Here is the next part of Geboor (Book 2 of Nanima Series).
Blackpool Fever
In late May and early June, a sickness takes over the ballroom dancing world. A magic sort of sickness called Blackpool Fever. It doesn’t matter if the dancer has been to Blackpool or not, if they aspire to go or don’t, if they religiously watch every livestream or the occasional social media video. Since its inception a century ago, Blackpool Dance Festival has become the most prestigious international ballroom dancing competition of the year.
A touch of light hit the Nanima horizon, and Maliyan began the long journey to Geboor. She crisscrossed the countryside towards the Great Dividing Range. As well as watching the colours of the morning sky, she had to watch out for kangaroos. They move quickly and impulsively, with no road sense, and are most active at dawn and dusk. For their sake and hers, an unscheduled meeting was best avoided.
Here is the next part of Riverland (Book 1 of Riverland Series)—children’s fiction (7-12 years). We already heard all about Uncle Tim’s first visit to Riverland in Part 1: Uncle Tim Discovers Riverland. Now, we are up to Part 2: Rose of Riverland.
That was all great for Uncle Tim, but what about me? When did I get to go to Riverland? I was five, the same age as when Uncle Tim first went. And a dog was also involved. You guessed it—a Cavalier. Nannie says all the Cavaliers roll into one jolly, round, fluff-ball of smilingness for her. She told Mummy that we should continue the Cavalier tradition. Mummy said the tradition was too expensive, but Nannie started searching the internet for my puppy.
We were in lockdown, at the time, because of the Covid pandemic. Many families must have decided that a wagging tail would cheer things up, and all the puppies were taken. Neither money nor pity seemed to be able to change that. However, much to Nannie’s delight, not only did she find an interstate puppy, but it could be air freighted immediately (no long processing of our family’s credentials to see if we were suitable). To add to the bargain, it was half-price! We were thrilled.
Walk with me to the top of Hanging Rock, which is a spectacular sacred place. Places, like people, have their own particular energy. We can use it for our growth and benefit. Hanging Rock in Victoria, Australia, is vibrant, intense, otherworldly, mysterious, changeable, and predominantly masculine. At the top, you can see Mount Macedon in the distance. The Aboriginal name for Mount Macedon is Geboor. Geboor (Book 2 of Dadirri Series) is the current book I am writing and sharing with you. While Hanging Rock has a strong masculine vibration, Geboor is feminine in nature. Nature balances itself.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
Donna Goddard 
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