Month in Review(s) - May 2021

(Warning: this post discusses Coronavirus/Covid 19)

May was one of those in-betweeny months - as lots of months have seemed to be lately.

Here in Wales we had a Senedd/Parliament election, allowing Mark Drakeford (aka everyone's uncle,) to form another consecutive government, and giving him the mandate to continue with his cautious Covid approach.

It also means that while Labour's struggling nationally, Welsh Labour are the strongest they've ever been. 

Which means that while England is increasingly voting for the Conservative party (the party our current Prime Minister Boris Johnson leads,) which is the party on the right of UK politics, Wales are sat here being a Socialist democracy and happy with it!

(This is your regular reminder that Socialism =/= Communism, Communism is a form of Socialism.)

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: My Own Plot Twists Surprise Me

 

"Holy sh**!"

These are the words I've just written on paper. Hand-written, in ballpoint pen, in my multi-coloured Crayola notebook (all the cool kids have them! 😉😎)

They're words I've given to one of the characters from my Work in Progress (WIP), Dan, as he realises something ground-breaking that makes everyone look at the situation entirely differently.

...It's a sentiment I fully endorse, because I have no clue where this plot twist came from. 

And, with wide eyes, my only statement at this moment can only be an echoed, 'Holy sh**.'

(Only I can't swear because my mother, so it was more like 'Holy...' and then trailing off.)

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.

Nerd Church - Outside of The Norm

(Warning: this post references Covid 19/Coronavirus, and Depression/Anxiety)

"How old are you then?" the adult asks; she's jolly, I do not appreciate forced jolliness. It's inauthentic.

"Six," I say... only it comes out 'thickth' because I've lost some of my baby teeth, and I have a decent gap between my front teeth anyway.

"Thickth," the adult responds, laughing.

I really do not approve of this mocking.

Month In Review(s) - February 2021

 

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

We are two months into 2021. Just two months.

I have nearly lost my Nan twice so far in 2021.

Covid (which she had in January) has been so damaging to her health... it's awful. 

If you're one of the people who thinks it's not that bad, or it's a hoax, or it somehow doesn't apply to you, then you can fuck off.

And yes, it kills me to write swear words without *s, but I'm leaving it in.

Month in Review(s) - January 2021

(Warning: this post discusses Coronavirus/Covid 19)

On a personal level, January sucked. Bad.

My beautiful Nan got Covid, and combined with her other health problems, despite the fact that she had very few symptoms, we nearly lost her. 

There are very few things more distressing than watching someone you love slowly fade away via video link.

Honestly? If you're STILL not taking Coronavirus seriously, you can fuck the hell off.

And, dearest nerdlets, you know how upset I have to be to swear without censoring myself. 

I really wanna delete a few letters and add *s, but I'm not gonna, cos despite the fact that I'm a nice well-brought-up Welsh girl, that's how annoyed I am, and how much you suck if you're one of the selfish people who still isn't taking precautions.

Nerd Church - A Simple Sleep Game To Help You Get A Good Night's Snooze

(Warning: this post references Coronavirus/Covid 19. It also talks about sleep problems a lot, but you probably guessed that.)

I go through periods of having trouble sleeping through one thing and another, and with Covid Lockdowns very much in place, it wouldn't surprise me if other people are also having trouble dropping off.

(Ironically my main sleep problem right now has four paws, a tail, and wants to play at 3 in the morning.)

So, while there may be a variety of factors that might stop you from getting to sleep, and any number of things to help you actually fall asleep, I thought I'd let you in on my simple trick for nodding off.

Month in Review(s) - December 2020

(Warning: this post references Covid 19/Coronavirus, and the UK's institutional Transphobia)

I know this wrap-up is epically late. 

Honestly, I considered combining it with January's 'Month in Review(s)' post, but I figure if 2021 is also going to be a sh**-show, it may as well be its own sh**-show, independent of the remnants of 2020.

So let's keep this super-brief because December 2020 was like forever ago!

Nerd Church - What's Behind the Covid Arts and Crafts Boom?

(Warning: this post discusses mental health problems, especially Depression and Anxiety, and the Covid 19/Coronavirus pandemic)

I've always been an artsy, craftsy, sort of person.

I'm one of these people who can never name their hobbies when asked, but actually has somehow accumulated so many hobbies that she can't physically fit them all in to her timetable.

(Part of the solution to that is to make some of your hobbies into your employment, but that brings its own challenges.)

