THE MAILING LIST

Instagram. It was once a place of unrivalled online connection, eye opening visuals and joy! Instagram was the app that held the little people up higher than we’d ever been! It opened up possibilities of being discovered through the use of tags (@) and hashtags (#) and some well-known person or brand seeing your work or images. And now… it’s just not really serving me anymore.

The more time I spend on social media, the less I get out.

The fun and learning and connection feels like it’s dropping away in the face of THE ALGORITHM. A power I don’t really understand much, except that it mainly seems to be causing problems for small businesses and for the mental health of users. I have no more engagement on my posts now than I did eight years ago and I put just as much time in. That could be for a hundred reasons.

But basically I’m looking at the balance of time spent there versus happiness, sales or a positive gain of any kind and I’m coming up short.

It has given me the nudge I need to go back about 15 years in my online life and return to the idea of a more analogue, opt-in method of communicating with the people I want to connect with - the humble mailing list. I have kicked off with a ‘call to action’ comic (you can see the whole 20 panel comic right here or ironically - on instagram. I imagine the making of the mailing list each time will be a fair bit of work, but it has also brought me back to the one place on the internet that is 100% mine. This website. I’m putting in blog posts that have been languishing in the drafts, updating bits of the shop, listing new products, making sure the illustration and comics sections are up to date - I even put the contact page back in.

Thinking about what to put in the mailing list is making me get things done - some of the things I have been putting off for a long time. That can only be good, right?

It’s making me take stock - a great thing to do in the Spring when everything feels like it’s just about to really get going. It’s also something I can do from bed with my usual Eastertime cold.

Oh, you’d like to join the mailing list? Well you can - right here. I would love to have you on board - you’ll be treated to exclusive comics occasionally and offers, but mostly you’ll be first to get all my news in a handy spot. Hope you’ll love it.

GLASGOW ZINE FEST!

I got word that I’m going to be tabling at this year’s Zine Fair in Glasgow! I managed to make it along as a visitor last year at Tramway and I was overwhelmed by the entire experience. There were seemingly HUNDREDS of people at wee tables, each one jam packed with little folded paper pamphlets filled with poems or comics or stories or artwork or photos or words or… well pretty much anything you can think of.

“What’s a zine?” I hear you ask.
Well, it sounds the same as the second part of the word magazine (“zeen”)
and it refers to a homemade publication,
often with specific and unconventional content.

Online zines are also a thing, but mainly I’ve seen them as small, folded paper books or concertinas, photocopies or printed in small numbers. I think they’re a charming object. I’ve bought some in the past about medieval witches, standing stones, shells and cool animals. I really regret not buying the one I saw last year with renderings of classical art pieces, all with the heads of furbies... There are also often stickers, badges, prints, cards and even t shirts to be had, so something for everyone. My zines are mostly hand drawn comics I have made about my life and sometimes I share them online - you can see a bunch in the comics section, but they’re all on my instagram too.

This year the zine fair is being held at the Briggait over the weekend of
23-24th May 2026, but I will be there only on Saturday 23rd.

I’ll be hawking my little printed zines about funny, sad or weird things I’ve documented. Maybe there will be other things too, but I have a month or two to eke that out! The whole festival is organised by the Glasgow Zine Library (I know! A library! For ZINES!) it is more than just a bunch of folk in a room selling their artwork. It’s a whole programme of events ranging from food sovereignty to antiracism, music to LGBTQI+ events.

I cannot wait! The event is free to enter, so please stick it in your diary
and come on down to see me (and everyone else), say hello
and maybe walk home with a zine or two!

Last year I went home with a t shirt, 6 stickers, 2 badges, about 8 zines, a print and a massive smile on my silly, tired face.