E. G. Bella

Hello and happy Wednesday!

Today’s post is a recap of my first three months of 2023, complete with general life updates, writing achievements, reading progress, and goals. And as always, I’m looking forward to hearing how life is going for you so far this year!

Let’s get started . . .

General Update

Last week, I gave a pretty thorough update on my current life happenings in this post (click the highlighted words to read it). But for those that didn’t catch it, I’m now merely three days away from getting married! Tomorrow starts the decorating, primary food prep, rehearsals, and last-minute details, and while it will be crazy, I’m looking forward to it. Saturday should be a wonderful day!

The weather has been warming up, and the sun has been out more lately! However, April 1st is forecasted to be a bit colder than the rest of this week, and even snow . . . that’s April for you. Thankfully, the ceremony and reception will both be indoors. My fiancé and I keep reminding ourselves that as long as we’re married by the end of the day, the day will be a success, so if the weather wants to play a little April Fool’s joke on us, that’s okay!

Migraines have continued to be much better than they were last summer! They do get worse after major events, so we’re wary of the coming weekend, but doing everything we can to hopefully keep a major one at bay. I’m so blessed to have a caring, hardworking, and generous family that’s been so helpful to us in the planning. We’re in good hands!

Fiction

Big surprise, my fiction writing has been almost nonexistent this year. However, the unintended break has actually been much more helpful than I expected. It’s strange how this seems to work with fiction, but not constantly thinking about Cabin Girl has really helped clear my mind and figure out how to fix a couple final plot problems with the story.

And after spending so much time on tedious editing last year, the break has been refreshing, and I’m finding myself very eager to get back to it again. Who would have guessed I’d be excited to edit, but here we are. It will be nice to ease back into it after settling into our new home.

On the Blog

Blogging has been slower so far this year, but much better than my fiction writing. January had four posts, February only had one, and counting this one, March will have three. I continue to be astonished by the increase in views and visitors (we already have more views and visitors to this site in 2023 than we did in all of 2021).

I’ve loved interacting with more and more new readers, and continue to feel so grateful and blessed by the regular readers (you guys know who you are <3).

Here’s the blog posts from this quarter:
~ My 2023 Goals
~ My 2023 Reading List
~ What I Wrote in 2022
~ New Year’s Resolution Book Tag
~ Fellow Author Cover Reveal: Heart of Fire
~ The Once Upon a Time Book Tag
~ Final Reflections of a Single Bella
~ and of course, this one!

Reading List

I have high ambitions for reading this year, and while I’m currently behind on my goal according to Goodreads, I figured the majority of my reading would happen after the wedding, so it’s okay. So far, I’ve read 11 books, and managed to get through all of my borrowed books before moving. I didn’t want to chance losing them in the chaos!

Here are a few of my favorites from the past three months:
~ Preparing for Marriage God’s Way by Wayne A. Mack
~ All Things For Good by Thomas Watson
~ Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed by Philip Hallie
~ The Harry Potter series! (I’ve re-read the first two so far)

You can always keep up with my reading list (and reviews) on Goodreads.

Looking Forward

My fiancé and I will be taking two weeks off work after the wedding to rest and settle in, so you probably won’t hear much (if anything) from me until the end of April. I’m really looking forward to that time to accomplish what we need to with minimal interruptions, and also just rest and recover from all of this excitement and busyness.

After we’ve figured out our new normal as far as routines go, we’re hoping I’m able to write – blogging and fiction – a bit more for the remainder of this year. I’ll have a better idea of what to expect when I come back, so I’ll keep you updated!

Thank you all for the prayers and congratulations, and for sharing in my excitement! I’m praying you have a joyful, blessed, and sunny Easter season!

What has the first three months of 2023 been like for you? Have you made progress on some of your goals, or learned some important lessons? What are you looking forward to in the next quarter? I’d love to hear about what’s been going on in your life!

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