Skip to content

E. G. Bella

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Books
    • The Toymaker’s Doll
    • The Secretive Seas Series
  • Free Stories
    • Bacon Sandwiches (Flash Fiction)
    • One Step Away (Short Story)
    • Christmas Dragon (Short Story)
    • Before the Mirror Broke (Short Story)
    • Not the Wind (Short Story)
  • Newsletter
  • Meet the Author
    • Bella’s Bio: Media
    • Bella’s Bio: Long
    • Join Her Street Team!
  • Contact

Tag: Short stories

What Readers Are Saying About The Toymaker’s Doll

December 24, 2021

Here’s what readers are saying about ‘The Toymaker’s Doll’. … More What Readers Are Saying About The Toymaker’s Doll

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • More
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...
1 Comment What Readers Are Saying About The Toymaker’s Doll

My 2021 Writing Goals

January 6, 2021

These are the writing goals I hope to reach in 2021. What are yours? … More My 2021 Writing Goals

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • More
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...
9 Comments My 2021 Writing Goals

What I’ve Written in 2020 (part two)

December 30, 2020

Here’s MORE of what I’ve written in 2020 – and what I’ve learned from those projects.
… More What I’ve Written in 2020 (part two)

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • More
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...
2 Comments What I’ve Written in 2020 (part two)

e.g.bella

e.g.bella
Happy third day of the Five Fall Favorites Blog Pa Happy third day of the Five Fall Favorites Blog Party! 🎉🍁

Today's prompt asks us to share five of our favorite buddy-read books!

Admittedly, I didn't realize this usually means books that you've read at the same time as a friend. 

So I interpreted it to mean books with great besties inside, or ones that I've since shared with friends. I would have gladly read any of them at the same time as friends though!

You can find my post by following the link in my bio, and don't forget to head to our host, @ordinaryauthorkate's, blog for information on a pretty awesome giveaway, a free book deal, and for the full list of bloggers! ❤️

There are over 500 book recommendations this week! Don't miss them!

🍁

#fivefallfavorites #fivefallfavorites2023 #blogparty #bookrecommendations #fallbooks #TBRlist #favoritebooks #fallreads #bookishgifts #bookishrecs #fallvibes #cozyreading #somanybookssolittletime
Happy second day of the Five Fall Favorites Blog P Happy second day of the Five Fall Favorites Blog Party! 🎉🍁

Today we're back with five of our favorite secondhand book finds! 

I absolutely love thrifting books (most of the ones I own are from secondhand stores), so this was a fun prompt for me. 

You can find my post by following the link in my bio, and don't forget to head to our host, @ordinaryauthorkate's, blog for information on a pretty awesome giveaway, a free book deal, and for the full list of bloggers! ❤️

There are over 500 book recommendations this week! Don't miss them!

🍁

#fivefallfavorites #fivefallfavorites2023 #blogparty #bookrecommendations #fallbooks #TBRlist #favoritebooks #fallreads #bookishgifts #bookishrecs #fallvibes #cozyreading #somanybookssolittletime
⚓️ CABIN GIRL GIVEAWAY WINNERS ⚓️ I'm so ⚓️ CABIN GIRL GIVEAWAY WINNERS ⚓️

I'm so thrilled to announce the winners of the Cabin Girl giveaway! We had such a great group of entrants, and I'm grateful for each and every one of you!

THE WINNERS....

U. S. WINNER = Bree Pembrook

"INTERNATIONAL" WINNER = Dana Caldwell (@author.danacaldwell)
(note: we didn't end up having any international entrants, so I drew a second randomized name)

A huge congratulations to the both of you! 🎉 Your prizes are heading your way!

And thank you again to everyone who participated! You helped make it a fantastic launch week, and I loved interacting with you all! 

I look forward to more bookish fun in the future! 🧡📚

⚓️

#cabingirl #egbella #cabingirllaunchtour #cabingirlgiveaway #giveawaywinners #bookishprizes #prizes #signedpaperback #freeebook #bookmail #winners
Happy first day of the Five Fall Favorites Blog Pa Happy first day of the Five Fall Favorites Blog Party! 🎉🍁

I'm so excited to be participating in FFF for the second time! This is also the 8th year in a row that the event's been held!

Once again, the talented @ordinaryauthorkate has organized it all, and she has a fantastic group of bloggers sharing all of their favorite bookish recommendations this week!

So stay tuned starting today through September 30th for some great reads to add to your TBR! 

