“The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul.”
– Elder Uchtdorf
The Return of the King
Not only does this subtitle happen to be a title of one of my favorite films, but it’s also conveniently my last name. I’m basically royalty (except not even in the slightest).
Anyway…hello, readers! My name is Emily! After a long hiatus from writing, I figured it’s finally time to jump back on the saddle and that explains why I’m currently writing this post to all of you.
Now you’re probably wondering the following questions:
- Why are you blogging?
- What are you going to blog about?
- How often are you planning on blogging?
- Why do you like writing?
- How did you come up with your blog name?
- Can you tell me a little bit more about yourself?
Let’s jump right in so I can happily answer all of those questions for you!
1. Why are you blogging?
Whenever I was a young girl, my sister and oldest brother both showed me completely made up stories they had created on a whim. They inspired me to get in touch with my own creative side and I soon began creating stories about love, loss, and the hardships people face in every day life. This passion has never gone away, though it has dulled. Lately (quite honestly this feeling- or lack there of- has been around since I graduated high school in 2010), I’ve been feeling less inspired and less creative, so much so that one of my best friends bought me books not only on journalistic writing (a reminder to never give up on my dreams) but also on writing prompts to help my brain focus on my passion again. This blog, though it’s mainly personal and it will most likely have a large variety of topics of things that I want to talk about, will help me get back in touch with my creative side and, in turn, help me grow as a writer. I’m not doing this in order to gain a large following. I’m doing this to find myself, to work on my writing, to become a better person, and to do the thing I love the most every single day of my life. Life is too short to not be doing what you love.
2. What are you going to blog about?
Believe it or not, my tagline for my blog answers this question. It reads as follows:
A Personal Blog with an Agenda
Lately, I’ve been inspired to create a blog that talks about my life. Many people probably don’t care about my life, and I can’t blame you since I’m a complete stranger. But my hope is that through this journey, you’ll be able to either somewhat relate or laugh about at least one of my posts.
The “agenda” portion for my blog comes from me deciding to structure this blog with specific topics each day in order to keep me focused and on top of my writing. It’s a sort of challenge- week after week, I’ll have the same “prompt,” if you will, but I’ll need to change up my writing to make it more interesting or even keep coming up with topics for each thing. I’m hoping this will get the creative juices flowing. The agenda is as follows:
- Sunday: Sunday News/Special Sunday
- This is my journalistic bone jumping out. I’ll cover top news from the previous week that I find intriguing (to be completely honest, it may just be celebrity news or it could be world news, depending on how I’m feeling). Or it could be news for that upcoming week, or news in my life! I’m also allowing leeway on this day, which is why it’s also called “Special Sunday.” Now Special Sunday means that I could either interview someone on a specific topic, or I could write about whatever I want to that doesn’t fall under any of the categories below. In other words, it could be a “free write” day, if that’s what I choose to do with it.
- Monday: Monday Lit Circle
- This day will probably be one of my favorites, naturally. I absolutely love reading. I love it almost as much as writing. But like writing, I haven’t done very much reading as of late. My hope is that this day encourages me to read more often. I will either cover a novel in whole that I have read recently, talk about one of my favorite novels in general, or cover a chapter per week of a book I’m currently reading and asking you (Yes, you!) for feedback on the chapter or book. In other words, I would love for you to join along in the literary circle (basically a book club) or put your two cents in on something I’ve said. I encourage feedback.
- Tuesday: Thankful Tuesday
- There have been many times in my life where I’ve taken something in my life for granted and I’ve only realized when it was too late. On Tuesdays, I hope to write about something in my life that I’m thankful for. Being thankful isn’t just for Thanksgiving; it’s a full-time job. I have a lot to be thankful for and I would love to recognize them more often by sharing those things with you every Tuesday.
- Wednesday: Writing Prompt Wednesday
- This goes back to the awesome prompts book one of my best friends gave to me when I was feeling down. I have a thousand different prompts to choose from, so each Wednesday will be a completely different topic. I’m super excited for this day because this is a day when I’ll get to be completely creative by making new characters and new worlds.
