Enter the Between

My Blogger Blog has been redirected to WordPress

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Sat, 06 Jun 2015 23:25:00 +0000

To all my loyal visitors and followers, enterthebetween.com has been re-directed to my new site at margaretduarte.com.

In the Eye of the Beholder

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 04:50:00 +0000

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, what about ugliness?

How do we define ugly? What repulses us? And why?

I posed these questions at Visionary Fiction Alliance in a review of Dean Koontz's latest release, Innocence, in which little by little, step by step, Koontz immerses us in ugly, until we are in ugly's head.

Ugly on my mind.

During my 3-mile walk today, ugly was on my mind.

I saw many sights that could easily be overlooked as too ordinary to deserve attention or dismissed as eyesores that should be destroyed, if not for lack of time and money.

But then I leaned in for a closer look.

I noticed the interplay of light and shadow, the tenacity of the weeds, and the way nature intertwined with the man-made.

Ugly or beautiful?

And then it hit me, as it did in my review of Innocence.

Ugliness depends upon the eye of the beholder. Sometimes we don't go deep enough to find the beauty in something ugly or the ugly in something beautiful.

Sometimes we are wrong.

Take a look at the objects around you, especially when you're in the midst of nature. Then lean in as if using the zoom feature of your camera.

You may be surprised at how something that at first glance appears ugly becomes beautiful upon closer examination.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Visionary Novel Between Now and Forever is Published!

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Fri, 04 Oct 2013 22:58:00 +0000

Finally, the day has arrived.

Between Now and Forever, the first novel in my Enter the Between series, is published.

If you'd like to purchase a copy for your Kindle, click here.

It's only $2.99, less than the cost of a cup of coffee. In fact, why not grab your drink of choice and settle down with Marjorie Veil, my protagonist, in her journey through The Between, which in this case happens to be in the direction of the North on the Native American Medicine Wheel, the place of knowledge and receiving.

Here's a brief synopsis:

Medicate or nurture; reform or set free? These are quandaries rookie teacher Marjorie Veil faces when she takes on an after-school class for thirteen-year-olds labeled as troublemakers, non-teachable, and hopeless. Faculty skeptics warn that all these kids need is prescribed medication for focus and impulse control. “Bring them into line,” they say. “Show them who’s boss.” But, as Marjorie quickly discovers, behind their anti-conformist exteriors are gifted teens, who are sensitive, empathetic, and wise beyond their youth. They also happen to have psychic abilities, which they have kept hidden until now. Can Marjorie help them do what she has been unable to do for herself: fight for their spiritual and emotional freedom?

Click here to read the entire first chapter.

My publisher is Philophrosyne Publishing, which specializes in Visionary Fiction.

The print version of Between Now and Forever will be available at Amazon soon.

Thanks so much, my friends, for your support. It feels so good to finally be an AUTHOR, as well as a writer.

Elk Grove Citizen : Lifestyle

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 23:11:00 +0000

Here's a nice article written by Elizabeth Pinkerton about how my family came to California from Holland and settled in Elk Grove. Elk Grove Citizen : Lifestyle

Oat Harvest 2013, What Goes Around Comes Around

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Thu, 09 May 2013 04:05:00 +0000

The phrase, "What goes around comes around," rings especially true on a farm.

So does, "You reap what you sow."

When we began our oat harvest in April, my first thought was, Here we go again.

My second thought was, Finally a return on our investment.

Harvesting is a family affair. My husband and sons work the equipment, along with two employee truck drivers, while my daughter-in-law and I provide lunch and a steady flow of cold beverages for the crew.

First my husband cuts the crop and places it into rows with the swather.

The rows are held together by interlaced straws and supported above the ground by the remaining stubble.

Next, son number one chops the oats into smaller pieces and blows it out of a chute into silage trucks with the chopper/harvester.

.

The silage trucks dump the oats into a silage pit.

In the background is corn silage left from last harvest. It will serve as a retaining wall for the incoming crop.
.

Son number two pushes up and packs the chopped oats with the dozer/tractor.

Soon the pile takes shape.

Finally, the silage is covered with white polyethylene plastic and secured with tires for a tight seal. The cover serves as an oxygen barrier as well as protection from the elements.

The silage then undergoes anaerobic fermentation, which starts 48 hours after the silo is filled, and converts sugar into acid. Fermentation is complete after two weeks.

Now it's time to disk the stubble into the soil and prepare the ground for the fall corn crop.

