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

Friday Fics Fix - Girls' World

'"Maybe it’s not—," Ava started. A cone of flame whirled through the air. "Okay, maybe it is Mick."'

On International Women's Day, I think it's only appropriate to feature a fic about two of my favourite Queer female characters!

(I realise the link is maybe a little tenuous. But I don't actually care. I'm going with it 😎)

Comics Wrap-Up - From the Fading Light I Fly

I don't know whether there's just a lot of superhero/comics stuff this week, or if I've just rambled on more than usual... maybe both! 😎

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

Friday Fics Fix - Magical Matilda

'Her lips pursed into a nearly invisible line. “And I feel obligated to let you know that Wormwood is a Wizarding name, while Honey most certainly is not.”'

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant Hapus/Happy St. David's Day!

St. David is the patron saint of Wales - he doesn't have as interesting a story as Santes Dwynwen, he basically faffed around founding churches and doing the odd miracle here and there - but it gives me an excuse for a Welsh connection to this post!

(And you probably know that any excuse to include Wales in a post is good enough for me!)

Comics Wrap-Up - I Don't Care Just What You Think, As Long As It's About Me

It's comics time! Time to drink the tears of our enemies, my nerdlets! #HigherFurtherFaster

Mini-Review! - Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

**This post contains affiliate links for Amazon.com (USA) - I receive a small commission for products purchased using these links**

Title: Home Fire

Author: Kamila Shamsie

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Retellings

Buy Now USA

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.

Friday Fics Fix - Drinking Games and Inaccurate Judgements

Steve laughed, "Tony, I've told you before, I'm not innocent, you just refuse to believe me."

Comics Wrap-Up - I'll Be The Ghost Inside Your Head When We Are Through

This is one of those weeks which remind me why I love comics!

(It's possible there was drama, in fact there probably was - but dude I didn't notice it! 😘)

Comics and superheroes are there for you when sh** gets tough, showing you it's ok to be different, it's ok to act a li'l weird, it's ok to be yourself and defy expectations! 😊

(It's also ok to have fun!)

Micropoetry - January 2019

I realise it's nearly the end of February.

Fashionably late, dearest nerdlets, fashionably late 😎

The first of February's two pieces of Micropoetry is yet more proof that I've been listening to too much Eminem lately 😅

The second one is kind of personal... hopefully it's ok as a piece of poetry too.

As always, the poetry is in the alt-text for those using screen readers.

Nerd Church - What Is A Wall?

What is a wall?

How would you define it?

A barrier, maybe.

Yes, maybe. But a barrier to what?

Friday Fics Fix - Yer a Wizard ...Ianto?

'“Ianto?” Jack was looking down from his office.  He slowly descended the steps.  “One of your friends is the Minister for Magic.”'

I'm starting to come to the conclusion that literally everything has been mixed with Harry Potter in fanfiction-form.

Kind of like the magical PG version of Rule 34

...Well, mostly PG.

...Well, some of it's PG.

...Well, this fic doesn't have any sex, ok?!

(If you don't know what rule 34 is, I advise protecting your innocence and not looking it up. You can't unknow it!)

Comics Wrap-Up - It Took the Light Absolutely Forever To Get To Your Eyes

This week the ladies of Marvel are kicking butt and taking names! 💪👩❤

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!)

Friday Fics Fix - What If?

'He was strangely touched that Sherlock had remembered his fondness for meringue.'

I'm not sure I like this week's fic...

'...wait, wait, wait! Cee, are you saying you're recommending something you don't even like?'

Yes, hypothetical nerdlet, yes I am.

Why? Because even though I'm not sure I like it, I am sure that it's interesting.

Comics Wrap-Up - She's Young Dirty Blonde

American football means sneak-peeks at the biggest superhero movies! (Yay!)

Nerd Church - Responsible Reporting Required: How Media Outlets Are Failing To Follow Suicide Prevention Guidelines

(Warning: this post discusses suicide and self-harm. It also discusses poor reporting of these issues, and the danger of 'copycat' incidents.)

(For helplines, see details at the bottom of this post.)


There's been a lot of buzz in the UK over the last week or two over the prevalence of self-harm imagery on the Internet, and its link to suicide.

Now, there's def. issues with that, but there's also more issues than you'd think with the actual god-damned reporting of this issue.

