Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: Aesthetically Confused

(Warning: this post discusses the affects of Anxiety)


If you hang around bookish and/or writerly corners of the Interwebs, you may've seen random-a** collages related to books, individual characters, or writing projects.

Or maybe you haven't - in which case you probably don't know wtf I'm talking about. But trust me, they're out there.

Nerd Church - The Anxious Girl's Guide To Pandem-onium

(Warning: this post discusses Coronavirus/Covid-19 (but hopefully in a non-stressy way!) and Anxiety/mental health problems)


Wherever you are in the world, your life is probably being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic right now - if you're in Europe, then it definitely is.

I'm Anxious af right now - and I know other people are too.

So, I think we could all do with some practical self-care advice.

(Even if you don't have mental health problems, you still need to take care of your mental health!)

Friday Fics Fix - In Times of Trouble, Turn To Stucky

 ***All Amazon.com links in this post are commission links. This means I earn commission from purchases made in the US*** 

Please do not use my links to make UK purchases.

'“You mean after spending half the day thinking my ex-boyfriend was dead and then finding out that he’s alive but also a wanted criminal? I’m not doing great honestly!”'

I mean... in times of trouble, we should always turn to Stucky.

The world is somehow a little better when Captain America has a boyfriend. Obviously.

...And the most likely boyfriend (hell, the most likely romantic partner full stop #FightMe) for our dear Steve Rogers is Bucky Barnes.

Sorry,  alternative shippers. Your ships have value, but I can't be convinced. 😉

Friday Fics Fix - Wham, Bang, Shazam!

 ***All Amazon.com links in this post are commission links. This means I earn commission from purchases made in the US*** 

Please do not use my links to make UK purchases.

'“Being a superhero is cool and all in theory,” Freddy admits, “but I guess it’s kind of the pits sometimes. It can get a little intense. All those tragic backstories and the almost dying and stuff.”'

I love the DC film Shazam!

It's fun, wacky, so random, but also has some goddamn heart to it. 

...Plus the costumes are peak Silver Age camp superhero costumes! 😅

Friday Fics Fix - With Grace

(Warning: this post discusses domestic and child abuse (physical and mental/emotional) throughout, and touches on issues such as addiction and substance abuse)

'...There are a lot of things in the children’s lives that are sub-optimal. She has to minimize the damage in whatever ways she is able.'

This post is gonna have SPOILERS for series 1 of Umbrella Academy, ok?

V. minor spoilers, but spoilers all the same. The fic itself has more spoilers.

Friday Fics Fix - A Dose of the Warm Fuzzies

'...“Because life is one big joke,” Klaus replies with a grin.

Diego shakes his head, feeling a headache start to form, and drops the interrogation.'

Not gonna lie, there're some similarities between this week's fic rec, and last week's fic rec - albeit they're from different fandoms.

They both have ill characters being taken of by their brothers, though (in this case, Klaus is ill, Diego's headache didn't develop 😅.)

And they're both about troubled characters who have, nevertheless, snuck their way into our hearts.

Friday Fics Fix - Can Klaus Get A Boo?

 ***All Amazon.com links in this post are commission links. This means I earn commission from purchases made in the US*** 

Please do not use my links to make UK purchases.

'...Miraculously, it held under his weight, and he shimmied down it with an ease that could have been described as elegance if his leather hot-pants weren’t squealing against the metal piping.'

Who would be climbing down a drainpipe in leather hot-pants?

Klaus Hargreeves, of course!

(This is the first time I'm reccing an Umbrella Academy fic in 2020 - I think I've shown a lot of restraint 😅)

Nerd Church - My New Year's Resolution

 ***All Amazon.com links in this post are commission links. This means I earn commission from purchases made in the US*** 

Please do not use my links to make UK purchases.

Hey dearest nerdlets! I hope that 2020 is treating you well so far! 

(...or at least hasn't been too sh** already. ...I'm pragmatic.)

Update, 2021 - this statement did not age well



So, I figured I'd talk a little about my New Year's Resolutions... 

...Well. Sort of.

See, to me, NY resolutions have always been a little *waves hands* ...vague.

Like, I don't even know what I'm doing next week, let alone committing 12 months to something, y'know?

So, they're more like an idea. Maybe a goal, or an intention, or whatever.

The Bookish Diversity Linklist 2020

Let's bring Diversity to the Roaring 20s my dearest nerdlets!

2019's list was a LOT sparser than I wanted.

But I'm uber-pleased that the 'General' section - filled with larger resources devoted to Diversity - is becoming really and truly awesome!

