The 12 Year Blogging Anniversary Post!

Yes, it’s true. As of today, I’ve been blogging here at Dora Reads for 12 whole years!

I never quite know what to write in these anniversary posts, they usually turn into a slightly weird ramble (which is entirely on-brand for me, let’s be honest!)

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: On Updating Old Blogposts, and The Beauty of Blogging

Warning: Brief refs to Depression and trauma

I've been going through a lot of my old blogposts lately.

It's both an attempt to defeat the forces of entropy... 

...and to possibly get back onto Google Adsense (it's a whole thing, I talked about it a few months back, so check that post out here if you're interested.)

And... it's been interesting.

Like, genuinely interesting - way more than I thought it would be.

Basically, I was not aware of the sheer volume of stuff I have written over the course of the last 11 years - it's a lot. (Lol.)

And a lot of the things that I've written are a lot better than I remember.

(...which is probably once again proof that I'm my own worst critic 😅)

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: The Writerly Urge To Face-Plant the Laptop

 

It's not that easy, being a writer.

Sometimes, you just want to face-plant your goddamn laptop.

I've had a frustrating couple of weeks, writer-ness-wise.

• A piece of poetry I'd submitted to a magazine got rejected (again.)

• I got declined for rejoining the Google AdSense programme (again.)

• And I made only pennies on Medium (...again.)

The 11 Year Blog Anniversary Post!

Warning: brief references to grief/loss and mental health problems

Yes! Dora Reads is now eleven years old.

...Somehow I've made it this far!

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: My Brain Is Unpredictable, Right Now

 

[Warning: this post discusses mental health problems and grief]

Look, I've been through some stuff lately, and it's definitely affected me.

My mental health has not been good for the last 10+ years, and now, after losing my mother in February... my head has given me a whole bunch of Very Bad Days lately.

I can't bring myself to go into details, but... it was hell. As a family, we've been through absolute hell since October 2024.

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... 😅)