Since 7 Years Ago...

 As of writing this post, it is 4.22.2025 and I am updating my childhood blog (!!!) for the first time since 2018.

Honestly, I'm procrastinating brainstorming one of the first book ideas I've come up with in a really long time by writing this update post. lol.

Guys, I am now almost TWENTY-FOUR in a couple of weeks. I have a big girl corporate job and am going to start a new position in management there. Y'ALLLLLLL... 

I'm kind of writing this because sometimes I am really curious to know where my old blog friends are nowadays and what they are doing and how they are doing, as well as (like I said) I am procrastinating.

Update on What I Am Doing:

1. I am still making art. :) Back when I was a teenager I was always making fan art for my interests at the time, like Star Wars, Sherlock, Merlin, idk what even else I liked tbh LOL Now, I still make fan art for my new interests. The main thing I have a special interest in is music and my favorite musicians, like Chappel Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, etc. 

I just recently bought an iPad to learn digital art, since before that I almost always only used a traditional medium.

2. As of this year, Jaclynn and I are still writing! Kind of... We definitely both took a lot of time away from writing fiction, but then we both decided that getting back into the hobbies we had when we were young was valuable to both of us. So, we got on a call together and we found Pinterest writing prompts for each other to create a story-- and then WE DID. It was actually really satisfying.

(Also SIDE NOTE but have any of you guys noticed that Pinterest writing prompts are COMPLETELY different than back 7 years ago?? I used to be able to look up "writing prompt" and it would give me inspiring prompts, and now it's all articles...)

And that brings me to my next point, and kind of ties into another reason why I am making this post. I feel like becoming an adult is such a trap. We forget who we are and live disconnected lives away from who we are authentically. I think the core of who we are is always the same; we are our truest self when we are young and have no real responsibilities. I'm sure you guys have heard about "healing your inner child," it was a trend I saw a lot on social media, but it really does feel good to reconnect to past versions of ourselves.

Maybe Little Emma knew what she was doing a lot more than me now.

But that is what I have been thinking about a lot recently. I want to be true to myself and live in a way that Little Me would be proud of and to honor the things that deep down I am interested in and enjoy, even though it can be hard with adult responsibilities PLUS the way social media completely ZAPS me of a healthy attention span and motivation to do anything... that's a whole different post I could make though lol I did no Instagram for the first 3 months of this year and so now I am trying to stay disconnected from social media more so, even though I go on it occasionally at the end of the day typically.

3. Other little things I have gotten into recently... I am a bit of a plant lady, but this started a couple of years ago and I accidentally killed most of my plants when I had to move... oopsie! I still have a few plants inside my room that are thriving, and 3 succulents in the backyard that are hanging on for dear life since I refuse to go in the backyard since there is an ungodly amount of spiders back there.

Also in a similar vein as plants, I've been making my own bouquets since last year, and it is so fun to go to Trader Joe's and buy a bunch of flowers and decide on the color scheme I want, then go home and create my bouquet. Here are some of the ones I've made--

I am recently into matcha-making! My mom got me a matcha kit as an early birthday present, and it has been lots of fun to make my own matcha drinks and figure out my own personal recipe that I like the best.

(I did not make this matcha LOL)

I've gotten back into reading! One of my goals for the year is to read 1-2 books a month. As of right now, I have read 13 books this year, which is crazy because in recent years I had maybe read 1-2 books within the whole year. So, I'm pretty proud of myself for reading more. :)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my little life updateeee... Let me know if you agree with any of my points, or if you are trying to reconnect with your Little Self too! I would love to know what other people are doing to honor their younger selves.

Emma xx

Um. Wow. Okay.

Uh, hi everyone...?

This is so weird. 

I know I haven't posted on this blog in actually F-O-R-E-V-E-R, and I'm sorry for disappearing on you guys. I guess I've just fallen out of love with blogging.... and writing as well.

After NaNo (which I didn't win BTW), I really didn't want to write anymore and I don't enjoy it that much at this point in my life.

But don't be sad, cuz I really love art still and that's where my real passion is nowadays!

