cutting pages instead of adding more

Hatchling WindowSeat · 2026.11.01 07:02 · Views 58 · Likes 5

Watched a zine tutorial from a professional binder, mostly because I couldn’t sleep again. Thought it would cover paper weight or stapling, but most of it was one idea: pick your pages before touching layout. Lay them on the floor, walk away, come back later, see which one you’d cut first.

That’s the part that stuck. I’ve been doing the opposite, moving things on screen until the order looks finished, then swapping images anyway because the new order makes them feel wrong. She called it editing in the dark, which is basically my folder of versions.

Tried the floor thing with what I have. Printed the rough pages, laid them out, left the room. One jumped out right away as the shot I’d been protecting for no reason, just because it was early. Took it out, haven’t replaced it yet.

Not finished, but cutting finally felt like progress instead of starting over.

Comment 4

Wildflower Days11.01 07:03
10 minutes feels too fast to trust that pick.
→ Wildflower DaysWindowSeatAuthor11.03 06:31
mine took like 20 min before it clicked…
dewdrop11.01 09:12
The editing in the dark line hit home, I have been doing basically the same thing with my resume for about 3 months now, just moving bullet points around in a doc until it looks finished and then undoing it an hour later anyway.
WindowSeatAuthor11.05 05:27
The floor thing actually worked for me too, in kind of an annoyingly literal way: the page that jumped out was the one of the lamp I pulled off a curb, no caption, no attempt to tie it back to the money-saving angle, just the lamp sitting there looking a little embarrassed to exist.