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.
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.)
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!
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.
It's Thursday, I'm tired, this is Dora Reads - so let's get some comics-y superhero-y goodness!
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!
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.
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.
...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... 😅)
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. 😅 )
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!
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?
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.
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.
When I started this blog, the UK was still in the European Union, David Cameron was Prime Minister, and Obama was the US president.
...It's kind of terrifying to realise that that was only eight years ago, but here we are.
And I feel so very old and tired 😅
Turns out, I can write a whole-a** blogpost in 32 minutes.
...I know - I was surprised too!
OK, so I was kinda brain-foggy this week, and ended up writing both this week's Comics Wrap-Up (CWU) and Friday Fics Fix (F3) posts the day before they were due to go live on the blog.
One day, I will be a blogger that can schedule content well ahead of time, but that day is a long way off 😅
(Yes, this post discusses Covid)
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| No, this is not my cat - it's a stock photo from Pixabay. Yes, I wish I could pet this kitty 😅 |
Covid really sucks, by the way.
Like, it really sucks.
So, I obviously want to get back to blogging straight away. But even walking up the stairs is still an exhausting activity, so I'm going to have to try easing myself into things.
(...which, is not easy for me. I really want to spend circa 25 hours a day, 8 days a week, being productive right now, and I can't. Argh!)
My regular posts won't be back in June - it's just not practical *sigh* - but I do have dates in July when you can expect my series-posts back on your screens:
(Warning: this post obviously discusses Coronavirus/Covid 19)
Hi everyone,
I tested positive.
I went to an outside concert for the first time in 2 years, was really careful, am triple vaxxed, and still got Covid.
So, my brain is currently smoosh, and I really hope this missive contains a modicum of sense (...I turn into a Victorian dictionary when I'm tired - sorry.)
My usual posts will be suspended for the time being, until I can think clearly enough to figure out a strategum for said missives.
(...I honestly have no clue where that came from, sorry again.)
Once I know what in the name of your great-aunt Doris (...seriously, I have no clue,) I'm doing, I will let everyone know - I promise.
See you soon.
April was rough, mental health-wise.
I'm OK - just having to adapt and take care.
...It's kind of worse when there's no real reason or trigger because there's nothing you can blame, y'know?
...and it really doesn't help that the pollen this year is exceptionally, brutally, high, so my hayfever is extra-present this year.
Kind of hard to focus on your mental health when the pollen is making you feel like a zombie, lol.
(Oh, and hayfever is linked to climate change. #TrueStory.)