I know I mentioned this before on my blog, but I have an Instagram that is doing really well, and that's where I am most active! I would love it if you guys went and checked it out and could still interact with me there! :)

MY INSTAGRAM USERNAME IS--- i_emma_artist 

AND HERE IS THE LINK---- 

LINKEDY LINK LINK

BUT! In case you don't have an IG, I want to share some of my recent art with you all here! (Maybe it'll inspire you to GET an Instagram so that you can follow me. ;D XD)

Just recently, I've FALLEN IN LOVE WITH SPIDER-MAN/TOM HOLLAND. XD So, there's been quite a lot of that on my IG. XD

I am so happy with this drawing of Sabrina Carpenter! She looks so pretty. 

*heart eyes*

I also really love this drawing of Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler. It took me so many tries to get right, but the finished product--- YES!!

An Internet friend asked me to draw Princess Mononoke, so I was like- okay. AND HERE IT IS! I'm really glad he asked me to, cuz the result is really nice! (And I love the background) XD

I've become fairly well known for my YouTuber drawings, so I draw them really often now! This is Mia Stammer. It was so fun to draw and I love the colors!! :D

Like I was saying earlier, I LOVE TOM HOLLAND. And as you guys ALREADY know, I LOVE THE DARK SIDE. 

*smiles creepily*

SO, I had to draw him as a Sith. :D

***

I hope you guys enjoyed seeing my art, it's really improved over the past, like, eight months. I basically use Copic markers exclusively now, and they look so much better than colored pencil! :)

Thank you guys for following this blog, I don't know if this is an official goodbye, but it could be. Like I've said, please follow my IG if you want to stay in touch! I love you guys! :D

-Emma-

NaNo Week #2 - NIGHTFALL LAUNCH PARTY and other, less important things

Hi everyone!!
Can you believe we're already this far into November? I feel like I'm still at the beginning of October, but no we are ACTUALLY here and it's SOMEHOW BY THE GRACE OF GOD IS IT ACTUALLY COLD. O.O

Somehow. O.O

God knew. O.O XD XD XD

Last year it was all warm and gross, but now in California it's actually like in the 70's so we can wear normal clothing and sometimes sweaters! 

*dies of amazingness*

So, yeah! Let's get right into this awesome week of NaNo! :D

Day 5!

45

So, this day wasn't the best day...this always happens to me where I get ahead in my writing THEN TOTALLY DROP THE BALL AND DON'T WRITE LIKE I SHOULD. XD

But my goal was to write every single day, even if it was only a little bit, and considering the fact I had a church service to sing at (I had to go to the bathroom so badly during the service, and I was on stage, so I HAD TO LEAVE TO GO TO THE RESTROOM, AND I WAS SURE I WAS GOING TO BURST). I somehow got back in time to sing the last song we had to do, thankfully. O.O

Then after that I had a super long rehearsal for my church's Christmas tea, so I didn't get home until late. Plus I had (and still do have) a cold, so I was very unimpressive today. XD

Day 6!

955

I was still ahead at this point, so I only wrote some before I went to bed and somehow managed to write nearly 1k!

Although it wasn't my daily word count goal, I was kind of busy drawing this picture---

So, I guess it was pretty productive. :)

Day 7!

0

A COMPLETE WEEK OF NANO AND HOW DO I CELEBRATE??? By not writing a single word, but let me explain why, my friend...

NIGHTFALL WAS RELEASED!!!! And like every year, we went to the launch party!

Let me share with you some pictures of the experience!

 THERE'S SHANNON! Ugh, there's nothing more inspiring than hearing an author talk about their writing experiences and what's happened for them to get where they are now! 

We played this fun game of if we thought Shannon was lying or telling the truth, and because of it I learned some fun things...

*Sophie's original name was Agnus McWeeney*

*Fitz was the first character created*

*Keeper of the Lost Cities was originally made as a short story*

*The name given to KotLC by Shannon was Chasing Everblaze*

*Shannon had intentions to kill Sandor in the first book he was in*

VERY INTERESTING, RIGHT. I really loved hearing about it all, even though I knew some stuff from the first couple times going. :)

And then a selfie of Kendra and I waiting for Shannon to show up. Sorry it's a bit blurry, I couldn't get a very decent picture. I guess I was shaking... XD

By the time I got home and was about to write something for NaNo....

It was midnight. O.o

So, I was like- WHATEVER. IT'S A NEW DAY SO IT DOESN'T MATTER ANYWAY.

Day 8!

