Edith Zimmerman’s newsletter, Drawing Links, bobbed up in my Substack recommendations a few years ago. Since following, I’ve enjoyed Zimmerman’s slice of life stories, her breezy style, and candor. When I realized she was also the founder of the Hairpin, a great website that ran back when the internet was great (sigh), I was even more curious to know about her transition to comics. When I reached out, she was game to answer our questions about her comics journey - read on for more!
Describe your comics journey—how did you get into making comics?
I drew as a kid and in college, but then stopped until I was in my early 30s. Then one day, while dog-sitting for a friend in LA, I started doodling a story about a mysterious light that turned on and off in her bathroom, seemingly at random. It was easier to explain with little pictures, and I became increasingly invested in the story the more I drew it. That was fun, and unexpected, and eventually I published it secretly on Imgur, along with another story I published publicly that went “viral” there. (A guide to menstrual cups that I thought required diagrams!)
When I stopped drinking a year after that, I gravitated back to that practice of drawing and writing, as a kind of replacement thing to do with my hands.
I’d mostly been a blogger until that point, so after years of typing at a keyboard, doing anything by hand felt restorative. Not being able to “select all” and “copy and paste” what I was writing into any other text field took a kind of pressure off, and I could just write and draw for creation’s sake, without worrying if something was “smart” or “good.” Eventually I started publishing some of the diary comics on Instagram, in a private account.
How did you develop your voice/unique comics style? How would you describe your work—do other mediums inform your approach?
Repetition and routine. Every morning while drinking coffee I write and draw about something that happened the day before, and I’ve been doing that for about 10 years. When I like the way something comes out, I share it online – at first on Instagram, but now mostly on Substack. Initially I switched to Substack because I thought I could turn the paid option on and have publishing diary comics be my full-time job. That never quite worked out, but it led to stuff that has become my full-time job, in a sense, so maybe it did.
I would describe my work as very personal and gently funny. Lately it’s been a lot about being a mom.
My work is informed by many other media! I love reading novels, scrolling Instagram, and reading other people’s newsletters, to name a few.
What are the joys and challenges of working in comics?
I love the way that moods can come out unintentionally. Like facial expressions will usually say more than whatever my text does.
And a challenge is that sometimes when I’m trying to draw about something “serious,” I feel I’m not doing it justice, or like I can’t quite dig deep enough. Like I’m scratching the surface but then stop before I really get anywhere.
Are you working on something now?
I’m working on a book proposal for a project about mermaids. It feels so fun to take something “silly” extremely seriously. Not that the book itself would be serious, but the idea of making a book is such a dream for me, and the idea that I’d be doing it about something silly (mermaids) feels very exciting.
I also still publish my newsletter, Drawing Links, and illustrate the recovery/addiction newsletter The Small Bow. And I had my first cartoons published in The New Yorker this year, and I’m also on Instagram!
