1) Obligatory zine  intro question: How did you get started reading and making zines?

Around 2003, I was taking a few creative writing courses at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. I became really inspired to share my work along with the work of my classmates so I started searching online for resources on indie publishing. I came across the Live Journal community, zine-scene. I already had a LJ account so I joined the group and started ordering zines. It was love at first sight.

My first zine was a compilation called Eye Candy. After that, I began writing my first personal zine, Tattooed Memoirs.

2) How did your interest in zines escalate into running a distro? Sweet Candy has been around for so long. Can you tell us a little about the history of the distro?

I will be the first to admit that I jumped head first into opening a zine distro. I was really excited by some of the zines I was reading and I wanted nothing more then to spread the word about them. At the time, I lived in a very small town in Georgia and even though there were creative people, zines were just not something happening in that area. I opened Sweet Candy in June of 2004 and it has been running ever since.

I truly had no idea what I was getting myself into but I had a lot of passion for what I was doing. It’s been a trial & error experience but isn’t everything? I feel really good about how far the distro has come and I’m grateful that people are still ordering zines from me 8 years later!

3) You do several zines: Tattooed Memoirs, Marked for Life, Fat-tastic, and Hard-Knox. Will you talk briefly about them?

Tattooed Memoirs and Marked For Life both deal with working in a tattoo studio, being a mom, mental health issues, as well as various happy and sad moments. Hard Knox was a zine I wrote (actually there were two issues printed) that dealt with an abusive relationship I was in when I was 21-years-old. FAT-TASTIC! is a body-positive compilation zine.

4) So, in addition to doing zines and running a distro, you're also a mom and are involved in tattooing. How do you juggle it all? How much overlap is there?

Yeah, I definitely feel like a juggler in a circus. I worked in the tattoo industry for 13 years and I joke a lot & tell people I am enjoying my early retirement. I have 3 kids and the tattoo shop doesn’t hold family friendly hours. I attempted to work part-time but it’s a full-time job. Tattooing is not something you do on the side, it’s a job I’ve taken seriously and feel is a big commitment. It was hard to walk away from but I am moving on to other things. Right now, I am a full-time mama, sell mixed media art on my Etsy shop, run the distro, and I do some freelance writing here and there.

I like staying busy but I have really started making time for myself, definitely new for me. I’ve read 12 books so far this year, which is amazing. I’m learning that it is okay to do nothing sometimes.

5) Speaking of tattooing - how did you get involved in that? How have zines affected your tattooing or how has tattooing affected your zines?

My mom is a tattoo artist and has been tattooing since 1977. I left college and started working with her when I was 18-years-old. Zines never influenced my tattoo work because my clientele were so far from anyone who would have much interest in zines. But I have written a ton of tattoo stories in my zine, Tattooed Memoirs. I grew up in tattoo shops; it’s what I know. Not only does my mom tattoo but my dad tattoos, my step-dad tattooed before he passed away & my partner tattoos. It’s always going to be a part of my life even if I don’t tattoo for a living.

6) Did zines play any part when you were homeschooling your kids?

Yeah, they did. My oldest daughter Emily made a few zines while we were homeschooling. It was fun to create themed zines around our lesson plans.

7) What authors and zinesters influenced or inspired you? In what ways?

Many of the zine writers I support at Sweet Candy inspire me. I think it is so brave to write about tough subject matter. I appreciate that kind of writing very much. Aubade, functionally ill, I Dreamed I Was Assertive, Winterspark, The Pleiades, and Pieces are a just a few of the many zines I have enjoyed immensely over the years.

8) You recently moved to Olympia after having lived in both Georgia and Philadelphia. Can you talk about the difference in zine communities in those places?

There was absolutely no zine scene in my Georgia town. Sweet Candy Distro did host a few open mics at a local coffee shop to introduce local writers to zines. I tabled the open mics and sold a few zines.

Philadelphia was a different story. When I lived in Philly, the zine scene was super. There were zine readings happening throughout the city, the annual Philly Zine Fest, and plenty of active zine writers in the area. I ran a zine library out of my row home in South Philly and hosted some zine-related events there. A very inspiring time for me.

Olympia is completely different than Philadelphia and small town, Georgia. The Olympia public library has an amazing zine library and there always seems to be a zine-related event being scheduled at the library. It’s also home to Ms. Valerie Park Distro. It’s a smaller zine scene than what I experienced in Philly but it is alive and I think the zinesters in Olympia have some exciting things planned for the near future. Stay tuned!

9) What would you like to see from zines (and the zine community) in 2012 and the future?

Continued communication! I love when I see people communicating in a healthy way. Talk about issues you feel need to be addressed or hold people accountable if need be … discuss things without attacking others. While we can’t control how others act or react, we can control how we treat them and the situation. We can create our own safe spaces.

10) What projects are you working on now? What zines (either by yourself or others) are you really excited about?

FAT-TASTIC! has me pumped these days. I just finished the layout for issue #2 this morning. I see new issues of Marked For Life & Tattooed Memoirs in my near future, too. I am also working on a food-themed zine with my kids. Always busy in my world!