277

The day after, I was really reading a lot, although not as much as I wanted to, because I was thinking- I NEED TO WRITE. SO I WILL WRITE.

Or more like, not write, not read, and not do anything worth my time, so the whole day was basically ruined, and I should have just read Keeper while I had the opportunity. O.O

Day 9!

3,503

I wrote a lot this day. OuO

AND I WROTE DOWN NOTES FOR THIS POST TO PUT IN SO YOU KNOW IT'S GONNA BE GOOD.

"I reached 25% done! Me, being the most easily scared human being on the earth, nearly jumped out of my seat when the trumpets pumped through the speakers while I was writing. #scaredy-cat #heartwasracing XD XD XD XD"

"ALSO. WHY ZACK. WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GO AGAINST MY PLOT POINTS AND DO SOMETHING CRAZY STUPID NOW THINGS ARE DIFFERENT THAN I PLANNED. STOP TALKING TO PEOPLE. (Be like me and be a hermit then it'll be easier okie.)"

Wow, okay. XD

But this day was pretty awesome for writing! I got a lot done, regardless of Zack, my MC, going off and talking to his father and making me panic. -.-

Day 10!

2,095

I really need to just make notes for what I did everyday, so I can recall it better. XD XD 

This day.......hm......

I don't remember everything that happened cuz it was just another day at home...BUT IT WAS GOOD REGARDLESS AND I WROTE A LOT. XD It felt like a Saturday cuz Kendra and I just watched My Little Pony all morning and I slept in late... XD

Day 11!

1,722

So, this happened today--

If you don't know what Zevelyn is, it's the ship of my character and Jaclynn's character and IT'S OUT OF CONTROL HALP.

So, I drew them. Again. Even though I thought that they were over. And really, now they are. O.O BUT THE SHIP STILL LIVES ON. 

Altogether now, I have reached 19,079 words and am getting super close to the halfway point!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!

So, yeah. That has been today and now I'm off to make sundaes with my mom and binge watch TV. XD

***

How is your NaNo going? Are you ahead, are you behind? What's your story about? Is it going well? TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT! XD

-Emma-

AND THIS POST IS TOO LONG AS IT IS. I SHALL MAKE A SEPARATE POST SOON FOR NANO SNIPPETS OKAY DO NOT BE MAD

NaNo Update! Week #1

*crazy laughing*

*more crazed laughing*

*can't stop*

Welcome to NaNo, friends. OuO

Okie, honestly, I don't feel THAT crazy, because NaNo is going pretty well for me at the moment. It's only the end of day four and I'm ahead of my goal, my story is moving along nicely now that I'm into some early on plot twists and THE STORY IS ROLLING.

So, even though I don't have my entire plot figured out (ha, ha, October was SO not a prepping month.)

This happened right before NaNo---

Tuesday, the day before NaNo...

"Procrastination at it's best. XD XD XD"

So, yeah, I don't have my whole novel planned out...and I kinda wanna finish this novel by the end of the month or year.

(I've never actually finished a book though, so I have no idea how hahahahahha)

But anyway! Let's get into the recap of the first week!

Day 1

2,343

The first day was a Wednesday, so that means Jaclynn and I worked! WHAT'S MORE AMAZING AND INSPIRING THAN SWINGING KIDS AND HOLDING CRYING KIDS AND TRYING NOT TO DIE INSIDE??? XD XD

This was me and Dee's first day of NaNo selfie...

Can you see the inevitable doom in our eyes? XD

(AND ALSO NOTICE MY WRITING SWEATER. I legit only wear that when I write... especially in November. ;))

But the first day was hard, since Jaclynn stayed over a bit after work and when we are together there is more screeching and ultimate DEATH happening than writing. Once she left, I got a lot more words in. ;)

I always like to start the first day off with more than just the daily goal, and I got to accomplish that! Yay!

Day 2!

2,281

I honestly don't remember what I did this day. Obviously I wrote...O.O

OH!....

Wait........

WAIT.

*three minutes later*

Um. I went for a walk and drew...I think. O.O

Day 3!

4,798

OOH! This was quite a day.

When I wasn't doing this-

I was doing this--

I was pretty productive. OuO

And yes, I know. I'm a major creeper. I promise, I'm not a psychopath. XD XD

Quote from the day:

Dee: *having a laughing attack/mental breakdown/being Dee*

Me: Jaclynn, you've been a mess for the past weeks. I don't think I wanna be your friend anymore.