The tractor and disk head for the field.

Soon after, the planting of corn seed begins.

Here we go again.

In a never ending cycle.

My writing also continues in what seems a never-ending cycle.

So does life.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

A Next Big Thing Blog: Ten Questions About My Book

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 02:10:00 +0000

Blog Hop: easier agreed to than done

A Next Best Thing blog hop is a giant game of tag to help readers discover
authors who are new to them.

kern.justin / Wedding Photos / CC BY-NC-ND

Naomi Williams, one of my former creative writing instructors at U.C. Davis Extension, tagged me several weeks ago to talk about my current writing project as part of the hop.

I said yes, of course, but it has taken me until now to actually answer the 10 questions involved. Believe me, this project is easier agreed to than done.

Another part of the "blog hop" is to tag several other writers to repeat the process, something even more difficult for me than answering the ten questions.

Would my blogger buddies thank me for being invited, or put me on their now-you-owe-me-big-time lists?

Links to the sites of the bloggers who answered to the affirmative (thank you, dear friends) are listed at the end of this post.

So here it goes! A Next Big Thing: 10 Questions About My Book

Chapters/Scenes for Between Now and Forever

What is the working title of your book or story? Between Now and Forever is the title of my current project, the fourth (and hopefully final) novel in a series called The Between.

What is a one-sentence synopsis of your book? When Marjorie Veil takes on a class of thirteen-year-olds with psychic abilities that surpass her own, she realizes playing solitaire isn’t the only game in town; she can get a lot more creative with the cards she’s dealt by putting a little heart into the game.

I know, that's two sentences. Using a semicolon is cheating.

Where did the idea for the book come from? A combination of things, actually. My original idea, thirteen years ago, was to write one novel about a woman’s search for spiritual and emotional freedom.

Then I came across two books by Kenneth Meadows, Earth Medicine and The Medicine Way, about the hidden teachings of the Native American Medicine Wheel and the shamanic path to self mastery.

I was blown away and ended up using four of the directional paths in the Native American Wheel to map out my protagonist’s journey. The lessons she learned on each path became a separate novel.

Between Will and Surrender: East, the path of illumination and clarity
Between Darkness and Dawn: South, the path of love and trust
Between Yesterday and Tomorrow: West, the path of introspection and transformation
Between Now and Forever: North, the path of wisdom and knowledge.

The last of the four directions turned into my fourth and current novel, which I will publish first as a frame for The Between series.

What genre does your book fall under?

Oh dear, here’s where the story gets interesting, or depressing, depending on how you look at it.

When I delved into the exciting and fascinating worlds of shamanic paths and, later, psychic children, I had no idea I was digging myself into a deep hole, when it comes to the way books are classified by agents, publishers, and book sellers.

A fraction of my research books

You see, while marketing my books to agents, I discovered there was no genre - and supposedly no market - for stories about shamanic paths and psychic abilities. Not in fiction anyway.

My novels are spiritual, but not religious. They have paranormal elements, but aren’t science fiction or magical realism. They highlight a woman’s journey, but don’t fit the genre of women’s fiction because of their spiritual/paranormal elements. I could go on, but I think you get the picture.

I later discovered a book category called visionary fiction, an exact fit for what I write.

Unfortunately, this genre is not recognized by the gatekeepers. Back to square one.

I tried marketing my novels as upmarket fiction, women’s fiction with paranormal elements, and fantasy, but grew frustrated because none of these categories were a good fit.

I finally resorted to calling my work what it is, visionary fiction, regardless of the consequences.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? My protagonist is a triplet. So the actor playing the lead role would have to play three parts—a tough job. If Cher Bono were twenty-eight, she’d do a fantastic job.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten in the movie rendition fantasy.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? Ha. For the reasons stated above, my first novel will be self-published. Agents currently will not take on visionary fiction. If Between Now and Forever or visionary fiction catches on, I may be able to find representation for future novels.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? The rough drafts of my novels came fast and furious. I’m talking about three months each. But then, oh my...the revisions and rewrites. Did I mention I started writing my first novel thirteen years ago?

What other books would you compare this story to, within your genre? As far as I know, there is no other published stories like mine. Another nail in my coffin, right?

However, I am a founding member of Visionary Fiction Alliance, a website dedicated to promoting visionary fiction. I’ve noticed increased interest in this genre by readers and writers alike. Maybe visionary fiction will become the next big thing!!!!