- Thursday: Throwback Thursday
- On this day, I’m going to share a memory from my past with you. It may be a good memory or a bad memory, but hopefully something in what I say to you will click with you and you’ll realize you can relate to my life just as I can relate to so many other people. Sometimes it’s nice knowing that people around the world go through the same things you do, and suddenly you don’t feel entirely alone. I would love feedback on these days saying how you relate to my memory or maybe how you can’t but you would like to share a memory from your past.
- Friday: Friendly Friday
- Now friendly Fridays could involve many different things. It could be me writing about a memory I have about one of my friends (nothing personal on their behalf! I wouldn’t put them in that situation where everyone on the internet knows their business without their consent), a situation I happened to be in with one during the previous week (or anytime in my life, really), boasting about something great one of my friends did, or maybe about a time when I was super friendly toward a stranger/saw someone be friendly to a stranger. It could even be about advice I’ve given a stranger/a friend or about advice that I’ve received.
- Saturday: Storytelling Saturday
- Finally, the last day is all about storytelling. Yes, I’ve told many stories throughout the week already, BUT this day is different. My hope (and if I fail at this or even slack off in the slightest, I give anyone reading this full permission to yell at me to get me to work harder) is to write a chapter of a continuous story each day until I finish it. Yes, you read that right. A chapter of a unique story that I created completely on my own without the help of those 1,000 prompts. I’m doing this because my ultimate goal when I was younger was to become an author of a story and I’ve never given up on this dream. I think by doing a chapter each week and posting it on Saturday for all of you to read, not only will I gain valuable and constructive criticism, but I’ll be one step closer to reaching my dream of being a published author.
**As a side note, there may be days where I post more than once with a random topic if I feel like it.
3. How often are you planning on blogging?
Every. Single. Day.
4. Why do you like writing?
I’ve included this question because many people I know absolutely loathe writing and I honestly have no idea how! I love writing because sometimes I have a hard time saying what I feel. I think I can write down my feelings a lot easier than saying them. Sometimes I just can’t find the right words except for when I’m writing. I also like having the ability when writing short stories to have complete control over the characters and what happens to them. I guess I like this because I only have so much control over my own life, and it makes me feel better knowing what will happen in my characters’ lives because I don’t know what will happen in mine.
5. How did you come up with your blog name?
The Harry Potter series introduced me into the magical world of reading. That series was my childhood and I’m forever grateful for reading it because it has made me who I am today. That being said, the word “pensieve” comes from Harry Potter.
“I use the Pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one’s mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one’s leisure. It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when they are in this form.”
– Albus Dumbledore
This blog is a way to pour all of my thoughts, ideas, and feelings I have on my past, my present and my future, and on any other things that I end up writing about. And through this pensieve I hope to better understand myself and my writing style.
6. Can you tell me a little bit more about yourself?
Absolutely! I’m a twenty-two year old recent graduate from a small liberal arts school with a communications degree and a German minor. I haven’t had the best job in the last seven months since I’ve graduated but I recently accepted a new position at a great company and I’m looking forward to my future there and where that will lead me in the years to come. That job I accepted isn’t what I want to be doing, but I know it’s just a small stepping stone until I get there.
I’m also an animal lover! I rescued my beloved pitbull Balboa from the humane society nearly two years ago and he’s the biggest sweetheart I know. For any of you pitbull haters out there, how can you hate this face?
He loves laying in bed with me. And here I am cuddling with him on Christmas:
Anyway, I’m also a proud sister of Alpha Xi Delta and I support Greek life. I’m currently in a relationship with the best guy I’ve ever known for almost two years. In my spare time you can usually catch me watching Criminal Minds, listening to music, or running. I love traveling, and the most notable places I’ve been to are San Francisco, London, Oxford, Windsor, and Germany. Right now my life is pretty great and I really can’t complain.
Sorry for the obnoxious length of this first post, but hey I told you I love writing!
Until tomorrow, readers!
P.S.- One last note: Please feel free to comment on any of this. Tell me about your day, what you like writing about, where you’ve traveled to, what your degree is in, what your favorite show is to watch on netflix, your thought on pitbulls, the reason behind your blog name, your favorite book or book series, or your thought on Greek life! I would love to hear your thoughts.
Emily's Pensieve 