[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.
[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.
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.
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.
My to-do isn't that long - at first glance.
But that's mostly because I only write down a few things that I need to prioritise and/or think I'm in danger of forgetting. 😅
My mental to-do list? Much, much, bigger.
Like... I expect a lot of myself.
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.
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.)
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!
Originally published on Medium
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.
...brought to you by me, once again, giving myself a pep-talk and posting it on the internet 😅💪
Listen, the world is rough and tough and kind of awful sometimes.
It feels like everything is crashing and burning and we live in a frankly batpoop timeline.
August reached my bar for a good month
- which is admittedly so low it's practically touching the floor, but I'ma take it as a win 😅
Unfortunately, August was also pretty damned bad in terms of hay fever
- like, I've had hay fever a lot (more in recent years, because climate change,) but I've rarely felt this unwell with it.
So, yeah, that sucked.
Wales got it's first woman First Minister with Eluned Morgan.
...Which would be a lot more celebration-worthy if her predecessor, Vaughan Gething, Europe's first Black leader of a nation, hadn't been forced out after deeply unfair (imho) and personal attacks, which crossed the line into racism more than once.
So, mixed bag.
Eluned Morgan, btw, fully supported Gething until the end of his short tenure - so the blame shouldn't be placed at her door for this.
In other parts of the UK (England and Northern Ireland,) there were racist riots.
...So not a good look for the UK in general in August, racism-wise. *Sighs*
People suck sometimes.
My regular series (Comics Wrap-Up, Friday Fics Fix, and Nerd Church,) went on break in August, and I didn't post much all-in-all.
- I try to do that every so often so that posts don't start feeling like too much of a chore. 😅
All three are back in action now, though. So September's post-list will be a lot longer than this one.
'Other' Posts
Month(s) in Review(s) - June + July 2024
So that was my August - how was yours?
Talk to me! 😎💬
You can follow me on Twitter @CeeDoraReads, on Pinterest, and on Dora Reads @ BlogLovin. For more ways to support me, check out the Support Me page
It's my birthday today (15th Sep) so I figured I'd have a little fun.
(...of the nerdy sort, because that's on-brand, let's be honest.)
So, y'know that thing where people talk about their ideal celebrity dinner guests, either living or dead, fictional or real?
This isn't that.
But it is somewhat adjacent to that.
I thought that instead I'd talk about my celebrity birthday party list - with the twist that they also have to have their birthday on September 15th. Just because it's an awesome date, let's be honest.
So, here's my celebrity birthday buddies:
Warning: discussions of Depression and pet loss
...OK, doing this as a two-monthly thing is becoming an unintentional habit 😅
The only excuse that I have is that sometimes Depression messes my memory up - and the fact that I entirely (and I mean, entirely,) forgot to write a post for June coincides with some pretty sh**ty mental health days over the past two months.
So, yeah. I'm blaming Depression. And I don't feel bad about that, because it blames me for stuff all the time 😅
Do you get the feeling, sometimes, that everything out there in the big wide world is kind of... rushed?
It's kind of fast, kind of hurried, kind of urgent.
I'm so tired of the election.
...That's the UK election, by the way.
Which is happening on July 4th, the date of which apparently led to several people from the Conservative party using insider knowledge to place bets. Classy. (Allegedly.)
You wake up and go downstairs, pausing mid-way down.
The lines of each individual stair seem to waver for a moment.
The stairs themselves seem vaguely Burtonesque - all slanted lines and moving pieces.
Your head hurts and you close your eyes.
Warning: pet death, grief
Did I intend to make this a 2-month wrap-up?
No. No I did not.
Did it become abundantly clear that I wasn't gonna get April's post done by the end of May?
Yes. Yes it did.
April was awful.
Really.
You know how my criteria for a good month is one where no-one I care about - human or animal - dies, almost dies, or gets a life-changing diagnosis?
April was not a good month.
My beautiful cat died, dearest nerdlets.
And the world feels off without him. There's a hole in my chest.
So most of the rest of April + May has been trying to get used to life without him.
...It still hurts like hell.
That boy was my everything, and I have cried every single day since I lost him.
But I kept going, despite the urge to stay in bed and wail.
(Turns out I'm frighteningly good at wailing - with frighteningly being the key word. I... did not know I could make that kind of noise. I freaked my parents the hell out.)
So, y'know, if you've got the chance to check out the posts I somehow managed to write despite the separation of my soul from my body, that'd be great... 😅
Comics Wrap-Up
Was Not Expecting That! - Wenglish in Marvel's Echo and more
Iconic and Irreplaceable - Joker: Folie a Deux and more
I Can Already Tell - X-men '97 and more
My Fangirling Heart Is Singing Right Now! - Deadpool & Wolverine and more
You Learn Stuff, I Guess - Chibird and more
The Freaking Chaos - Marvel's What If...? and more
Actually Quite Lovely - X-Men '97 and more
Gracing The Waves of the Interwebs - Deadpool & Wolverine and more
Wholesome and Positive - The Cursed Princess Club and more
Friday Fics Fix
The Nature of the Void - A The Umbrella Academy (TUA) fic exploring the nature of death, grief, and the Void
Most of You Aren't Gonna Read This - A The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (TFATWS) horror novella that is extremely well-written. I loved it. I hated it. It's so good.
Because I Am Trash - A TFATWS fic where Sam and Bucky are stuck in an industrial freezer. I stand by my life choices.
Cyberpunk Stucky - In a nutshell: Stucky (Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes from the MCU in a relationship,) as detectives in space. But it's so much more than that. I would legit. buy this as an original novel - it's that good.
Vampires and a Smidge of FrostIron - Everything's better with vampires, right? Plus a little bit of Tony Stark/Loki love.
Klaus' Ghosts In A Specific Trope - I like the fandom-specific trope of Klaus literally showing his demons to people who deny or minimise them - the emo goblin spaghetti brain very much likes, OK?
Bucky's A Literal Demon and Sam's A Literal Angel - TFATWS
So. Freaking. Beautiful - A TUA Klaus/Dave fic with Klaus noticing that, in some lights, Dave's eyes are the exact same shade of blue as his powers, the ghosts, etc. etc. Which leads to a whole lot of introspection from both of them and... it's beautiful.
Nerd Church
Can Books 'Talk' To Us? - Do you think books can send us messages?
It's OK (Just Keep Going) - Brought to you by the art of giving myself a pep talk and then posting it on the internet 😅
My Heart Is Broken... - My beautiful boy is gone. 💔
Random Audiobook Ramblings - Walking is boring and books are awesome
Unpopular Opinion: I've Never Liked Gavin and Stacey - Sorry, not sorry. It feels uncomfortable - like Wales through an English lens.
What Does 'Enough' Even Mean? - Has anyone ever reached ‘enough’?
Things Happen When They Happen - I'm trying to remind myself that, so long as I'm working on things, they'll be ready when they're ready.
I Quit Google AdSense - Because this is way too many hoops to jump through for £7
Other Non-Review Posts
Month In Review(s) - March 2024
So, that's April and May for yours truly.
How was yours?
Talk to me! 😊💬
You can follow me on Twitter @CeeDoraReads, on Pinterest, and on Dora Reads @ BlogLovin. For more ways to support me, check out the Support Me page
