Another inspiration for my sending-things-in-the-mail project came from Robin Sloan, an author whose experiments are an inspiration for anyone trying to put more play into their creative practice. He’s a novelist and one of some renown, but his willingness to cross forms and mediums and to show his work across its stages of development feels radical to me. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but the point is that he’s willing to Do A Thing and that, to me, is the best part. In 2019, he did a year-long newsletter project that included printing and mailing an intermittent series of riosgraphed zines—this one was the first (or at least that’s what my memory tells me) and the sheer wonder of opening up my mailbox to discover something unknown and new inside is the feeling I’m chasing when I send stories to my friends.

First published by Robin Sloan, 2019. Read it on his website