Dee: *can't even*

Day 4!

1,067

Now, today....WAS SO LOW MOTIVATION FOR ME. I didn't want to write or draw or do anything. I just wanted to watch shows. So, at like 9:30pm I scrambled and wrote over a thousand words in like a half an hour. My goal is to write every single day, even if it's only a sentence or two. GOTTA KEEP THE STREAK ALIVE!!! XD

So, now that the first week is over of NaNo, my altogether word count isssss......

10,489 WORDS! I am 20% of the way done to my goal, and I feel really good about it! I'm only four days into the month and I'm nearly a quarter of the way to my goal!! LIKE WHAATTT?
That seems so close in such a short time, but in reality I know I'm still so far away. 

*more crazed laughing from the beginning of this post*

So, yeah. That's how this has gone for me. Dee and I have been warring and stuff, which is super helpful, and the main reason I've written so much!
*does cheerleading stuff*

*collapses cuz so tired*

SHARE WITH ME YOUR WORD COUNT AND STUFF SO I CAN FEEL CHALLENGED AND ALL THAT STUFF. :D

-Emma-

P.S. Next week I'm gonna try to share snippets of my story with you guys, but it's really late tonight AND I MUST SLEEP.

Star Wars Genderbent Drawing Challenge!

Hullo!!!

Okay, if you don't know-- I am a huge YouTube addict.

So, I have a few drawing YouTube channels I follow and they always do fun challenges, and I have been feeling more and more like I want to do my own drawing challenges on my blog!

SO, I PRESENT TO YOU GENDER BENDING. XD

If you don't know what that is, it's when you take a character and swap their gender and imagine what they would be like! I decided to do this with The Force Awakens characters. :D

 The first character I did this with was Rey! This was my first time ever trying to do this, so not my favorite- but not bad either. :) It's actually pretty hard to figure out how to keep similar features of a girl and turn them into a guy.... I think it's easier changing a guy character into a girl character. ;D

Like Kylo Ren! This is my favorite character to bend and I really like how it turned out! I think it still captures the original features of Kylo Ren. :) I know a lot of people think genderbent things are weird, and it's a little weird even to me, but ultimately I think it's fun and cool! XD

And the final character I bent for this challenge was FINN! I think this one turned out really cool! I like what I did with her hair, it seems Finn like to me. :)

***

I hope you liked this post! I did it pretty quickly, but it was still really fun to try out! STRETCH THOSE ARTIST MUSCLES.

*artist muscles cry out in pain cuz I never give them a break*

*shushes artist muscles*

If you wanna see more challenges, maybe even some writing ones- TELL ME! If you have any ideas for challenges- ALSO TELL ME! XD

-Emma-

Which character was your favorite to see genderbent?

FRENSHIP DRAWINGS!

(Yes, FRENSHIP. If you didn't know that's how we spell it go look at the page on my blog. ;D)

Hi everyone!!

I thought it was about time to do a drawing post since I haven't really done an official one since I came back posting more. ;)
 So what would be a better group of drawings than the ones that are FREN related! The "FRENS" are Jaclynn and my friends in Kansas- you probably know some of them from other posts and the page I made describing who they are and stuff. ;) IF YOU HAVEN'T GO READ IT AND THIS WILL BE LESS CONFUSING. Maybe. XD

AGH! I decided to start this post of with a bang and show you guys one of my all time favorite FREN drawings- if not one of my favorite drawings--- period. ;D

It's me, Dee, and Hershey dressed super fancy for a masquerade!!!!

*wills it to be real*

Another FREN drawing I really like! Some of the FRENS don't look as great as I wish, but others are like PERRRFFF!!! XD

(From left to right- Twix, Hershey, me, Gummi, Dee, Fudge, and Churro)

Now this drawing took me a few nights accomplish!! All the complex shading and figuring out how to fit TEN PEOPLE in one drawing! That's always difficult to manage. O.O

(From left to right- top to bottom. First row- me, Dee, Cobbler, Hershey, Twix, Gummi, Fudge

Second row- Nilla, Taffy, Churro.) 

