for you to download! Just choose the download or print option from the PDF below. By downloading or printing, you are agreeing to not resell or share this resource as your own.

Reading LogDownload

There are lots of really cute reading log coloring pages online, as well as bookmarks you can fill in.

Plenty of cute ones for sale on Etsy.

And these fun coloring ones from Everyday Reading—just enter your email to download.

If you’re wanting to build your vocabulary (or your child’s), check out my free vocabulary bookmarks!

A series of vocabulary list bookmarks printed on rainbow colored paper

Happy reading!

Quotes from When the World is Falling Apart

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For Christmas, I got myself a new journal, since new journals solve all writing problems (sarcasm).

To be super transparent, here are the days I’ve written in it: Dec 29, 2024; Jan 1, 2025; Jan 2; March 28; May 7; May 9.

I’ve written some quotes to start out some entries, and I wanted to share that practice with you, as well as some of the quotes.

One of my major blocks in writing this work in progress is that it’s a drama that is not fun to write because it is, frankly, traumatic and not happy, and I am very depressed. It’s not a place I want to be in. So many of these quotes are persisting in spite of doubt or darkness. They might not be encouraging to you as they are to me while I’m in this mindset, trying to write this particular thing.

Some of these come from Tolkien when WWII was raging on. Some from The Lord of the Rings. Some from General Iroh as the Fire Nation was raging war on the other nations. One comes from Star Wars (and I think a lot could come from Andor if I actually wrote any of those down). Some quotes just come from writers. Still, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the most encouraging quotes come from times of unrest, when inside me is nothing but conflict, and I look at the state of the world and am constantly wondering why I should even try writing.

The answer is because it is precisely others’ writing that keeps me going. What if my words could help someone else get through a tough time?

All of this rambling aside, here are the quotes I’ve been writing in my journal, saving in my Notes app, and scribbling on Post-It notes…

From WWII

“No idea is too outlandish that it should not be considered.” —Winston Churchill

“Usually I compose only with great difficulty and endless rewriting.” —J.R.R. Tolkien, from a letter to Stanley Unwin, March 1945

From The Lord of the Rings:

“It’s the job that never gets started that takes the longest to finish.” —Samwise

“It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.” —Gandalf

“You and I, Sam, are still stuck in the worst places of the story, and it is all too likely that some will say at this point, ‘Shut the book now, Dad; we don’t want to read anymore.'”
“Maybe,” said Sam, “but I wouldn’t be one to say that. Things done and over and made into part of the great tales are different.”

“Forth, and fear no darkness!”—Theoden

“Though here at journey’s end I lie
in darkness buried deep,
beyond all towers strong and high,
beyond all mountains steep,
above all shadows rides the Sun
and Stars forever dwell:
I will not say the Day is done,
nor bid the Stars farewell.”
—Sam’s song, which had better appear at my funeral someday, I’ve told my husband and sons.

“Out of doubt, out of dark, to the day’s rising he rode singing in the sun, sword unsheathing.” —from Theoden’s funeral

“Faithless is he who says farewell when the road darkens.” —Gimli

“We must do without hope.” —Aragorn

“I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for its glory. I love only that which they defend.” —Faramir

“From the ashes a fire shall be woken, / A light from the shadows shall spring; / Renewed shall be blade that was broken, / The crownless again shall be king.” —Prophecy about Aragorn. In this case, my WIP is the blade, and the crownless is the writer who isn’t currently writing

From Avatar: The Last Airbender

“In the darkest times, hope is something that you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength.”—General Iroh

From Star Wars: The Last Jedi

“We’re gonna win. Not by fighting what we hate—saving what we love.”—Rose Tico

What quotes help inspire you when the writing comes with difficulty, or when it’s hard for you to see hope in the darkness? I hope you’ll share, and in so doing, inspire all of us here.

Checking in from Burnout

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It’s been a long time since I’ve written regularly. Years.

Back in December, I put in my notice of resignation, two years later than I should have. I’ve been burnt out as a teacher for two years, burnt out from the state of the world for about a decade, and burnt out from the hustle for even longer.

I wanted to check in with you all and see how you are doing. Have you written anything since last you saw me in your inbox? If not, this is a safe place to say so. You can build up a goal using the questions below or just sit with that confession (as I’m more likely to do).

I’m desperate for some REST, which I haven’t really had since 2016. I’m hoping that with rest, I can rediscover my love for writing, but I also know that it’s OK to rest without expectation of any sort of output whatsoever.

So I’m sharing this old post, specifically these questions, as a way of setting goals for myself, but don’t feel like you need to participate. Do tell me how you’re doing. I definitely miss spending time with the writing community, and I’d love to support you from my side of the keyboard.

Here are the questions:

  1. Where are you at with your writing right now? Are you certain? Uncertain? Bruised? Overwhelmed?
  2. What is your goal for this season you’re currently in? Is it a S.M.A.R.T. goal?
  3. What would the midpoint look like for that goal? How would you know that you’re halfway there?
  4. What would half of that look like, the quarter point?
  5. What are your daily or weekly goals? If being a “daily doer” hasn’t worked for you, take any daily goal you set for yourself and turn it into a weekly goal.
  6. Now cut that daily or weekly goal in half.

I’m going to take some time to answer them for myself in the comments. Then I’m going to share some encouraging quotes that I’ve been letting feed into my spent soul. That post will go live on Wednesday, so check back in or subscribe to get it in your mailbox.

Uncertainty and Overwhelm in Writers