Writing

I’m Back! (+What I Read in May)

June 1, 2026 floraj5604

Hello! I have no idea if anyone will even see this post because it has been soooooo long since I have posted. My last post was in 2021, five years ago.

I have been super busy during these past five years. I finished up my senior year of high school, and then promptly started college, where I spent four years getting a creative writing degree. It has definitely been a full but fulfilling five years. Unfortunately, because I was balancing classes, assignments, friends, family, and the scraps of free time I could find during my days, there was no time for continuing this blog.

However, I just graduated in May, so I am beginning a new stage of life. I’m figuring out what I want to do with my degree…and with the rest of my life (yikes!). Of course, I am still a writer. I want to write, publish books and short stories, and earn the term of “author.” But, as writers don’t have the most stable incomes, I am still figuring the rest of my “career” out.

Now that I am more fully stepping into my career as a writer, I figured it would be a good time to hop back on to this little space on the internet that I created a while ago. Writing, after all, was always supposed to be the main inspiration and topic of this blog — whether it’s just documenting my journey as a writer or giving more practical tips and advice on the writing process.

A huge part of this blog used to be my posts about my bullet journals, the spreads I created each month, and the advice I could give on that type of journaling. It has been a few years since I kept a consistent bullet journal, mainly because of the busyness of college life and because I was a little burnt out. I don’t know if that will be a topic that I will incorporate back into my blog because I don’t know when I will incorporate it back into my life yet.

The last main aspect of this blog was books — books I read, books I reviewed, and books I loved. Books are still a huge part of my life — first and foremost because I love reading. But books are also an essential part of my life because I am a writer. Reading is both inspiring and essential for refining my craft.

So… to make this a little more than just an update post…

What I Read in May

Here’s what I read in May!

I read the first three books (or volumes, as the author calls them) of the series called The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower. Here are my thoughts:

Overall, it is a wonderfully delightful series that I have not been able to put down. Each volume is made up of Emma Lion’s journal entries about her life. It is set in 1883, St. Crispian’s (a town in London). It is a town that has all the wonderful odd quirks that create the typical small town charm. Emma interacts with those she knows in the town and occasionally gets into some escapades and scrapes that are humorous.

Volume 1 has a lot of exposition about the town of St. Crispian’s, Emma’s house, Emma’s history, and her current situation. As any avid fan of the series will tell you, the first volume can be a little slow. However, by the end of Volume 2, you should (and will) be thoroughly enjoying yourself. Volume 2 has a lot more dialogue, which starts moving the story along at a faster and more enjoyable pace.

So far, Volume 2 has been my favorite. My interest caught at the end of Volume 1, so when I started Volume 2, I was fully intrigued by the quirky town and characters. I thoroughly enjoyed the second volume and could not resist moving straight into Volume 3.

I am very interested to see where the series goes. There are currently eight published volumes, but the author has stated that she has plans for 25 volumes when the series is fully finished.

I have also been reading a memoir, but I’ll save my review for when I’ve read the full book.

The Future of This Blog

So, this post is really a test to see who’s still out there reading my blog, so I can get an idea of where I’m at. It’s also me just tentatively stepping back out into the blog world to remind myself of what it’s like to write a post and get out my thoughts about where I’m at in life and as a writer.

I still love the idea of capturing my journey as a writer and a creative person, just like I did eight years ago when I started this blog. So that will still remain the cornerstone of this little corner of the internet. I am perfectly happy to still incorporate book reviews because I am still an avid reader. As for what else…. We’ll just have to wait and see. I have a few more ideas in mind, but I’m also happy to hear any ideas/requests from readers.

So, maybe I’ll see you again here sometime soon. Until then,

Signing off,

Corinne

“Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him, my Savior and my God.” (Psalm 42:11 CSB)

Monthly Recaps

August Monthly Recap

September 6, 2020 floraj5604

Hello, everyone! I’m sorry I didn’t get any posts out during August! School caught me off guard, so I was a bit behind in the beginning. But now I’m all caught up, so I’m here for this post!

Books

This month I read a total of three books, which doesn’t really sound like a lot for a girl who loves to read. BUT, like I said before, I’ve been super busy with school. This month, I read:

Deluge : River of Time Series . I can’t tell you how much I LOVED this series! This was the final book of the series, and I read it super fast because it kept me on my toes the whole time! I won’t give a summary because this is the last book in the series. If you want to know what the book’s about, go read the series!
Keeper of the Lost Cities : Keeper of the Lost Cities #1. This is hands down one of my favorite series I’ve ever read. Even though it’s meant for kids in lower grades (I think middle school), I love this series TO PIECES! This series actually does not have all the books out yet, so if you don’t like cliffhangers and waiting to see what happens for a year, then you should just wait to read the series. The final book will be coming out next year, though. This November, book 8.5, Unlocked, will be coming out. I’ve been waiting for a year for this book, so trust me, I am READY.

Sophie Foster knew she wasn’t a normal girl, but she never would have guessed that she wasn’t human. When Sophie found out she was an elf, she had to leave everything behind and start over in a brand new world. Though she encounters many troubles in the time she spends in her new world, Sophie finally finds where she belongs.

Christy Miller : Volume #1. This series is also meant for middle school kids, but I still enjoy reading it.

When Christy Miller went to spend the summer at the beach with her aunt and uncle, she had no idea how much her life would change. Christy met new friends, had a fun time, but also learned some hard truths. That summer, she also started her new relationship with Jesus.

For the first three weeks of the month, I didn’t have time to write. However, I also didn’t really have the motivation to write.

But during the last week of August, something inside me sparked as I read through some of my writing. I wanted to continue the story; I felt the need to write. Know what I mean?

So, pretty much every day since then, I’ve taken about an hour every day to write. It’s also a nice break from school!

Art

I didn’t do very much art during August, but I did work on my diamond painting a little bit.

Bullet Journaling

In my August bullet journal, I did something much more simple than I usually do because I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of time to work on my schoolwork. I pretty much used the same layouts this month as well.

Above is a picture of my monthly page for September. It includes a calendar, some doodles, and spaces for goals, notes, books I will read during the month, and my money tracking.

Next is my mood tracker (well, it’s more of a day tracker, rating my day from 1 out of 5). I’ve drawn a bunch of leaves falling down the page, and once I’ve color coded the key at the bottom (the colors will be red, orange, yellow, green, and brown), I’ll just match how I felt the day went with the corresponding colors. (I’m excited for fall weather, as I’m sure you can tell from my fall-themed pages.)

Third is my Habit Tracker, which is as simple as always.

Finally, I have a brain dump, where I can just dump all the things floating around my mind. It’s not very organized, but it’s not really supposed to be.

Blogging

The only post I did this month was my summer update, and I did give you guys fair warning that I wouldn’t be able to post much this month.

Thank you for you patience!

I hope to have a couple more posts out for you this month.

Life

Life in August was pretty busy for me. I am taking a break from work at my dad’s shop, so that’s given me some extra time to get school work done.

I think I did mention in my last post that I would be having some dental work done, but it didn’t really end up being last month. If I can guess, it’ll probably happen this month or the next. That will set me back from a lot of things (school, writing, blogging, etc.), but I’m sure Ill be back on track as soon as I can.

Until Next Time . . .

That’s it for this post, everybody! I hope you enjoyed!

Next time I’ll let you guys take a look at the first two months of my School Bullet Journal!

Comment and let me know how August went for you! Also, feel free to let me know if you have any post requests!

Thanks for reading! Happy writing!

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. Romans 8:26 NLT