Finally, a rapt audience for one of my readings. Happy Bunny took particular pleasure in my woes.
Sitting bolt upright in his moulded plastic chair, hands planted professionally on his knees, Ricardo, beaming, responded flawlessly to each scripted question as if he’d answered them a hundred times before.
Which, clearly, he had. More to the point, Ricardo’s room and board weren’t riding on his answers.
Ricardo had his schtick down cold. He probably hadn’t endured an actual job interview in a long time, and he probably received consideration because of his ethnicity, military service, or both, when he applied for his state job as a trainer. Considerations to which I, a middle-aged, white non-veteran with all the advantages in the world—excepting the critical job-hunting gene—wasn’t privy.
Correct Me If I’m Right: A Brainiac’s Guide to Getting Axed
is a rebellious writer’s account of lusting after literary glory while clashing
with management hacks in the low-wage trenches in between job searches.
By Bill Reinert
Copyright 2010
The series of zines I'm promoting on this site had its origins about three years ago, when I was figuring out what to do with all the war stories, lessons and grudges I’d accumulated during a bruising ten-year ride on the employment roller coaster. 
I finally organized my previous notes and scoured my memory and old folders for a paper trail and banged out in fits and starts a workplace memoir chronicling my ongoing combat with my self-destructive idiocy and shitty jobs and managers while flailing for meaning and financial security.
I initially planned to go the traditional route to publishing: doing a ton of groundwork and submitting it to the mercy of conventional publishers. I’d done this with my first (and only) novel and got nowhere.
Given that experience, it occurred to me once I had finished Correct Me that I should consider self publication.
That led me to a book about self publishing, which convinced me to try it; having been a professional writer and desktop publisher, I grasped the mechanics of layout, printing, binding, distribution and getting exposure. It was simply a matter of execution. I also realized I'd need to create a website, with which I'd also had previous experience, to promote and help sell the booklets. You're looking at the result.
At a minimum, the whole project would be a great learning experience.
Realizing I needed cover art, I attended the Zine Symposium at Portland State University to check out potential illustrators. Most of the hipster vendors  looked less than half my age and the atmosphere wasn’t my cup of herbal tea; the idea struck me, however, of illustrating the entire book.
Browsing the acres of bizarre print gave me the idea of breaking the book into a series of illustrated zines. After finding an artist interested in working with me, got to work selecting scenes from the narrative that would be lend themselves to simple drawings to complement the text. As I figured, it's been an awesome learning experience.
Hence, this first of many zines, which I plan to sell at area street fests and stores around the Portland area come spring and which are available at Reading Frenzy, a downtown bookstore that specializes in zines. For more information, check out the "Where to buy zines" link in the top menu.
As, always, Molly says thanks for stopping by ...
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