The UK's leading suicide prevention charity, The Samaritans, provides Media Guidelines [PDF] for reporting on suicide.

These guidelines contain advice based on academic research on the affects of different types of news coverage.

I check them whenever I'm talking about this issue, and when I make a conscious decision to bend them, as I did when talking about the death of Chester Bennington, I'm very clear about my reasons for this, and exceptionally careful with every single word I use.

Friday Fics Fix - After the Storm

'“Errgh” Harry groaned, “Is there something wrong with me?”

“Yes, but it’s the same thing that’s wrong with all of us.”'

Ahhhh, how I love Hogwarts eighth-year fanfiction!

Because let's face it, I think that we'd all like to see the immediate aftermath of the Wizarding War, instead of just zooming straight to '20 years later.'

(...Or whatever length of time it was ...I honestly can't remember.)

Like, dude, you missed the hard bits! Recovery isn't something you just skip over!

Comics Wrap-Up - Angels Made of Neon and F**king Garbage

Ohhhhh my little emo/punk/weird heart is happy with the comics-ness this week! XD

2018 Fanfiction Reading Challenge Final Update + 2019 Fanfiction Reading Challenge Sign-Up

Fanfiction time! XD


In no way has this post been thrown together in the odd moments that my hectic life grants me *shifty glances.*

OK, so maybe it has... just don't tell anyone! 😎

I was originally trying to get this post all done and dusted in December, but my December was... not good. So here we are!

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.

Friday Fics Fix - True Love, In Honour of Santes Dwynwen

(Warning: this post discusses the story of St Dwynwen, which includes rape/sexual assault)

'Arthur’s mouth has always been Merlin’s weakness, hasn’t it.'

Dydd Gwyl Santes Dwynwen Hapus/Happy St Dwynwen's Day!

Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers, her name has a variety of meanings (as most 'wen' or 'wyn' names do,) but the most common translations are 'white wave' or 'to steal purity/fairness.'

Which kind of fits in with the less happy aspects of her story.

Comics Wrap-Up - To Escape This Old World

Comics! Superheroes! Trailers! Links!

Let's do this! :)

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.)

Friday Fics Fix - He's a Phantom!

'Most of the lesson was spent in silence, with the usual crash outside followed by Danny's hand shooting up and asking to go to the bathroom; reappearing later on when the ghost fight was over, claiming to have gotten stuck under some debris from the fight.'

I miss Danny Phantom.

I really hope that at least some of you have heard of, and/or watched this cartoon, because if not it's just an injustice!

(Also, it ended over a decade ago and I feel very old now.)

And a shout-out is due to the awesome Carrie @ Cat on the Bookshelf, who got me in a Danny Phantom mood!

Comics Wrap-Up - It's Just Your Own Reflection

Watch out! Here comes the Spider-Man!!!!

Check out the comics stuff that's caught my eye this week -

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.

Friday Fics Fix - Digging For Victory

Hello 2019! We got fanfiction, we got Bucky Bear, let's get down to it!

'Theoretically, she knew he must go other places sometimes, but it didn't seem to happen often, and from his overall air of nervousness, he seemed to be uncomfortable with it too.'

One of my favourite things on this planet is fanfiction which uses self-care and general mental-health recovery as its focus.

When the character involved just so happens to be my Bucky-bear, aka Bucky Barnes, aka The Winter Soldier, it's like icing on the cake.

(In related news, I'm hungry and would very much like some cake, with or without icing.)

Comics Wrap-Up - Symmetry In Shadows I Can't Hide

F**k yeah! It's 2019, I'm blasting my Heavy Metal playlist. Let's do this!

So, here it is, the first comics-y-ness post of 2019, featuring superhero shenanigans and all that jazz!

Month In Review(s) - December 2018

In order to fully boot 2018's a** out the back door, there's still a little business to attend to - in this case, December's wrap-up.

Except for Christmas (which is always amazing - I love Christmas,) December sucked.

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 🙈

The Bookish Diversity Link List 2019

Let's get moving my dearest nerdlets!

I didn't manage to make 2018's list all that I wanted it to be - not least because 2018 was stressful and hard as hell.

2019 though? Let's kick some butt!

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?

