Wednesday 31 October 2018

Four Years of Blogging, Dearest Nerdlets, and Many More To Come (+ FREE Printable Bookmarks PDF)





It's Halloween, and you know what that means:

Dora Reads is four years old!

And yes, I'm gonna gush like hell. Cos y'know I looooove all of youuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I don't mean that in an 'OMG, I'd like to thank my fans, the little people' kind of way.




balloons and a masquerade mask against a pink background





I MEAN I ACTUALLY LOVE ALL OF YOU.

Even if you've never interacted with me, never let me know that you're out there reading my words, I still love you.

Because you care enough to read what I'm writing.

And that earns you a v. special place in my heart.

A special shout-out to everyone who's commented, shared, chatted on social media, and generally supported me!

I've met some awesome-sauce friends over the years, and I wish I lived closer to some of you so I could give you a hug IRL.





Since this blog started life, as Diary of A Reading Addict, on 31st October 2014, I've learned a butt-tonne about blogging... not least that there is always something else to learn about blogging.

And of course, there are always people who get 'there' quicker than you - and they might even actually know where tf 'there' is. (Cos I sure as hell don't.)




I get jealous - yes, actually jealous, I'm never gonna lie to you - of people who get success quick.

Their stats are amazing, they have followers falling out the doors, they've been blogging an obscenely short amount of time, and they're younger and prettier than me t'boot.

(Although, my sexy hand-drawn bird profile picture is clearly prettier than any hooman bean. #JustSaying.)

hand-drawn bird profile pic


But I'm in it for the long-haul, fy nghariadau.





One of these days I'm gonna be to book-blogging (and hopefully writing in general! fingers crossed!) what Shane Dawson is to YouTube.*

People are gonna be waiting to see what I do next. People are gonna be talking about everything I put out there. People are gonna be amazed.

...That's the dream anyway. (And you gotta aim high, right? 😅)

Shane didn't become THE YouTuber overnight though - he's been at it for over a decade.* And if I have to keep going for decades on end, then I will.


*UPDATE 3rd July 2020 - Given recent videos I've seen of Shane sexualising children, amongst other offensive sh**, I'm not placing him in an aspirational role any more. I'm not supporting him any more.




Sorry, dearest nerdlets, you're totally stuck with me.

Cos I might not have a trendy design, or perfect graphics, or even that much spare time to blog in, but I'm gonna MAKE it.

And I may worry like hell that my content isn't good enough, or I'm not including enough bookish content...

But I'm gonna make it with nothing more than my randomness, my ability to work Wales into ANY conversation*, my passion for both diversity and books, and my ability to get up again no matter how many times I get knocked down.




*You can't deny that it's true.






Welp, nearly 900 posts, over 4k Twitter followers, and over 275k total blog page-views later, and I'd like to give you all something for helping me to get this far.

And what do book nerds tend to need? BOOKMARKS!






I came up with a staggering six random bookmark designs for you, feel free to save the PDF, and print as much of them as you want! 😊:












Lemme know what you think of them as well!

Graphic design isn't something that comes naturally to me - everything ends up looking a li'l rough-and-ready due to the fact that I have zero patience - so I'd actually like to know what you think!






And be sure to follow me on Twitter if you haven't!

(If there's any post where shameless self-promotion is OK, it's this one!)









What would you like to see from Dora Reads in the future?
Do you like the bookmarks?
Talk to me dearest nerdlets! 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💬








You can follow me on Twitter @CeeDoraReads, on Dora Reads @ BlogLovin, and on Google+. For more ways to support me, check out the Support Me page













Last updated: 2 Nov 2018

20 comments:

  1. Happy four years Cee! I’m so happy you have the motivation to continue blogging and turning it into something great! I myself am not big on graphics and the overall fanciness of my blog, but what matters is the content and yours is brilliant! Keep up with all the work that you do :) Oh, and also, thanks for the bookmarks! The cat one is my favourite:)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you soooooooooo much Em! :) <3

      And I'm so glad you like them! <3 <3 <3

      Thanks again! :) <3

      Delete
  2. Happy blogiversary! Four years is an amazing achievement. I hope your blog continues to grow! If it becomes hugely successful, I can be a hipster and say I was reading this blog before it was mainstream.

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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    1. Pahahahaha, that's a fantastic idea! ;) You can pull hipster meme poses and everything! ;)

      Thank you so much AJ! :) <3

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  4. Congratulations on your four years! I've met fab people through blogging, your good self of course being one :-)
    And I don't actually know who Shane Dawson is so, to me, you're already more famous!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Hahaha, thank you! XD

      Shane Dawson has, like, 14 MILLION YouTube subscribers! And makes the most awesome videos! But he doesn't have you so I clearly win! ;) <3 :)

      Delete
  5. Woot! Congrats, Cee! I was going to try to google something in Welsh, but I know the grammar would be wrong. Happy to know you and this was a lovely post. Love the bookmarks, too!

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    1. Diolch yn fawr iawn! (Thanks v. much!) To be fair, I don't get Welsh grammar much either - it's not an easy language! It literally mutates. That's what it's actually called - mutations. I'm more of a Wenglish-slash-Pigion (Pidgin) speaker than anything!

      I'm glad you liked the bookmarks! XD

      Delete
  6. Happy 4 years! So glad you're sticking around- I always enjoy your posts. :)

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  7. Congratulations on being 4! That's a fantastic achievement :) Keep up the good work!

    And thanks for the bookmarks.

    Dinh@Arlene's Book Club

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  8. Yay, congrats on four years!!! I do have a secret though... *whispers* I don't actually know who Shane Dawson is. *hides* So you're already more than the Shane Dawson of book bloggers to me ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha, that's ok - I realise most people spend less time obsessively watching YouTube vids than I do ;) (He rocks though. #JustSaying.)

      Still, if I ever get 14 million followers of any kind, it will be a miracle! Lol.

      Delete
  9. Congrats Cee on 4 years of blogging! 🎉❤️ Thank you very much for the cat book mark😻. I’m so glad you are sticking around! Can’t wait to watch you grow.

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    Replies
    1. Ha, glad you like the bookmark! XD And thank yoooouuuuuu!!!! :) <3

      Delete
  10. Congratulations on blogging for four years! Here's to many more of your posts <3 I've loved reading them alongside you writing them. And thank you for the bookmarks, lovely x

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    Replies
    1. Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!!!! XD

      And I'm glad you like them! <3

      Delete

Comments? I love comments! Talk to me nerdlets!