Baking with FRENSS!!! I love how this one turned out, everyone looks really good imo, and OUR APRONS!!! A cookie apron for me (Cookie), a donut one for Dee (donut), then a chocolate bar look to Hershey's!! XD AGH LOVE. <3

(Left to right- Fudge, Taffy, me, Dee, Hershey)

EEK! I love this drawing too! It's of Hershey, Dee, and me in my room just hanging out and hermitting together. ;) It looks a ton like my actual bedroom and I love. XD

ME, HERSHEY, AND DEE AS TODDLERSSS! 

*awwww*

Okay, you guys know I like POP!s-- SO I DREW US THREE AS THEM!!! 

I actually drew Churro, Fudge, and Taffy as POP!s too, but in a different drawing. ;)

I posted this drawing of me as a Sith on Instagram and it's my second most popular post! After finishing it, I realized I had to do more FRENS in this style!

Hershey as a JEDI! 

DEE AS A JEDI! XD

(I had to go buy purple copic markers for her lightsaber XD)

This drawing was so fun to do! Me, Dee, and Hershey as elements! I assume you can figure out who is who. ;) 

BUT THIS DRAWING IS PRETTY EPIC. XD

This drawing was pretty fast and easy, but I think it's so cute! It's us carving pumpkins- unless you're like Jaclynn and paints her pumpkin. ;D

The final drawing! I'm not sure how to describe this, but it's obvious it's very fall-y. :D

I hope you enjoyed looking at a ton of the FRENSHIP drawings I've done! I've made so many, it's insane. O.O I'm usually drawing just Hershey, Dee, and I at the moment- it's fun to do more best FREN drawings. ;D

Now...to go try to prep for NaNo and stop procrastinating. Hm.
Ha.
Ha.
Stop procrastinating.
That's a funny joke.
XD XD XD

-Emma-

My NaNo Prep So Far...

It is officially the last month before NaNoWriMo.

*dies*

If that doesn't freak you out, I don't know what will. NaNo is amazing, but INSANE!!

I've basically procrastinated my prep for it all this time, after struggling through two failed book ideas, I finally found an idea I liked. And that would work.

I think.

But just because I have this idea doesn't mean I have a complete plot- there are so many more things I'm nowhere near figuring out! So that means---October is the prepping month.

I have to kick my non-motivated butt into action!!

This is my idea journal or whatever you wanna call it! This is basically all I've touched concerning prep. All of my ideas and brainstorming go in here!

I have a page that has the start of what I think my novel will be on it- but I need to fill up way more pages.

*sobs into the floor*

I have the best understanding of my main character...which...happened....because...

*nervous laughing*

Because innocently, Jaclynn and I decided- HEY! Let's write our characters together as a writing exercise to get to know them more!
So of course we did that.

She had a girl character (since then her NaNo novel has changed, but that was originally her character).

And I have a guy character.

Can you see where this is heading? XD

We started out writing really awkwardly because I had no inspiration, but soon enough we were writing like crazy...the writing exercise went over the span of a couple weeks...And...the inevitability of us TOTALLY SHIPPING OUR CHARACTERS TOGETHER HAPPENED.

I've drawn some fan art...

This was just the start of all the fan art to come afterward. I think in total I made...eight drawings of these two love birds...XD XD

(edited by Jaclynn)

But besides us making a huge ship for our two separate characters, I learned a lot about my character Zack! I think it'll be easier to hear his voice now when I write him in the first draft. If he would just shut up about how he's made for Evelyn, maybe I could focus. XD LOL!

(picture does not belong to me. I found it on Pinterest. XD)

This is a real life, not drawing of what I imagine Zack to look like! If he was one hundred percent accurate, he would look just a little different, but this is pretty good. ;)

This was a drawing I posted on Instagram of another one of my characters! She is the actual love interest of Zack's, even though once again- Zack is yelling about Evelyn. 

*sigh*
BE QUIET, ZACK, I KNOW.

Basically my NaNo prep has involved too much drawing and not enough deciding what my PLOT IS EVEN ABOUT.

(That's how you know I love drawing more than writing. XD)

So, tell me! How is your guys' prep going? Have you ever drawn your characters before? :) I love to do it, I feel like I get to personally figure out more about them from it. ;)

Thank you for reading my post! :D

-Emma-

P.S. Tell me if you want to learn more about Zevelyn...I have multiple screenshots of our texts and how their story all went down. Plus an abundance of drawings. XD