Donna Goddard

March 22, 2023March 22, 2023

Name Changes for Nanima

The Nanima Series has had a few name (and cover) changes. The series is now called the Dadirri Series. Book 1 remains as Nanima. The current book we are on (which is Book 2) is now called Geboor. You will see why in the next part (coming soon).

Recent Review of Nanima

Divine and Enchanting The story shows that life’s challenges can make people forget or lose the feeling of simplicity, magic, and beauty. I like Maliyan’s interactions with Luna and her coffee shop visits at Luna Tiks; the feeling of staying in Euroka’s place; Mrs. Knuckle, the leaf-reader; the part where Maliyan visits the resting place of her parents and also when she attended church. By weaving her past memories with the present, Maliyan finds healing, not only in the physical but also in the spiritual. Maliyan has a better and deeper understanding of it, stressing the importance of protecting and respecting the earth, recognizing herself and her connection to the Divine. It’s refreshing, enlightening and inspirational!

March 12, 2023

Riverland: Are You Ready?

Here is the next part of Riverland (children’s fiction).

“Are you ready?” Nannie asked Uncle Tim.

Uncle Tim didn’t know if he was ready or not. It didn’t matter because Nannie was ready.

Sinking

Lie flat on your back with your arms and legs stretched out. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath into your stomach—in and then out. Take another breath in. Slowly breathe out. Feel your body relaxing into the bed. One more deep breath in. This time when you breathe out, completely relax as if your body is sinking into the middle of your mattress.

March 5, 2023March 21, 2023

Geboor (Book 2 of Dadirri Series): Poustinia

Part 2—Sacred Spaces (Autumn)
Poustinik Dancer

Something about the dance studio this morning reminded Maliyan of a poustinia. Its lack of people, furniture, and electricity. Its striking emptiness. Poustinia is a Russian word for a sparsely furnished cabin where one goes to pray and fast. Its most fundamental element is its aloneness. Alone, except for God. In Russia, poustiniks often live on the edges of towns. They are available to their community for spiritual help and sometimes practical help. Although Maliyan had plenty of self-starting drive to dance in her poustinia, there was no doubt that another body, another being, another type of energy gave dance a different and wonderful dimension.

February 20, 2023February 21, 2023

Riverland: Bye-Bye Bellas (children’s fiction)

Here is the next chapter of my new children’s book, Riverland (Book 1 of the Dividing Line Series).

Uncle Tim went to Riverland because of his dog, Bella Number 2, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, which is a rather grand name for a roly-poly, snorty-porty, smoochy-pouchy sort of dog.

February 13, 2023February 22, 2023

Riverland: Halves Matter (children’s story)

Here is the first chapter of my new children’s book, Riverland (Book 1 of the Dividing Line).

Chapter 1: Halves Matter

I wasn’t the first one in my family to visit Riverland. The first one was Uncle Tim. He was five when he went. I wasn’t around when he was five. I was invisible. My mother says that nowadays, I’m very visible. That’s because I’m seven and a half. Seven and a half is much older than seven. Halves matter a lot when you’ve only been visible for a short amount of halves. I guess halves don’t matter when you have been around as long as Nannie.

January 21, 2023March 21, 2023

Dadirri Series Background

Here are some real-life places on which the fictional places of the Dadirri Series are based.

The fictional town of Nanima is rural Wellington, N.S.W., Australia.
The main female character has adopted the Aboriginal name of Maliyan, the Wiradjuri name for wedge-tailed eagle (totem for the Binjang mob of Wellington).
Fictional Luna Tiks cafe (Four Cats) is across the road from the empty, pink dance school.
Cathedral Cave (Wellington Caves) is where Maliyan meets the spirit of Wandaang, who wants his ancestor’s bones back.
The tiny fictional town of Yan Yan Gurt (where Maliyan’s ancestors come from) is Stuart Town.
Historic Stuart Town cemetery is the Yan Yan Gurt cemetery where Maliyan senses her ancestor’s spirits.
The mystic artist character, Euroka, gets his name from a family property in the area.

January 9, 2023March 21, 2023

Geboor (Book 2 of Dadirri Series): Shophouse

Spectrum

“I think you are on the spectrum, boo,” said Luna.

Maliyan laughed and thought, Always the joker.

Luna wasn’t smiling and continued sympathetically, “Lots of people are. I mean, I like people on the spectrum. I find them interesting.”

Maliyan wasn’t sure what was worse—Luna’s diagnosis of her mental state or his trying to make it better by kindly reassuring her that, regardless, it was fine with him. It made it all the funnier or all the more disturbing.

January 6, 2023January 6, 2023

Widening the Horizon

Spiritual progress is inevitably accompanied by better human circumstances in one way or another. (The Love of Being Loving)

After ten years of publishing exclusively with Amazon, I have finally worked out how to “go wide”. Going wide means publishing more places than Amazon. It means my books will be more widely available. Not that I don’t love Amazon—where would we writers and readers be without it?

It took me ten years to work it out because of things such as ISBNs, barcodes, interior and cover files, and incompatible formats on conflicting platforms, to name a few. But here we are, at the beginning of a new year, and the 4 books of the Love and Devotion Series are now “wide”. The rest are coming.

December 21, 2022

The Love of Being Loving—Audiobook on Amazon Audible

The Love of Being Loving is now available as an audiobook on Audible (Amazon) and other audio sites. The holiday period is ideal for setting aside dedicated time for your spiritual and personal growth. That way, you are setting up 2023 to be a wonderful, productive, painless, happy year. Listening to my new audiobook, The Love of Being Loving, will assist you with this goal. It is made with repeat listening in mind, which benefits students of life wishing to truly transform their consciousness.

Donna Goddard on Audible (Amazon)
To get audiobooks through Audible, go to Amazon in your country.

December 7, 2022January 6, 2023

Addendum—2022

It has been one year since Writing: A Spiritual Voice was published. Every year brings significant growth as a creative of any sort. I have added a detailed 2022 Addendum to Writing: A Spiritual Voice. It includes:

Technical changes and challenges.
I learned how to make audiobooks.
I developed a different marketing focus.
The vision of my writing as a body of work became clearer and stronger.
I began writing a new fiction series, Nanima.

I have an ever-evolving idea of the body of work I want to offer the world. One day, God willing, it will extend beyond my lifetime. It’s not just about the accumulation of titles but, rather, the growth of an energy field. Along with the mark that each book and series makes, there grows a specific energy field that will ultimately carry our books, work as authors, and spiritual impact on the world. To some extent, the books don’t even have to be read. People who have never read them can still benefit. Many great authors form part of our collective consciousness without us even knowing the titles of their works. The energy field of their body of work extends beyond time and space.
Writing: A Spiritual Voice by Donna Goddard on Amazon