Today, I shared five of my favorite gifted reads, which you can find on my blog. I look forward to seeing you there! 

And don't forget to head to Kate's blog for information on a pretty awesome giveaway, and for the full list of bloggers! It's a long list! ❤️

So excited for this! 

🍁

#fivefallfavorites #fivefallfavorites2023 #blogparty #bookrecommendations #fallbooks #TBRlist #favoritebooks #fallreads #bookishgifts #bookishrecs #fallvibes #cozyreading #somanybookssolittletime
⚓️ Unbox my author copies with me! ⚓️ The ⚓️ Unbox my author copies with me! ⚓️

The first two batches of Cabin Girl came last night, and they're all spoken for! These ones are direct orders, and they're going to be signed and bundled with two matching bookmarks. 

So exciting! Head to my website if you're interested in getting any directly from me 📚

⚓️

#cabingirl #egbella #author copies #directorder #signedcopies #paperback #indieauthor #christianfiction #pitatebook #debutnovel #newrelease
It’s been an absolutely wonderful launch tour, y It’s been an absolutely wonderful launch tour, you guys. Thank you so much to everyone who participated, in any way. I appreciate each and every one of you!

The reception for Cabin Girl has been so much greater than I expected. Both in the number of people who’ve purchased copies or expressed interest in reading it, and in how many people have enjoyed it. I’ve been blown away by the support.

Cabin Girl has been such a huge part of my journey, and I’m so glad that I’ve found an encouraging and like-minded group of readers to share it with.

So what’s next?

Well, I want to take some time to step away from the writing/publishing buzz and catch up on reading. I need to stop and refuel the creative part of my brain before I pick up another project.

But I’m also aware that NaNoWriMo is fast approaching…and I may use it as motivation to start editing my next project. 

The project?

🌊

Hungry. Homeless. Held captive by the agonizing memories of surroundings he’s helpless to change.

And in his sights, The Lonely Eye—a ship he believes could change it all.

Determined to escape Morocco and forge his own future, young Gideon Mansur announces to an entire tavern of The Eye’s crew that he will, in fact, be their captain. 

The only problem? They already have a captain, and he’s not looking to give up his position any time soon.

That, and Gideon doesn’t know anything about captaining a ship, or the Barbary slave trade. Not that he’ll admit it.

With the reluctant help of his childhood slave and friend, Ibo, Gideon finds himself on a stormy journey to secure the ship—and life—of his dreams. 

But he’s not the only one with those intentions. Amidst ship fights, attempts to steal his success, grumbling crewmen, and the ever-growing unease of Ibo, only one thing’s clear. 

He will be a great captain. And he’ll do whatever it takes to get there.

🌊

That's a very rough synopsis and I don't have much more information yet, because it's still a first draft, but the next project is Gills - a Cabin Girl prequel story. 

So while this is the end of Cabin Girl's launch, it's definitely not the end of its story. I can't wait to continue sharing this series with you!

Stay tuned!
Day #10 of the #cabingirlbooktag! ⚓️ This is Day #10 of the #cabingirlbooktag! ⚓️

This is our very last day left in the launch tour! It's crazy how fast the week has gone, but I'm excited for our final posts today. As always, head to my website for the final posts and links, and don't miss your last chance to join the giveaway! 🔥

Today's (last) tag prompt is about a book you didn't expect to like but did. Maybe Cabin Girl will be one of those books for you? 😁

I never expected to write a pirate book. I didn't have anything against them, they just were never even on my radar as an author.

And I don't know why, because I used to play "pirate" as a kid all of the time, and some of my favorite movies and books are in that genre. It just didn't seem like something I'd write well, I guess. 

But after a sudden spark of inspiration while brainstorming for a novel in high school, I couldn't get the idea out of my mind.

One of the characters in particular was incredibly vivid, and the plot line intrigued me...and we see where that's led us. 

Although I never expected to write a pirate book (much less an entire pirate series - see my other post today!), I'm so glad I took the plunge. This has been such a fun experience and I'm looking forward to continuing it. 

It lets me write historical fiction like I want, but with the fun wiggle room of rumors and unspecified details from that time period. And plus, pirates are just fun 😉

I'm so glad that I stepped outside of my comfort zone and dove into something new (pun intended). It's been such a great experience! 

What's one book you didn't expect to like but did? What elements won you over?

