Tag: download

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!

[Worksheet] Four Personal Goal Categories + Inspirational Quotes

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No affiliate links here, and no price to download. If you find this resource helpful, you can buy me a cup of chai. I hope you stick around for awhile to see what other resources and worksheets you can delve into!

When it comes to goals, January is really just a free-trial month. So don’t worry if you didn’t meet your New Year’s resolutions. They’re not nearly as important as setting goals for yourself.

I’ve blogged about S.M.A.R.T. Goals before, but now I have a worksheet for you that will help you establish more than just achievements and professional objectives.

Individual growth is holistic, but juggling professional and personal responsibilities is rough. It usually results in dropped balls and broken plates—or hearts. We’ve discussed the difference between important and urgent, so let’s figure out how to really make a priority of those important things that have been evaporating on the back burner for too long.

We Work Too Much

Perfectly (and coincidentally) timed with this post was a recent Twitter discussion on the pressure we put on ourselves to always be working:

The struggle is especially real for people who work at home:

“You do this thing where you’re never fully committed to work time or break time. Every day you get some work done, but you’re never in ‘work mode’. But then when you goof off, you feel guilty, ’cause you feel like you should be working on something. You should have designated work time, and work hard to get it finished. But then, have relax time, and actually enjoy it. I think you’d be a lot happier.”

The Personal Goal Planner

When creating this goal planner, I researched a dozen different life coaching techniques and ended up with four non-work categories that can end up falling to the wayside when we focus too much on work:

Keep reading for the download and a smattering of inspirational quotes in each category.
Continue reading →

February Freebies

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Hi all! Happy Valentine’s Day and Presidents Day. After a Twitter convo brought up the need for introverts to hit on people they see reading without disturbing them, I decided we needed bookmarks that say “You are cute and  you read—email me.”

But bookmarks can be hard to carry on your person all the time, so I decided to make them the size of business cards instead. I hope you enjoy them! Click the images below to download either the black and white or the black and red version.

Only 4 of the crop marks showed up in the PDF, so know that the cards are each 2″x3.5″

On the back, write:

  • your first name
  • your email
  • subj: [a keyword that you’ll be able to identify them by, like “combat boots” or “Wuthering Heights”]

cute-read-red

cute-read-black

I also made a dorky new desktop background that some cat-loving writers might enjoy. You can download that, too.

All of these are for personal use only!

lets-talk-about-cats-desktop

ThanksGIVING

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Contents

  • 15 Bookish & Writerly Things I’m Thankful For
  • My Gift to You
  • Small Business Saturday–Cyber Monday Editing Deals

15 Bookish & Writerly Things I’m Thankful For

  1. My editing clients! I wouldn’t be able to blog or stay home with my kids if it weren’t for you. I’m daily inspired and encouraged by your creative spirits. You’re THE BEST.
  2. The books patiently waiting by my bedside for me to read them
  3. My local library, for saving me hundreds of dollars a year with all their books and comics and movies.
  4. Librarians, for being insanely helpful and brilliant.
  5. This reminder from Shannon Hale:
    https://twitter.com/haleshannon/status/636907891379736576
  6. This GIF:
    https://twitter.com/larathelark/status/667520389229101056
  7. Indie Booksellers (like Addendum Books) and lit mags (like Revolver) who put on awesome literary events.
  8. The social media accounts which show how hilarious and human book publishers are.
  9. The couple hundred writers who participated in #pg70pit this summer—Thank you! We’ll be doing it again in 2016!
  10. The readers & writers who joined in my first BookDeeply writing seminar / book club. (You can still join! Nominate next spring’s debut author in the comments below.)
  11. My fellow MS Editors—you raise me up so I can stand on mountains. Oh, wait, that’s Josh Groban.
  12. Writing/editing/reading social media—Twitter, for helping me find my tribe, and Bookstagrammers, for making my daily doses of books and design easy and convenient.
  13. The community of comics creators at OA Live.
  14. FREE COMIC BOOK DAY
  15. And YOU, for reading my blog! Thank you!

blowkiss

What literary wonders are you thankful for this year? Share in the comments!

My Gift to You

If you are not of a geeky persuasion and/or have no appreciation for popular culture, you probably won’t appreciate this. But if you know who Pavel Chekov is, then I hope you like and enjoy.

I made a series of geeky to-do/checklists for you. I call them…

wait for it…

the CHEKOV LIST.

I’ve got blue ones with trekkie insignia…

chekovblue

Assorted colors for color-coders:
chekovmulti

and black and white sketchy ones for those trying to save some toner…
chekovblack

They’re free! You can download them by clicking the image below.

If you do download them, and if you enjoy them, do me a favor and rate them on Teachers Pay Teachers, please!

Eventually I’ll add more writing worksheets to that site, so let your writing instructors know about it. 🙂

Have fun with these, print out a bunch for friends, enjoy!

downloadEditing Deals

From now through Cyber Monday, request a quote from me to receive big discounts!

SBSdeal

Note: November is the craziest month for Marine families, so my posting schedule is a bit off! We had the Marine Corps Birthday Ball last weekend and have Thanksgiving tomorrow, so November’s query workshop and the Act Three post will be a bit delayed.