Month in Review(s) - June 2019

June kind of flew by!

Partly because I was super-busy! Which is also why I (once again) posted less here than I wanted to.

I did manage to post a review though! Woo! I can still call myself a book blog! (Lol.) 😅

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: Turns Out, People Are Interested

I've never really had much confidence in my writing.

Like, objectively I know that people read this blog but... it always surprises (and delights,) me when someone comments, shares, etc. (Hint hint. Lol.)

Likewise, I'm always on edge about the fiction I write - it can't be something someone'd be interested in reading, right?

At the same time, not writing would be like not breathing. Unthinkable.

It's literally who I am - I breathe. I read. I write.

Nerd Church - Women In Danger Vs Men Inconvenienced: Discussing The Boris Johnson & Mark Field Stories

(Warning: this post discusses assault against women and domestic violence against women. It contains a news video where assault is shown in the thumbnail.)


British politicians don't have the best track record with women lately.

If you're not aware (I know a lot of you are international - and I utterly adore you!) we've had two serious incidents involving British politicians and women over the last few weeks.

Both incidents involved aggression. One definitely involved violence.

Both politicians were male Conservatives.

Make of that what you will. I just submit it to the jury m'lud.

(Brit slang notes: m'lud is a shortening of 'my Lord,' which is what you're supposed to say to judges etc. M'lud is also used sarcastically. Because British.)

Nerd Church - Anxiety: Worrying About Sh** I Actually Don't Care About

(Warning: this post discusses Anxiety (which you probably figured out) and Depression)


If you're worried about paying the bills when you've got no money in the bank, that's logical.

Likewise, worrying about a friend who's been going through a tough time, or feeling anxious before you give a speech, is totally understandable.

Anxiety, though?

Anxiety blows the normal sh** out of proportion, while adding some completely illogical sh** t'boot.

Nerd Church - 5 Super-Dads (And 5 Who Aren't So Super)

(This post may have some mild spoilers for various superhero-y dealies.)


Let's have some fun this Father's Day, shall we?

Superhero media is a hazardous place to be a father...

...Either you or your kid keeps getting kidnapped and you have to save each other...

...someone changes the timeline and suddenly you've accidentally poofed your child out of existence...

...your kids get ret-conned for film license purposes so that they're no longer your kids...

...they turn out to be super-villains even though you thought they were dead...

It ain't easy!

Nerd Church - 9 Things I Learnt From the Chernobyl TV Series

The last episode of the Sky/HBO dramatisation of the Chernobyl disaster aired last Tuesday.

When I was a kid, Chernobyl was the reason people couldn't sell their livestock.

I live over 1000 miles away from the site of the Chernobyl disaster. I was born years after the explosion.

But when I was a kid, Chernobyl was the reason people couldn't sell their livestock.

The restrictions on sheep farmers were only lifted in 2012.

Month in Review(s) - May 2019

May was another month of ups-and-downs.

Such is life - we just keep moving after all!

Things are starting to kind of improve depression-wise, if you squint and turn your head a bit, so... that's good!

Nerd Church - The World's Exhausting Expectations of Women

Who the hell is it that's making 'the Social norms' anyway?

Cos I think we all need to have a few words with them.

I mean, the amount of stuff we're expected to be and not be doesn't make any goddamn sense. The 'shoulds' and 'shouldn'ts' are ridiculous.

(In a broad sense, I mean - I'm sure there's stuff you actually should do, like eat and sleep and go to the loo, and stuff you shouldn't like arson, theft, murder, voting for Donald Trump, etc.

There's exceptions to most generalisations.)



Women, for example, get a raw effing deal.

Just looking at ads and articles aimed at women can sometimes be goddamned exhausting!

Nerd Church - Game of Thrones: No-One's Very Happy, Which Means It's A Good Compromise

This post has Game of Thrones **spoilers** EVERY GOD-DAMN-WHERE! Ok? Ok.

It's best to get the spoiler warnings outta the way. 😉

Also, y'know this is Game of Thrones, so general WARNING for potentially distressing content.

Nerd Church - Is This Dystopia?

(Warning: This post discusses the general state of the world. It covers topics including but NOT limited to: the far-right, general bigotry, rape, abortion, violence.)



The year is 2019.

In America, a reality TV star, and well-documented sexual predator* (by his own admission,) is enjoying his third year of power.

*(Warning: Link discusses rape and sexual assault)

Backed by the Russians, this son of a KKK supporter holds on despite numerous scandals and allegations.

In the South of the country, cisgender women and people with uteruses (uteri..? I can never figure out which one to use,) are subjugated when Alabama decides their bodies belong to the state, to the cisgender men who legislate there.

Alabama claims to be pro-life, and supports the death penalty. They cannot see the irony.

Arkansas makes steps in the same direction. (Warning: Link discusses rape.)

Across the country people who are different are made to feel afraid.

People's rights are slowly stripped away. People have no access to affordable healthcare. Life is a pre-existing condition.

And yet many cling on to their guns despite the graves of their children, thinking that a wall will somehow solve their problems.

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: Patchwork Writing and Whatever Works For You

(Warning: this post discusses the everyday affects of Depression/Anxiety)

Some people are 'plotters,' some people are 'pantsers' - and I write in patchwork.

For those who don't know, writing fiction is generally split into two camps by the people who split things (whoever they are - I'm not sure anyone's ever met them) - plotting and pantsing.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Month in Review(s) - April 2019

April - well, April didn't have any work-related nose-bleeds, for a start!

Thanks to everyone for asking if I was ok, etc, last month - honestly I think you guys were a lot more worried about it than I was 😅

On the one hand, April had Easter and chocolate and spring flowers, and all that awesome stuff!

Y'know, lots of fun stuff to enjoy and smile about! 😊

Nerd Church - The 9 Most Annoying Things That Have Been Said To Me About Being A Second-Generation Vegetarian

I was raised Vegetarian.

So even as Vegetarianism and Veganism has become more main-stream, I've been sat here in a unique kind of space, that not many people get to see.

Image by nugroho dwi hartawan from Pixabay

I've spent my entire life as a Vegetarian.

Which, especially when I was younger, before it became popular, did create some tensions... not least because nothing used to be labelled with a 'V' or whatever.

Nerd Church - Hope Against Hatred

(Warning: this post discusses terrorism and hate crimes)

Is it me, or is the world in a free-fall of hate?

Between the Sri Lanka attacks, the murder of Lyra McKee, and the day-to-day hate crimes we see here, there, and everywhere, it can sometimes feel like there's no hope left.

There is. There is hope.

There will always be hope.

Nerd Church - Happy Easter (or, Let's Respect Each Other, Yeah?)

Happy Easter/Pasg Hapus dearest nerdlets!

Image by Couleur from Pixabay

One of the most enduring symbols of Easter is eggs, dontcha think?

Chocolate eggs, painted eggs, eggs with chicks breaking out, eggs just randomly decorating everything!

But I've been noticing some egg-hate lately.

And I don't mean from Vegans - that's a whole different set of issues related to a different set of moral questions - nope, I mean from people who don't know much about history.

Nerd Church - Give Me Gareth Thomas Over Israel Folau, Any Day

Those of you in parts of the world where rugby isn't A Big Thing™ probably haven't heard about the current Israel-Folau-homophobia situation.

For those people, here's a quick summary:

- Israel Folau is a world-class Australian international rugby player

- He's been warned previously about his homophobic posts on social media

- He did it again

- It's likely he'll be dropped from the Australian national team just before the World Cup because they ain't putting up with that sh** any more

- An English rugby player, Billy Vunipola, has also stuck his oar in

Month In Review(s) - March 2019

March was blood, sweat, and tears.

...literally!

March was a month in which I worked my a** off (no change there then!) and learned that apparently when my body's decided I've worked too much, it gives me a spike of Anxiety and a nose-bleed.

I f**k you not.

Nerd Church - 4 Tips For Blogging When Busy

I've been super-busy lately, and I've just about managed to keep up with the blogging.

I haven't got everything done that I wanted to do, but I've kept it ticking over with my average of 3 posts a week, plus answering comments, blog-hopping, Twitter-ing, and all the hidden blog tasks like SEO and finding images for posts.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Phew! When I put it that way, I wonder how I've been doing all this plus running my own business and dealing with regular life-stuff, but I have! (No wonder I've been so tired!)

Also there has been literal blood, sweat, and tears over the past month - I've come to the conclusion that I don't need to add to that with stress over blogging!

Nerd Church - Brexit and Hatred

I almost cried yesterday.

Image by Republica from Pixabay

There was a pro-Brexit march outside parliament, and as I was watching the news, I saw a White Dragon flag go by.

I didn't know wtf it was at first - it looked like someone had poorly reconstructed a Welsh flag after having one described to them by someone who saw a picture of one twenty years ago.

A White Dragon. Facing the wrong way. On a red background.

Nerd Church - The Dilemma of Morally Dubious Media (Ft. American Psycho, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter)

Warning: this post discusses morally dubious media, including but not limited to: rape, murder, incest, general violence.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

American Psycho is about a serial killer that takes pleasure in raping and killing women in the most horrible ways, and the narrative goes into gratuitous detail about it.

Do I have your attention? Buckle up, dearest nerdlets!

No matter what, there is always gonna be media - books, films, TV series, whatever - that is kinda dubious on the ol' morality front.

Is that ok? Is that something we should be consuming? Is that something that people should be creating?

And if it isn't, is that something that we should be supressing?

Should we be, to put it bluntly, censoring it?