And most of those hobbies are creative in some way.

So yeah, I'm a big fan of the arts and crafts!

Month in Review(s) - November 2020

 

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

November saw some rays of sunshine breaking through the end of 2020.

Biden won.

Hope of a Covid vaccine became more real.

As for me, well, I've had some ups-and-downs.

News of local people dying of and/or being ill with Covid. A firebreak Lockdown. The continued anti-Welsh sentiment in the press...

And then there's the Amazon Associate issue *sigh* 

I can't go into it, because I've appealed the decision, but after some problems in November, I lost my UK Associateship in the first few days of December. That's all I can really say for now. 

But it had me super stressy for a bit 😣 still kinda stressy now tbh.

Damn Anxiety always blows this kind of sh** out of proportion.

Update, 8th December:

Please DO NOT use my links to purchase from Amazon UK - my Associate account for the UK was unfairly closed, and Amazon UK will no longer pay me for any purchases made with them.

I will slowly be removing the UK links from 1000+ posts, but it's gonna take a while.

Nerd Church - Working From Home More? It's Time To Set Some Work/Life Boundaries

(Warning: I briefly discuss mental health problems in this post - it's not graphic, and is written about in the context of self-care and healthy work/life boundaries)

A lot more people are working, at least in part, from home this year - on account of 2020 and all the Lockdowns and everything 2020-ish.

I've actually worked from home for several years, and it's got a ton of advantages - but you also have to be careful to set work/life boundaries -

- especially if, like me, part or all of your income is coming from things which were once solely hobbies - it tends to blur the lines.

Disclaimer: This is the bit where I remind you that I'm not any type of mental health or medical professional.

Neither am I some kind of life or productivity coach (that would be scary!)

I only have first-hand experience of Depression/Anxiety, and using self-care to support myself - and hopefully my experiences can help other people.

Month in Review(s) - October 2020

 

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

Well... October was pretty much the same as the rest of 2020 - there were a couple of nice things in there, but overall it sucked.

(I'm still standing though! #ThePositiveSide!)

My local Lockdown became a Welsh national Lockdown, and the anti-Welsh sentiments in some parts of the media and the Interwebs were irritatingly loud. 

*Takes deep breaths* *Resists urge to rant*

(If you want to see me ranting for a whole blogpost against an ignorant RT from the Trumpkin, you can read that here.)

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!

Month in Review(s) - September 2020

(Warning: this post discusses Coronavirus/Covid 19, Transphobia and JKR, and mental health)

September was weird. I think that goes for much of 2020, but September felt especially 2020-ish.

In August, Wales was down to a very small number of Coronavirus cases. We had it in control. 

By the end of September, over half of our population was in Lockdown, and remain in Lockdown. That includes yours truly.

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: Oh, the Melodrama!

 

(Warning: this post briefly discusses overthinking and Anxiety/Depression)

In its previous life, my WIP, written by teenage-Cee over a decade ago, was melodramatic as f**k.

As in, there were kidnappings, and murders, and guns, and a secret child, and... if you can think of a plot-twist, it was probably in there. Plus a few more for luck.

And while the current version of These Ghosts of Ours is much, much, less ballistic, the memory of that previous version has left me constantly questioning the emotion-y bits and plot developments.

Nerd Church - I'm Not (Totally) Lovin' It: Why I'm Not Entirely Happy (Meal) That They're Ditching The Plastic Toys

 

Recently, I saw that McDonalds are gonna stop supplying hard plastic toys in their kids' meals in the UK and Ireland.

This was due to a petition from two smol eco-warriors, who were annoyed at the lack of recyclable-ness. 

And good on them. We all need to be working on cutting down on the amount of plastic we use.

But when I heard the news, I wasn't entirely happy. 

Of course, I was happy that there'd be less plastic thrown away and ending up in landfill or the water system!

...But I still had some reservations.

Because I knew how much it would hurt a lot of kids whose families are on low incomes. 

Month In Review(s) - August 2020

 

August was way too hot - I'm too Welsh for this cr*p!

Seriously, I melt above 24C. That's plenty enough for me. So between 27C and 30C is literal hell to me. Thank God it's cooled down a butt-tonne now.

Anywho, I cut back on blogging in August (and you can see how that went here,) but I somehow wrote more reviews and bookish content than I have in a long time *shrugs*

I wrote 2 whole reviews dearest nerdlets! In one month! Lol.

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.