Abstract In my ambition to improve my writing and reflect upon the way I express myself I am, in this paper, going to study the purport of the term pathetic. I do this by inquiring what lexicon and dictionaries say about the term and by studying how the word can be used in present time. I apply the contemporary usage of the term pathetic to my own text and then adapt my text from how the term is used in our time. By doing this I clarify to myself how I look at my own literary style, what I want my writing to be like and how the progress in my composing is developing. According to the interpretations I have done, I find meanings like “ridiculous” and meanings which have to do with strong emotions as well. It is between these meanings the importance of the term pathetic can be seen – the aspiration of being emotional without crossing the line to the ridiculous becomes a part of my further texts. This paper also elucidates the way memories make us emotional, which has given me new ideas about writing, both stylistically and from the point of view of content. Furthermore, my conclusions can be used to analyze my prospective writing. In summary it is all about being able to balance on the pathetic tightrope.