🍀

#egbella #cabingirl #booktag #launchtour #debutnovel #indieauthor #piratenovel #piratefiction #christianauthor #christianfiction #adventurenovel #yafiction #cleanfiction #toughtopics #truth #bravefiction #christianfictionauthor #booksthatmademecry #charactergrowth #favoriteanimalcharacters #indiefiction #selfpublishing #booklaunch #lifelessons
Day #9 of the #cabingirlbooktag! ⚓️ Only two Day #9 of the #cabingirlbooktag! ⚓️

Only two more days left in the launch tour, but the fun posts aren't done yet! Go to my website for the latest posts and links, and don't miss your chance to go join the giveaway! 🔥

Today's tag prompt features a book that made you cry. Cabin Girl has made that happen a few times. 

I don't cry very easily at books. I can still count on one hand the number of books that have made me tear up. 

Obviously it's different being the author of a book, because we get so invested in our stories. We spend so long in them and with the characters, so we get more attached. 

Naturally, it makes sense that we might cry more easily at our own stories when we're first writing them. 

There are a couple of places in Cabin Girl that have made me tear up consistently. Even though I know what's going to happen, or what a character will have to go through, it still just hits home for me. 

And from feedback I've received from readers, I'm not the only one who's had that struggle with Cabin Girl. 

It seems strange to be "glad" that my book has made people cry, but I promise its with the best motivations! Others being that invested in my story and caring for my characters that much is a huge compliment.

It's not often stories can touch our hearts so deeply, but I'm praying Cabin Girl has that effect for people. 

What's one book that made you cry? Would you recommend it?

🍀

#egbella #cabingirl #booktag #launchtour #debutnovel #indieauthor #piratenovel #piratefiction #christianauthor #christianfiction #adventurenovel #yafiction #cleanfiction #toughtopics #truth #bravefiction #christianfictionauthor #booksthatmademecry #charactergrowth #favoriteanimalcharacters #indiefiction #selfpublishing #booklaunch #lifelessons
Day #8 of the #cabingirlbooktag! ⚓️ We're app Day #8 of the #cabingirlbooktag! ⚓️

We're approaching the end of the launch tour, but there are still so many great posts coming up! Head over to my website for the latest posts and links, and if you haven't already, don't forget to go join the giveaway! 🔥

Today's tag prompt is about a heart-wrenching betrayal. 

For the sake of spoilers, this might be my shortest tag post. However, I can say that there are so many twists in turns in Cabin Girl, and several instances of what I'd call betrayal. 

Most people, when they hear of a pirate story, picture something like Pirates of the Caribbean. Something with treasure-hunting, tropical-water-sailing pirates with gold teeth and accents. And those stories are so fun!

Cabin Girl is a bit different though. It focuses on a ship of Barbary pirates instead, slave traders from Africa that hunt the European coast. 

And with that darker tone, a more introspective, mysterious story came about. This book still has a good amount of action and pirate adventure, but there's a constant undercurrent of turmoil and dread.

Every time the protagonist thinks she's finally figured things out, she's hit with another unexpected twist - almost always an awful one. 

So if you like stories with intrigue and plot twists, you just might enjoy Cabin Girl...why not give it a try?

Have you read a book or watched a movie where there's a heart-wrenching betrayal? Did you see it coming?

🍀

#egbella #cabingirl #booktag #launchtour #debutnovel #indieauthor #piratenovel #piratefiction #christianauthor #christianfiction #adventurenovel #yafiction #cleanfiction #toughtopics #truth #bravefiction #christianfictionauthor #betrayal #charactergrowth #favoriteanimalcharacters #indiefiction #selfpublishing #booklaunch #lifelessons
⚓️ CABIN GIRL REVIEWS ⚓️ Before I pick up ⚓️ CABIN GIRL REVIEWS ⚓️

Before I pick up a book, I like to hear from other people that have read it, to see whether they enjoyed it or not. 

What kinds of comments do they have? What did they like? Will I probably like it too?

Reviews are incredibly important for authors. And in particular, indie authors that don't have a huge marketing budget, rely heavily on reviews to sell books. 

Books with lots of reviews (even if there are some negative ones mixed in!) sell so much better than books with no reviews. 

As readers, not many of us are willing to give some new author a try if no one else has read that book yet. We don't want to risk our time and money on something we don't know. What if it's awful? 

That's where reviews come in. Even if they're just a line or two, that feedback can be the difference between a potential reader giving our books a shot, or being too wary and passing on by. 