Review Time! - Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson

**This post contains affiliate links for Amazon USA, I receive a small commission for any qualifying purchases made using these links**

Title: Piecing Me Together

Author: Renée Watson

Genre: Young Adult (with New Adult crossover appeal,) Contemporary Fiction

Amazon: USA

Nerd Church - Why Christmas Is More Important To Me Than Ever

I love Christmas. I adore Christmas.

Christmas. Is. Amazing.

More than that, this year, I NEED Christmas!

Micropoetry - November 2018

Ok, I know this is late, sorry, life kinda got in the way, but here it is: November's Micropoetry!

2 pieces for you this time round my dearest nerdlets!

(And maybe I should stop listening to so much Eminem... bit of an attitude here!)

As always, the poetry is in the alt-text of the graphics for those using screen readers 😊

Nerd Church - 50+ Things It's OK To Feel When You're Grieving

Grief doesn't care about 'should.'

Grief will feel how grief feels.

Nerd Church - Perfect Imperfection

I've written and re-written this week's Nerd Church post about a hundred times.

I've attempted several different topics, several different ways, and nothing seems to be right.

Month in Review(s) - November 2018

Maybe you should all just assume that it wasn't a good month, unless I tell you differently? 😅

It'll save a lot of time and make me feel like I'm whining a lot less!

Nerd Church - Seeing People

"Hang on," I told my work-colleague, then I strode off.

"Where are you...? There's nothing over there! What are you gonna do, get a taxi?"

"No..." I call back over my shoulder; why the hell would he think I was gonna get a taxi? We had like, five minutes to get back from lunch.

I count out pound coins as I walk. 1... 2... 3. I head towards the guy in the red tabard, smiling, "I'll have one!" I call.




He smiles at me, and I wonder how everyone ignores that smile.

How could you?! I've heard of smiles that light up a room, but his lights up the street.

"Thank you darling!" he says, his voice almost a song, "God bless you!"

This is the Big Issue seller who helped me get through at a time when life was darkest.

Friday Fics Fix - Get You Safely Home

'"I am a Malfoy, and Malfoys do not get drunk. We enjoy alternatives to sobriety."'

(Gentle reminder, dearest nerdlets, that getting drunk is not the smartest thing ever, and is best avoided.)

OK, so Draco's stinking drunk after a good/bad night out, depending on your interpretation, and Ron and Harry end up making sure that he gets home safe.

Because Ron and Harry are clearly good friends/colleagues (on account of they're all growed up now and have jobs.)

Also Harry maybe has a thing for a certain blonde Slytherin.

(But, you'll be happy to know, he acts the perfect gentleman.)

Comics Wrap-Up - These Other Thorns Are Rosy

Check out all the random comics and superhero stuff I've been watching/reading/whatever-ing this week:

'It's A Superpower!' - A Discussion On Synaesthesia With Evelina From Avalinah's Books

Synaesthetes are basically superheroes. (I’ve decided. #DealWithIt.)


We have two or more senses linked together - for example, some of us see music, or feel colours - and we each generally view the world in our unique way!

So what happens when one Synnie comes across another?

And what happens if they both happen to be book bloggers?

Will they write the longest post either of them has ever written in a random ramble of awesomeness?



Welp, we’re about to find out! 😉

On Dora Reads today we have the amazing-ful Evelina from Avalinah’s Books - a fellow Synnie and all around awesome-sauce person! 😆

Nerd Church - If You Change Your Mind, You Know Where I Am

(Re: the title - yes, I spotted a chance to quote Panic! lyrics 😅)


Why are we, as hooman beans, so reluctant to change our minds?

Do we think there'll be some sort of moral judgement if we do?

Do we think we'll look bad or unintelligent?

Friday Fics Fix - A Different Kind of Poison

(Warning: this post is basically about Depression.)

'Today, however, all Venom can discern is what could be considered the cerebral equivalent of static. Everything is fuzzy and the thoughts that are trying to surface keep coming up blurry, with no real impulse behind them.'

I love Venom.

I love Venom to the end of the Earth. Cos I'm just that kind of weird sassy nerd.

So I've been reading Venom fanfiction.

Comics Wrap-Up - Still Got Pictures of Friends on the Wall

Aquaman, Arrowverse, and some real-life heroines: let's get to it!