Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: Patchwork Writing and Whatever Works For You

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

Some people are 'plotters,' some people are 'pantsers' - and I write in patchwork.

For those who don't know, writing fiction is generally split into two camps by the people who split things (whoever they are - I'm not sure anyone's ever met them) - plotting and pantsing.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Month in Review(s) - April 2019

April - well, April didn't have any work-related nose-bleeds, for a start!

Thanks to everyone for asking if I was ok, etc, last month - honestly I think you guys were a lot more worried about it than I was 😅

On the one hand, April had Easter and chocolate and spring flowers, and all that awesome stuff!

Y'know, lots of fun stuff to enjoy and smile about! 😊

Nerd Church - The 9 Most Annoying Things That Have Been Said To Me About Being A Second-Generation Vegetarian

I was raised Vegetarian.

So even as Vegetarianism and Veganism has become more main-stream, I've been sat here in a unique kind of space, that not many people get to see.

Image by nugroho dwi hartawan from Pixabay

I've spent my entire life as a Vegetarian.

Which, especially when I was younger, before it became popular, did create some tensions... not least because nothing used to be labelled with a 'V' or whatever.

Nerd Church - Happy Easter (or, Let's Respect Each Other, Yeah?)

Happy Easter/Pasg Hapus dearest nerdlets!

Image by Couleur from Pixabay

One of the most enduring symbols of Easter is eggs, dontcha think?

Chocolate eggs, painted eggs, eggs with chicks breaking out, eggs just randomly decorating everything!

But I've been noticing some egg-hate lately.

And I don't mean from Vegans - that's a whole different set of issues related to a different set of moral questions - nope, I mean from people who don't know much about history.

Friday Fics Fix - Easter in Haven

(Warning: discussions of chronic illness and ableism)

'Audrey and Nathan dashed into the Grey Gull, each imagining terrible scenarios. None of their fears involved Duke with a spatula in hand, staring at the bar.'

One of my favouritest TV shows of all time is Haven.

If you haven't heard of it, then I'm not angry, just disappointed (not in you - in Society in general! 😅)

Month In Review(s) - March 2019

March was blood, sweat, and tears.

...literally!

March was a month in which I worked my a** off (no change there then!) and learned that apparently when my body's decided I've worked too much, it gives me a spike of Anxiety and a nose-bleed.

I f**k you not.

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!

Nerd Church - The Dilemma of Morally Dubious Media (Ft. American Psycho, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter)

Warning: this post discusses morally dubious media, including but not limited to: rape, murder, incest, general violence.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

American Psycho is about a serial killer that takes pleasure in raping and killing women in the most horrible ways, and the narrative goes into gratuitous detail about it.

Do I have your attention? Buckle up, dearest nerdlets!

No matter what, there is always gonna be media - books, films, TV series, whatever - that is kinda dubious on the ol' morality front.

Is that ok? Is that something we should be consuming? Is that something that people should be creating?

And if it isn't, is that something that we should be supressing?

Should we be, to put it bluntly, censoring it?

Comics Wrap-Up - But Darlin' Whatcha Gonna Say Now?

Lots of all the comics-y goodness this week my nerdlets! So let's do this! 😎

Month in Review(s) - February 2019

February was... OK.

Look, I'd love to say it was great. But my Depression has been kind of up-and-down.

So I can't honestly call it 'great' - but 'ok' is fairly accurate.

I survived it. I even enjoyed some of it. So 'ok' is what I'm gonna call it.

Nerd Church - Practise and Prioritise Self-Care, Instead of Working Yourself Into the Ground

I work my a** off.

There are no qualifiers to that - I do.

Image by Prawny on Pixabay

Nerd Church - Save the World

With the world the way it is (*looks out at trash fire and sighs*) the major issue our planet is facing is in danger of being pushed to the side-lines.

But we need to focus on climate change.

Because, contrary to what the loud handful of naysayers say, we are wrecking the planet.

Image by TheDigitalArtist on Pixabay

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: Relocating Cymru

If you're familiar with this blog, you're probably aware that I'm Welsh.

(If not, then how on Earth have you managed to miss that? That's actually impressive!)

We win flags, ok?

So it may come as something of a shock to you that in the past I've rarely, if ever, set stories in Wales.

Nope.

In fact, I was more likely to set a story in London than Cardiff - and I've never set foot in London.

History nerd that I am, I probably know more about London 150 years ago than I do London today.

Month in Review(s) - January 2019

January went by in a flash - and not the cool, Barry Allen, kind. (You gotta love nerd humour 😁)

I guess it's because I had an awful cold for half the month...? 😷

And aside from that, I've just been doing the usual, hectic, working-my-a**-off, stuff.

Nerd Church - Rebel Valentine 3: Revenge of the Roses

Is it just me?

No, really, is it me?

Is there something fundamentally unlovable about me? Am I undeserving of romance or love? Is that why no-one’s ever been ‘in the picture’?

Am I broken?




These thoughts are, of course, utter b*llsh**.

But part of me still kinda believes them.

Welcome to Rebel Valentine 3!


If you’ve read previous Rebel Valentine’s posts, you probably know where this is going.

If not, buckle up and prepare for potentially TMI. (I’ll try to keep it lowkey, but no promises!)

Nerd Church - A Few Ruminations on Perspective

You can see exactly the same thing as someone else... and somehow you both see it differently.

Sometimes that's because you were looking at what happened from a different angle - a physically different angle, where you literally saw things differently.

For example, videos taken from different angles lead people to believe different versions of events.

People see details that are blocked from the view of others, but in turn they lose details that others can see.

Nerd Church - Caffeinated Current Events: Dear Lord, the Breakfast (Brexit)

I swear to God. I swear to Iesu Grist. Wtf parliament dudes?! Wtf?!

Breakfast (or, as some people call it, Brexit,) isn't going too well, so I'm hear to explain in a caffeine-fuelled, (hopefully) satirical fashion!

(Note: these are my opinions, you can totally disagree with me, I don't mind.)

Yep, this is another 'Caffeinated Current Events' post - 'cos you lot seemed to like the last one.

(It's a little like Drunk History - only sober and present-day, so... not.)

Nerd Church - Media Overload: Quality, Quantity, and Diversity

There is more media and entertainment in our world today than ever before.

Even putting to one side the numerous web-pages and status updates that are published every single second, the rate at which new books, films, TV shows, songs, etc. are being created and published is immense.

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: I Need To Be More Patient With My Writing

I've recently started re-writing a story/novella/novel* that I started writing when I was a teenager... about a decade ago.

And I want it to be finished.

But I know that there's a butt-tonne of work to do to it (I'm basically re-writing the whole thing and making it less... melodramatic...  as well as changing the focus a bit.)

*It's been the length of all of these at one time or another 🙈

Nerd Church - Listen Up, 2019, We Need To Talk

Dear 2019,

We gave 2018 plenty of time and patience and care. And it still stabbed us in the back (and possibly some other places...)

So, despite the efforts of your elder siblings (years 2016 through 2018,) we're still standing, and still not giving up on hope.

But how about you make this easier for us?