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.)

Nerd Church - Reasons I Didn't Review Your Book

 

Yes, I'm a book blogger. Yes, I write reviews.

And yes, somehow I lucked out and reviews are some of my highest-traffic content, despite the fact that I write way fewer of them than I intend to.

But I don't review everything I read. Far from it.

There are people who do that - and that's amazing, I admire you so much.

But I can't.

I just can't.

I don't have the energy or the time. And I'm trying not to do the work-myself-into-an-early-grave thing. With varied results.

And whether or not I'll be reviewing your book (metaphorical author who may or may not exist,) will be based on a bunch of factors - because you know that I don't have just one reason for absolutely anything.

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

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: Musings On Medium (and Blogging in General)

 

In March I started – tentatively – sticking some of my blog archive onto Medium.

Medium is kind of a weird-a** combo of blogging, freelance journalism, and social networking. And it pays.

Don’t ask me the ins-and-outs of how it pays – it uses some form of occult ceremony to distribute the tithes paid by the ardent congregation (only they call it Medium membership, but meh.)

But anywho, it pays.

And since I lost my Amazon UK Associateship (which is a long story which you can read on Dora Reads here, or on Medium here,) I need to work on other modes of monetisation.

Because one of these days I would like to hit an income bracket above ‘Starving Artist™’ – but that’s enough about that.

Month in Review(s) - June 2021

 

June was awful.

I lost my grandmother, and everything is just that little bit harder, y'know?

I know a lot of people have been through some sh** in the last year and a half - but that doesn't make it any easier.

Nerd Church - Random Life/Blogging Update (It's Been A Rough Week)

 

It's been an extremely rough week.

And I'm emotionally exhausted, at this point.

My grandmother passed away last weekend. 

And even though we'd known, for a while, that it was coming - even though we'd almost lost her twice this year already - it still hurts like hell.

Month in Review(s) - April 2021

(Warning: this post briefly discusses Covid 19/Coronavirus and Lockdowns, and mental health problems)

April was a mixed month.

Not only did we have snow, hail, rain, and blazing warm sunshine on the same day, but the uncertain opening-up after Lockdown etc. still meant that things felt hecka odd.

We're in that odd position where we're (hopefully) beyond the worst of it, but it's also uber-important not to move too fast, y'know?

Month in Review(s) - March 2021

(Warning: this post briefly discusses family ill health, mental health problems, and Covid 19)

So, dearest nerdlets: March!

March was better for me personally as Nan's health, although still exceptionally fragile, has been a little better and more stable. Hopefully it'll stay that way and/or keep improving.

Nerd Church - How Bloggers Always Have Ideas ...Sort Of

(Warning: this post briefly discusses the day-to-day affects of Depression/Anxiety)

Some of you might think this blogpost topic (i.e., blogging ideas) is a bit of a cheat – which, honestly? It kind of is.

But… that’s kind of the point? I guess?

No matter how long you’ve been blogging, you’ll have moments when you just don’t know what to blog about.

Either because your brain is producing nothing but white noise in answer to your increasingly frantic requests for blogging material...

...or because you can’t seem to string your ethereal ideas together into something readable, or at the very least coherent.

What Happened Between Me and the UK Amazon Associates Programme: The Entire Story

(Warning: this post briefly references and details mental health problems (Depression/Anxiety))

Last December, I got kicked off the UK Amazon Associates Programme. 

I am so not happy.

I've tried pretty much everything to sort this out - but Amazon UK don't seem to care.

So I will do what I do in situations like this - I will put it all out there on the table, in it's full stalling-tactics, arbitrary, frustrating glory.

(This is a long one - feel free to bookmark it and come back, but I would really, really, appreciate you reading this. 💖)

My darling dearest nerdlets, you don't get rid of me that easy. 

I don't just 'leave it,' not when I know I did nothing wrong. 

I will keep going, again and again.

And so here we are...

6 Years of Blogging At Dora Reads!

 

It's Halloween, which means that it's my blog anniversary!

- Which in turn means it's time for my annual ramble about this blog, and blogging in general, and all that stuff, while trying not to repeat the stuff from previous blog anniversary posts too heavily!

Woo!

Nerd Church - I Scaled Back on Blogging In August. Have I Learned Anything?

I don’t know why I need to keep learning the same lessons in order to actually, y’know, learn them, but…

I do? I guess?

Good habits are much easier to break than bad habits, dearest nerdlets! 

So anyway, let’s back up and rewind and all that jazz -

In August, I decided to scale back to about one post a week, instead of my regular 3 or 4 per week. I also took a break from my regular series – Comics Wrap-Up, Friday Fics Fix, Nerd Church.

This was so that I could have chance to do some goddamn blog admin for once, and try to get a handle on my socials, make something that at least vaguely resembles an actual posting schedule, make a plan for updating old posts, etc. etc. 

The Five Year Blog Anniversary Post! (Ft. My Wisdomous Blog Advice)

It’s Halloween! And that means it’s my blog-anniversary-thingummy! Woo!

So let’s have an awesome-sauce post with the following awesome features:

• me giving what is most probably contradictory and confusing blogging-advice

• me ruminating on my 5 years (5 years!!!!) of blogging

• me generally over-using both exclamation points and brackets

(There was probably too much caffeine and/or YouTube consumed in the making of this post. #JustSaying.)

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!

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.

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.

Nerd Church - Work/Life/Blog/Whatever-Balance Is Hard! (Especially When You Have Cats)

Do you ever feel like there's just too much sh** going on?

Like, you got your work or school stuff, then you got your life/personal stuff, then you might have some other stuff to do with hobbies or passion projects or... welp, blogging!

Friday Fics Fix - Johnlock Blogging

'(Don’t worry, if you were, which you weren’t. He’s fine; some poor kid found him in a ditch, pretending to be a dead body in the name of science.)'

You can't be a blogger without being at least a little bit obsessed with blogging.

You can deny it if you like, but it's true.

We all have a serious fascination with the slightly weird processes which combine to make this thoroughly modern medium. (...and that was a weird sentence! *shrugs*)

Nerd Church - IRL?

We're living in a world where the lines between online and offline have become more wibbly than ever before.

So I've been thinking a lot lately about the difference between online and offline life.

(Yes, this post is probably going to meander quite a lot - you've been warned! 😉)

Anxiety vs Blogger

(Warning: This post is about depression and Anxiety, and the demonstration of a negative thought spiral.)

First off: I'm OK. I've had a rough-ish few days (not too bad, but bad enough,) but I'm OK.

There is no need to worry about me.

Sometimes, much as blogging has saved my life, it can contribute negatively to my mental health.

I don't need to take an extended break - honestly, I'm fine. I love blogging just as much as I ever have, and, overall, it's good for me.

And the problem wasn't really blogging - it was the Anxiety.

But I did need to 'write it out.' This is the result of that.

3 Lessons From 3 Years of Blogging

Happy Halloween!

31st October is uber-special here on Dora Reads, because it's blog anniversary time!

Yup, 3 years ago today I started this blog - which was then called Diary of a Reading Addict - and started myself on this slightly bizarre (but awesomely fun!) path.








And since the long-off days of 2014, I've learnt a thing or two.

Some of those things are more weird than practical - but there's also come good blog/life lessons  along the way.

Something is Different! - Introducing Dora Reads

Diary of a Reading Addict has become Dora Reads!

The new URL is dorareads.co.uk