This is the only section that I copy over from linklist to linklist, but I'm still adding stuff to the current year's all the time!

Let's kick the decade off with some positivity!

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: Dealing With Self-Doubt

If you've been around my blog at all in the past (love you!) then you probably know that I struggle with...

...Well, that list could take a while, but for the purposes of this post, I struggle with self-doubt.

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

So it's probably not that much of a surprise that I also have doubts when it comes to what I'm writing.

(Even blogposts - this is like my 6th attempt at writing this week's Nerd Church, and about the 3rd possible topic I came up with)

Friday Fics Fix - Angsty Bear

'He set his jaw and raised his eyes at Steve.

“How did you know what it feels like?”

He was genuinely afraid and somehow calm at the same time.'

I'm sure I've mentioned (probably waaay too much) that, at heart, I'm a li'l emo child.

I love the dark sh**, ok? It cheers me up! 😅

And luckily fanfiction has enough Angst (yep, with a capital 'A' - we mean business dearest nerdlets!) to keep even the most gothic of emo children happy.

Nerd Church - Dyscalculia (Part 2: The Real World)

Dyscalculia is a maths learning difficulty that affects a lot of things that other people find easy and/or straight-forward.

Today, I figured I'd give you a real-life example of how Dyscalculia affects me.

You can catch up on my first post about Dyscalculia, which includes a lot of general info., here.

Image by TeroVesalainen from Pixabay

A real-world Dyscalculia example: catching the goddamn train

Comics Wrap-Up - Running Around Like A Clown On Purpose

OK, we got some Harley, we got some Joker, we got some other stuff going on. 

It's Thursday, and it's time for that comics-y goodness!

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: Writing Vs Self-Care

While my aim is to write every day (y'know, like all the advice seems to say you should if you wanna be successful as an author,) some days I just can't.

That's not strictly true - I usually end up writing something in a day: blogging, tweeting, e-mails, work stuff, etc.

But I don't always manage to work on my work-in-progress (WIP) every day.

Friday Fics Fix - Light and Dark

'There was a noise somewhere but he couldn't make it out. He tried to call for help but it wasn't words, just a distressed sound and more tears.'

I love Oliver Queen, aka The Green Arrow, and the show he's the lead of - which is handily named Arrow. 😅

(Also handily, this was the first in the CW's DC series, known collectively as 'Arrowverse')




Oliver's had something of a rough life. 

I mean, the first 20-something years were pretty sweet - he was the priviliged trust fund party-boy with little regard for what substances he was sticking in his body, and the feelings of his romantic partners.

(I was gonna make a dodgy pun there, but thankfully resisted. If you can figure out what it would've been, then you've probably read as much fanftiction as I have! 😅)

Friday Fics Fix - A Little Messed Up (In the Best of Ways)

'His coat came back, sooner or later. Wasn't sure. The time kept slipping between his fingers like loose sand, pillowing at his feet, in his ears. "-job, Sherlock; you did good," John was murmuring...'

Praise whoever may be out there listening that good quality fanfiction exists!

Really! It's out there! I'VE SEEN IT!!!!

*Ahem*

...I love well-written, nuanced, character-exploring, theme-exploring fanfiction. (You may have noticed.)

Nerd Church - My New Self-Care Strategy

(Warning: this post discusses low self-esteem and Depression)


I have a plan!


My plan is this: to treat myself BETTER than I think I deserve.


'Hang on Cee!' I hear you cry (well, I don't but it's a structural narrative device,) 'What the hell are you talking about?!'

Let's rewind.

Month in Review(s) - June 2019

June kind of flew by!

Partly because I was super-busy! Which is also why I (once again) posted less here than I wanted to.

I did manage to post a review though! Woo! I can still call myself a book blog! (Lol.) 😅

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: Turns Out, People Are Interested

I've never really had much confidence in my writing.

Like, objectively I know that people read this blog but... it always surprises (and delights,) me when someone comments, shares, etc. (Hint hint. Lol.)

Likewise, I'm always on edge about the fiction I write - it can't be something someone'd be interested in reading, right?

At the same time, not writing would be like not breathing. Unthinkable.

It's literally who I am - I breathe. I read. I write.

Friday Fics Fix - Fish Tanks and Music Boxes

'Usually when her parents send her out to play (she always has to be sent) she divides her time between flower-picking (or drawing) and observing the other kids, pretending to be Jane Goodall.'

I love Agents of SHIELD - in particular I love Fitz and Simmons (known as FitzSimmons).

This is partly because they're smart, partly because they're sweet, and partly because they're British but NOT the villains!