And whether the reviews are on the marketplace (for me, that would be Amazon), sent directly to the author to be used in posts like this or in marketing materials, or on a review site like Goodreads, they're all so helpful!

There aren't many reviews out there for Cabin Girl yet, but in case you haven't seen the ones that are floating around, I wanted to share some today. Here are a few of them!

(And if you've read Cabin Girl, or plan to soon, please consider leaving a review wherever you're able!)

Thank you to everyone who's already sent feedback and reviews! You are so appreciated ❤️

⚓️

#cabingirl #egbella #cabingirllaunchtour #cabingirlreview #bookreviews #debutnovel #piratefiction #piratenovel #yafiction #cleanyafiction #indieauthor #indiefiction #selfpublishing #christianfiction #christianauthor #bookreviews #reviews #honestreviews #bookfeedback
Day #7 of the #cabingirlbooktag! ⚓️ The launc Day #7 of the #cabingirlbooktag! ⚓️

The launch tour continues in full swing! Head over to my website for the latest posts and links, and if you haven't already, don't forget to go join the giveaway! 🔥

Today's prompt is about a book where a character overcomes their fear. The protagonist in Cabin Girl definitely had to do that! 

Fear and courage are two very prominent themes in Cabin Girl. 

The protagonist is not a naturally courageous person, and I can relate to her a lot in that way. She's timid, unsure, and would rather not rock the boat - literally. 

But when she's taken from her family and surrounded by cruel pirates AND never-ending ocean, she very quickly has to come to terms with that fear if she's ever going to get home. 

God may help her and offer some solutions, but they require some effort on her part, too. They require her to completely trust Him with what's happening, to give Him her fear.

And eventually, she grows enough in both her faith and her courage to start to overcome her fears, one small, shaky step at a time. 

Have you read any books where a character overcomes their fear? Can you relate to their struggle?

🍀

#egbella #cabingirl #booktag #launchtour #debutnovel #indieauthor #piratenovel #piratefiction #christianauthor #christianfiction #adventurenovel #yafiction #cleanfiction #toughtopics #truth #bravefiction #christianfictionauthor #overcomingfear #charactergrowth #favoriteanimalcharacters #indiefiction #selfpublishing #booklaunch #lifelessons
⚓️ BIBLE VERSES THAT REMIND ME OF CABIN GIRL ⚓️

If you've been following my posts about Cabin Girl, you probably know by now that it's a Christian fiction book. The protagonist is Christian, and there are many Christian themes and values inside. 

Not all of my books are explicitly Christian (although they will always have truthful and hopeful values), but it was important to me that Cabin Girl was. 

Through the protagonist’s struggles, growth, development, and relationships, I wanted to show very clearly how God can work in our lives as well.

There are so many places in this story that remind me of specific verses from the Bible. 

So today I wanted to take a moment and share a few of those verses. Hopefully they give you an even bigger glimpse into the heart behind Cabin Girl.

(And yes, I am aware of the cultural and historical background behind some of these verses. But in many cases, the truths behind them still apply to us today. And with that, they reminded me of this book.)

THE VERSES:

~ Psalm 56:3-4
~ Isaiah 43:2
~ Genesis 50:20
~ Matthew 14:27
~ Joshua 1:9
~ 1 Corinthians 4:7-8
~ 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
~ Psalm 46:1-3
~ 2 Corinthians 5:17

❤️

 #cabingirl #egbella #cabingirllaunchtour #bibleverses #bookishfacts #scripture #christianfiction #christianauthor #indieauthor #launchtour #indiefiction #truth #riskyfiction
Load More Follow on Instagram

Goodreads

  • 5 Tips for Writing
  • Announcements
  • Author Interviews
  • Blog tags
  • blog tour
  • Book Reviews
  • Cabin Girl
  • Cabin Girl Blog Tour
  • Cover Reveals
  • Experiments
  • Five Fall Favorites
  • Fun Fridays
  • Gills
  • Guest Posts
  • Jokes
  • Love languages
  • My Favorites
  • My Writing
  • poetry
  • Quotes
  • Reading
  • Sunday Reflections
  • The Four Temperaments
  • The Toymaker's Doll
  • Uncategorized
  • Wedding/Marriage
  • What I'm Learning
  • Wrap-Ups
  • Writing Wednesday
    WordPress.com.
     

    Loading Comments...
     

      %d bloggers like this: