Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts

Tuesday 31 October 2023

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!


Title: 9 Years of Blogging! Background: pretty stars on a deep blue-black sky


Sunday 24 September 2023

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.



Title: Blogging Ain't Easy! Background: purple-lit keyboard and mouse


Wednesday 6 September 2023

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.)



Title: August - Awst



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.


Sunday 28 May 2023

Nerd Church - Is This A Book Blog, Though?

 

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


Title: Is This A Book Blog, Though? Background: a book lying in grass and daisies


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... 😅)

Sunday 12 March 2023

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.


Title: Sometimes, This Is OK


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. 😅 )

Wednesday 11 January 2023

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 ðŸ˜… - uh... it doesn't really have a direct translation. It's kind of like combining huggy, and homely, and cozy... only better!


December - Rhagfyr

Saturday 10 December 2022

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.


November - Tachwedd


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?


Sunday 13 November 2022

Nerd Church - Competing With A Dancing Monkey For Your Attention


'Competing With A Dancing Monkey For Your Attention' with social media icons and a megaphone in the background


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.


Wednesday 9 November 2022

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.



'October - Hydref' with a pumpkin background

Monday 31 October 2022

Eight Year Blogging Anniversary!


'8 Years of Blogging!' with all sorts of stars and neon going on


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 😅

Sunday 28 August 2022

Nerd Church - Writing A Full Blogpost In 32 Minutes

 


'Writing A Full Blogpost In 32 Minutes' with a stereotypical blogger-desk (computer keyboard, coffee cup, pot plant, stationary) in the background


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 😅

Sunday 12 June 2022

Life/Blogging Update - Covid Recovery


(Yes, this post discusses Covid)


angry cat
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:

Tuesday 31 May 2022

Life/Blogging Update - Covid

Scared-looking gothic chick



(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.



Wednesday 11 May 2022

Month in Review(s) - April 2022

 

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?


'April - Ebrill' with a fancy woman with an umbrella, it's all very artsy. Also sorry for the mess your screen-reader's probably made of the Welsh


...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.)


Sunday 24 April 2022

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: Write Your Obvious


You're the only one of you.

( *Starts mentally singing ME! by Taylor Swift and Brendon Urie: 'I'm the only one of me! Baby, that's the fun of me!...'* Lol.)

Hooman-bean-brains are one of the most complex things in the known universe (I know, right? We're special!) and yours is just that: yours.


Write Your Obvious


No-one else's brain will ever work in exactly the same way as yours does.

We may come to the same conclusions or think along the same lines as someone else - but at the end of the day our brains are ours alone: entirely unique.

Wednesday 6 April 2022

Month In Review(s) - March 2022

Warning: this post briefly discusses various aspects of the world's clusterf**k, including but not limited to: Ukraine, systemic Transphobia, and Covid 19. 

It also breifly discusses poor mental health, and chronic illness (migraines.)



March was... turbulent.

Which I know isn't exactly unusual atm, but still...


'March - Mawrth' with a flowery background.

Wednesday 15 December 2021

Month In Review(s) - November 2021

 

OK, this post is a bit later than I intended, but December's hectic at the best of times, so... let's just do this -


November - Tachwedd


November's over, and here I am standing in December wondering how we got to the end of 2021, when it feels like it never really got started in the first place.

This year's felt like the hangover after 2020, and never really moved past that. 

Or is that just me? How has your 2021 been, dearest nerdlets?


Sunday 31 October 2021

Seven Years of Blogging! (aka My Blog Anniversary Post)


(Warning: this post references: the affects of Depression, grief and bereavement, 2020 in general, Nazis and internet trolls)




'7 Years of Blogging!' against a jazzy star background



Seven years ago, in a decision I can’t remember making, using reasoning I don’t remember at all, I started this book blog.


(Yes, this is technically a book blog! I’m just very good at stirring the bookish content into the non-bookish content. 

Like sneaking veggies into your food or something... I don't know where that analogy is going, tbh 😅)

I named it Diary of a Reading Addict. I don’t remember why.

Later, I changed it to Dora Reads – which I felt was better for a bunch of reasons. (I never have just one reason for anything!)


Sunday 24 October 2021

Nerd Church - Embracing the Minimum And Learning To NOT Go The Extra Mile




I don’t half-a** things.

It’s not in my make-up. When I do something – work, writing, whatever – I put my everything into everything.

And that’s good. I like to think it shows in what I do.





Embracing the Minimum And Learning To NOT Go The Extra Mile



But as part of my on-going attempts to learn that over-working is an unhealthy coping mechanism...

...and that I need to, y’know, not work myself to exhaustion, I’ve been trying to figure out what it means to put my all into things without all the negatives.

And I’ve realised something – I can do the minimum (or, at least, not the maximum,) without half-a**ing it.


Wednesday 8 September 2021

Month in Review(s) - August 2021

 

August was a month where I had multiple migraines, so that sucks.

But it also was NOT meltingly hot (unlike the first days of September...) so I'll take that! 😅

I know some people were complaining that the skies were dull and not as sunshiney as August normally is, but honestly, if the temperature stays down then I don't care!

(Me + Heat = Angry Bear! Lol.)



August - Awst