E. G. Bella

Hello and happy Wednesday!

Today’s post brings another summary of the past month of my life – with writing progress reports, reading accomplishments, and general updates!

So without further ado . . .

General Update

Just like last month, in some ways it felt like August flew by, and in other ways it felt like it dragged on forever. Either way, I’m still struggling to believe September is right around the corner. I love autumn weather though, so I’m looking forward to that. The cool air but warm sunshine, changing colors, crisp smells… it’s so beautiful in the fall!

August was full of events, packing them in before the return of fall and all the extra commitments that come with it. My family held a gathering for my brother’s high school graduation, my boyfriend and I celebrated one year of being together and have attempted to get through most of our summer to-do list now that I’ve been nearby again (we went tubing, for walks, to the local zoo, swimming, on a homemade water slide, helped out with my church’s VBS, and played lots of board games). I also turned twenty!

The migraines have been ‘inconsistently consistent’, meaning that I still can’t plan around them very well, but they’ve seemed to be every couple of weeks and lasting around a week to 10 days every time. I’d like to say I’m handling them well and figuring it all out, but they’ve been more of a struggle than I thought, physically and emotionally. That said, I’ve been blessed to notice God working in many meaningful ways, and that’s encouraging.

Fiction Writing

I wrote a lot less fiction than in July, with an August total of 2,127 words. Still, I’m happy to have written anything in addition to all the non-fiction (blog post) writing. My main September goal is to finish my rewrite of Cabin Girl, so hopefully I have a lot more fiction writing to report by the end of next month!

And although I didn’t do much writing for Cabin Girl this month, I did put into practice some of the things I’m learning about in the Publish & Thrive course I’m finishing up. So I’m happy to say I’ve now figured out a detailed publishing timeline for the Cabin Girl series (to be announced in my newsletter soon), and the series actually has its own name now!

Look for The Secretive Seas Series in 2023!

On the Blog

Blogging went pretty well this month! Again, I was able to pre-write most of them at the beginning of August, and then just keep on top of posting and sharing them on time.

Like I said I would at the beginning of the summer, when I switched to posting once or twice weekly as opposed to 2-3 times, I’ve kept careful attention to the new schedule and have decided to stick with it for the foreseeable future. I love writing on this blog, but want to find that perfect balance between writing here, and also writing fiction! After deciding to stick with this schedule, I went ahead and brainstormed most of the posts for this fall, too.

Here are the posts for August (just click on the links to read them):

~ The Remarkable Blogger Tag
~ 2022 July Wrap-Up
~ It’s Okay to Change
~ The Strike Out Challenge
~ Keep Growing (ft. my first stories)
~ 20 Lessons I’ve Learned in 20 Years
~ and this one (no link needed!)

Reading List

Well, reading kind of fell by the wayside this month. I had other priorities and sadly only finished one book (in one night, because my sister and I were loaning it and needed to give it back the next day, haha). Thankfully, I foresee more reading in September – and it’s a good thing because I have so many books I want to get to.

~ The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau
(There was nothing especially unique about this book compared to most popular dystopians, but I happen to like dystopian novels too much to mind, haha. I enjoyed this story, and would have liked to see even more of the characters’ arcs. The backstory was fascinating, the plot intriguing, and the content was mostly clean – definitely a plus!)

Looking Forward

With the return of fall, my schedule is about to explode again, even though I’m not in school. Youth group is starting up again, and as I’m helping with that, it means practicing and attempting to take over leading our worship each week, along with helping out in other areas. School also starts for the children I nanny, as well as a Bible study I attend. All of a sudden my schedule is much fuller, and I didn’t realize that was possible.

On the writing side of things, again, my goal is to finish rewriting Cabin Girl this month. I think that’s pretty doable, but am also reminding myself that any progress is good progress. If life throws too many curveballs and I can’t finish, I’ll still be thrilled with rewriting anything. Rest is another priority of mine, as I notice the migraines get much worse when I don’t. Along with that is making reading a stronger priority. It’s a great way to destress.

Spiritually, I need to emphasize prayer more than ever. I’ve never been an overly anxious person and can usually push worrisome thoughts from my mind before they cause too much trouble. Lately however, I’ve caught myself worrying about when the next migraine might come, and stressing over how unlike myself I feel mentally. I’ve been reminded of how much prayer helps soothe those fears, and that God is right here. Although my circumstances may be changing, He is perfect and unchanging. Hallelujah for that!

What was YOUR August like? What kinds of things did you get to do? If you have a progress report on something, or books you read and would like to share, go ahead and let me know in the comments! And while you’re at it, feel free to include what you’re looking forward to and/or hoping to accomplish in September! As always, I’m excited to hear from you!

Recent Posts:

• Top 5 Gifted Finds (Five Fall Favorites 2023)
• The End…And The Beginning of Cabin Girl’s Release (Launch Tour: Day 7)
• What I’ve Learned While Writing Cabin Girl (Launch Tour: Day 6)