Schedule/Blogging Update

 

[Content Warning: brief references to death, cancer, grief, and mental health issues.]

For those who don't know, my mother passed away from cancer in February.

Things were pretty awful, generally, at the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025.

Another Life/Blogging Update

(CW: death)



Hi everyone —

My mother passed away last week.

Thanks to everyone who’s been so supportive the last few months, it really means a lot.

I will get back to doing more on here and on Medium — although possibly the social interaction side of things is going to take a lot longer — but for now it’s just… awful.

Hope you’re having a better 2025 than I am.

Life/Blogging Update (...Again)

 

Cards on the table time: I have no idea when I'll be able to get back to my regular blog series.

I'm hoping to put out the odd post here and there, but I honestly can't guarantee anything for the foreseeable future.

My mother is dying.

My mental health is terrible.

I don't know if/when I'll be able to put the time and effort in that I want to.

This is not me giving up blogging - I don't think that's ever going to happen at this point. 

This is me saying that things are going to be sporadic around Dora Reads, my Medium account, and my socials, for a long time to come, so apologies for not being great at the whole social interaction thing for a while.

Life/Blogging Update + Updated Blogging Schedule

 

OK, so... life continues to be tough AF for yours truly.

So while I fully intended to bring my regular series (Comics Wrap-Up, Friday Fics Fix, Nerd Church,) back in January, for my own mental health and ability to use my free time for such luxurious things as sleeping and eating, that's not going to happen.

I'm tentatively aiming to bring them back in February, but honestly the way my life is right now, we all could have been hit by a meteor by then.

Still, I'll keep you updated when I can!

Look after yourselves, and remember to shelter from meteors... somehow.

Life/Blogging Update

Sorry if I've been a bit absent lately - I've had some major family stress and it's taken a massive toll on my mental health.

Will get back to things slowly... when I can, anyway.

I'm still in the middle of a situation or two and trying to take things easy right now.

Take care everyone.

The 10 Year Blog Anniversary Post!

 

YES! It has been a full ten years since the start of Dora Reads -

which back then was known as Diary of A Reading Addict, later shortened to DORA, which is how we got to Dora Reads (- and some people insist on calling me Dora even though I'm clearly marked as Cee everywhere *shrugs*)

- and somehow-or-other, through it all, I'm still here.

Nerd Church - Blogging Schedule Update (...It's Been A Stressful Week)

 

I don't usually write Nerd Church posts like this, but since Nerd Church isn't really tightly defined (...or defined at all, OK, I know,) I figured why not?

You may or may not have noticed that there was no Comics Wrap-Up (CWU) post, or Friday Fics Fix (F3) post this week.

- Which wasn't a planned break.

My life turned into another whirling ball of chaos this week, with my mother's health being very Not Good.

(Thankfully she's doing so much better now.)

Life/Blogging Update

 

Hey everyone!

My life is once again chaos, so there won't be any Comics Wrap-Up tomorrow (Thursday 24th Oct), or Friday Fics Fix on Friday (25th Oct).

There will be a Nerd Church on Sunday - but whether it'll be a 'proper' Nerd Church or another update, I don't know.

Thanks for the patience!

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: You Don't Have To Publish Everything

 

Warning: brief discussions of Anxiety/mental health issues

This is a reminder to any of you fellow writers/bloggers/whoever-s out there who need it:

 

You don't have to post everything.

You don't have to publish everything.

Nerd Church - I Quit Google AdSense

I’ve been using Google AdSense here on Dora Reads for quite some time — at least two years, but honestly, I lose track.

It’s probably more like 5 or 6 years at this point. (I am nothing if not persistent.)

In that time, I earned about £7  — which I couldn’t get to, because the minimum payout threshold is £60.

Comics Wrap-Up - Particular Points

It's Thursday, I'm tired, this is Dora Reads - so let's get some comics-y superhero-y goodness!

The 9 Year Blog Anniversary Post!

 

Yes, I've been at this, right here on Dora Reads -

(or it's previous name of 'Diary of a Reading Addict' aka DORA - and I do not miss typing the full thing out all the time 😅) 

- for a full NINE FREAKING YEARS!

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: Blogging Ain't Easy!

Blogging takes a lot of time and work.

I don't wanna be one of those 'poor me, blogging is so difficult' bloggers, because at the end of the day, if I didn't love it, I could find plenty of other ways to spend my time.

But bloggers do a whole lot more than you might think.

Month In Review(s) - August 2023

 

Warning: brief mentions of mental health problems

August.

...August actually wasn't that bad.

Which is freaking awesome as far as I'm concerned!

(In case you don't know: my 2023 has sucked.)

I mean, my mental health hasn't been brilliant - but so much better than in July - and I had a migraine which is really not fun.

But honestly given what this year has been like, and that my migraines are linked to changes in stress levels, it's really not surprising.

Nerd Church - Is This A Book Blog, Though?

 

...aka she's back on that existential crisis train again.

Is Dora Reads a book blog?

I mean, yes. But...

Is it, though?

Certainly, I've been calling it a book blog for the past 8+ years, but that doesn't automatically make it one, does it?

I write very few posts which actually, actively, talk about books.

My last review was some time last year, (a mini-review of Klara and the Sun, which you can see here, if you're interested - gotta get that self-promo in!) and I rarely write book lists or discussions.

(For the record, I always intend to write more reviews, and even more lists and discussions, but life has this knack of getting in the way... 😅)

Nerd Church - Sometimes, This Is OK

I don't know what I'm writing but I hope it'll turn out OK. 

I'm literally just typing things and hoping it turns into a blogpost at this point.

Wish me luck.

Thoughts are hard to form, sometimes. 

Let alone trying to write something insightful, pithy, witty, or just plain worth it.

Sometimes I put way too much pressure on myself and on this blog. 

Not everything I write has to have some deep meaning behind it.

(I know - you wouldn't think it for by reading some of my posts on such heavy-weight topics as fanfiction and weird superhero videos I found on the Interwebs. 😅 )

Month in Review(s) - December 2022

 

December - you gotta love December (well, I do anyway,) if only for the Christmas-ness.

True, December was, like much of 2022, full of ups, downs, and in-betweens.

But Christmas was nice - maybe not The Best Christmas Ever™, but then, is it ever?

I had a nice cwtchy* Christmas at home with my parents, my cats, and my brother. Who bakes awesome mince pies and gives them to me. (The brother, not the cats.)

*Just realised when editing that this is Wenglish and most of you won't know what being cwtchy means 😅 - uh... it doesn't really have a direct translation. It's kind of like combining huggy, and homely, and cozy... only better!

Month In Review(s) - November 2022

 

November wasn't great.

I mean... it wasn't the worst month ever.

And any month you can walk away from is a good one.

But yeah, November wasn't great.

Sometimes I think the world really did end in 2012, it just took a while for us to notice.

The 2020s just feel pretty apocalyptic so far, don't they?

Nerd Church - Competing With A Dancing Monkey For Your Attention

Sometimes it feels like I'm jumping up and down, trying to get attention for my writing, my blogging, my whatever-ing...

...only to get lost amongst all of the other people jumping up and down and vying for your attention in an increasingly noisy world.

Month In Review(s) - October 2022

Warning: this post discusses spiders - no pictures of spiders though, because I wouldn't do that to myself. 

I also briefly discuss illegal drugs because I like variety, apparently.

October was... pretty good, all in all.

I mean... the UK economy collapsed, followed by the UK government, and everything feels a bit like a slow-motion breakdown of society, so... that wasn't good.

Still, apart from all that, October was pretty good.