And it’s called “Diary of a Sufficiently Fun Person (Pandemic Comix Vol. 1)” at cronehands.com.
While you’re here, a story.
1
In “Gilmore Girls,” when Richard and Emily find out their daughter Lorelai’s dating Luke they’re like, “Ew. Look at that diner-owning, backwards-hat-wearing yokel.”
Richard immediately tries to culture him by taking him golfing and convincing him to franchise his diner. After all, in a wealthy dude’s mind, the only form of success is money. And Luke, despite owning a really charming diner beloved by his fellow yokels, didn’t have it.
Richard and Emily couldn’t fathom why someone wouldn’t want to accumulate wealth other than he was just too stupid and incapable.
It was up to them to show Luke how.
You’ll have to find out what happens next by streaming it (Yes, it’s on Netflix. And no, I don’t work for them).
But I bring this up because that’s how I feel about handmade books.
In this scenario the yokel is me, and Richard and Emily are capitalism.
2
Bookmaking, particularly zinemaking, particularly handmade zinemaking, is a futile endeavor. It’s completely unprofitable and makes no fucking sense.
Like, why would someone spend all their time making something literally fewer than 50 people will ever see? Why not just put it on like, TikTok or something?
Well, a few reasons.
One, I’m a control freak. I like making sure all the pages are exactly how I want them and that they’re being viewed as intended.
Two, making something handmade and limited edition makes it sound *special* and *unique.* And intimate af. 1 million people can look at the same TikTok at the same time and forget it a second later. But only one person can look at a specific version of this book at any given moment. And forget it 5 minutes later.
Three, I’m a psycho. A psycho who likes misery. Blame my immigrant upbringing or maybe my Catholic upbringing (obligatory “I’m no longer Catholic btw” disclaimer) or maybe my “I’m giving voice to the voiceless” era as a twentysomething way-too-serious journalist.
But I truly think a lot of great things can only come from a certain type of hardship and suffering. When you see a picture of a thing somebody made it’s like, OK cute reproduction of a thing someone labored over. But when you see the actual work it’s like, “Dangggg somebody sweat and cried and bled all over this thing. I’ll take it.”
I’m talking about the good kind of suffering though, where you’re so engrossed in a task your brain feels like it’s being hugged. Not the AHHHHH WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE kinda suffering.
Like, I’m not a monster.
Most times.
3
OK I lied. I’m going to tell you how it ends.
So, Luke basically humors Richard and Emily as they take him on these fruitless tours of potential diners they can hijack from unsuspecting owners in default. He humors them because he wants to make a good impression and also because he loves Lorelai. In the end, though, he just tells them to fuck off. He’s not a franchise type of guy. He has no need to scale and own more diners. He likes having just the one. After all, with one diner he gets to be there every day and make sure all the plates go out correctly and all the stupid annoying yokels are fed just the way they like to be fed.
And, well, I feel that so much.
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Check out my new limited-edition book “Diary of a Sufficiently Fun Person (Pandemic Comix Vol. 1)” at cronehands.com.