Who or what inspired you to write this book? Well, book one inspired book two and book two inspired book three and book four…

Seriously, the article on my website, A Word from My Protagonist, explains what inspired me to write book one. The rest followed, as I pointed out above.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? Seven of the characters in Between Now and Forever are Indigo Children.

People in the metaphysical world believe that a large percentage of the children born today—labeled as Indigo Children, Transitional Children, and Children of Now—have special gifts, including psychic abilities.

Any more questions? Really? If so, click: FAQ.

Links to three other authors answering:10 Questions About My Book

Rosi Hollinbeck
Jo Chandler (Her blog debuts March 11, 2013 at 4:00 PM)
Lee Lopez

These bloggers may not have their 10 question posts up yet, but their sites are definitely worth a visit.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Marketing and Blogging Tips from Shawn Hansen, The Indie Book Marketer

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 23:59:00 +0000

Sometimes, out of the blue, someone comes along at the perfect moment to point you in the right direction when you come to a fork in the road.

For me, that someone was Shawn Hansen, The Indie Book Marketer.

A friend told me about Shawn's weekly Teleseminar Tuesday, and after only one session, I was hooked. Eleven one-hour, information packed classes later, I had gained the confidence to:

Self-host my website/blog with WordPress.org.
Experiment with WordPress "plugins," small miracles to make my website distinctly my own.
Download, activate, and update plugins.
Backup my website's database and content.
Maintain my website/blog.
Optimize my Twitter account (profile page, hash tags, retweets, keywords, and lists).
Optimize my LinkedIn account (how to update my profile, target areas of interest)
Become a Squidoo member.
Look into forms of visual media, such as creating short little trailers.
Download and listen to Podcasts on iTunes (Yep, I'd never done that before).
Make use of Google Reader.
Begin building buzz about my books BEFORE PUBLICATION.
Look into Kindle Publishing for blogs.
Examine my target markets.
Experiment with blog trigger phrases.
Become a content curator.

And all for FREE.

If you are interested in more details about Shawn's informative weekly seminars, go to Teleseminar Tuesday sessions. And be sure to sign up for the notifications list so you get reminders of the sessions and replays.

Only those who are signed up get access to the full set of show notes (downloadable as a PDF or available to send to any Kindle-enabled device).

Starting January 2013, Shawn made a transition with this training so it's specifically tailored to WordPress, Blogging, and Marketing Tips for the Small business Owner.

The Indie Book Marketer Strategycast (a weekly audio-only podcast) covers Self-Publishing and Marketing Tips for independent authors.

The iTunes links for the audio portions of each show are here:

Teleseminar Tuesdays: itpc:/feeds.feedburner.com/SHMarketingSolutionsPodcast

The Indie Book Marketer Strategycast: http://shawnsuggests.com/Strategycast

On FREE Friday, Shawn shares her favorite resources. And she always has a surprise for the people on her mailing list.

To learn more about Shawn, go to:
http://indiebookmarketer.com/about-shawn-hansen-the-indie-book-marketer/

Enjoy and happy training.

December 22, Doomsday or Birth Day?

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 19:50:00 +0000

(This post appeared yesterday on my other website and is slightly edited.)

Visionary futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard believes December 22, 2012 is a day to celebrate.

And she's doing so big time on what she calls Birth Day – the day after the so-called end of times.

So who is Barbara Marx Hubbard and what is Birth Day?

Since December 22 is only two days away and Barbara Marx Hubbard is planning to be everywhere - via cell phone, Twitter, and Skype - celebrating Birth Day, this is the perfect time to answer both questions.

Who is Barbara Marx Hubbard?

A visionary dreams of the kind of world he or she wants to create.

A futurist figures out how to do it.

Put the two together and you have Barbara Marx Hubbard.

Hubbard is the co-founder and chairperson of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution and the global ambassador for the conscious evolution movement; a shift from evolution by chance towards evolution by choice.

She has formed a global team to co-produce a global multi-media event titled, “Birth 2012.”

Other visionary futurists you may have heard of are:

Alvin Toffler, who published Future Shock in 1970, argued that civilization was about to move from the industrial age to the information age. He joined the phrase “information overload.”
HG Wells, who wrote The Shape of Things to Come in 1933, predicted that WWII would begin in the 1940s and the devastating use of aerial combat.
Walt Disney, who built the Epcot theme park at Disney World.

What is Birth Day?

Birth Day, December 22, 2012, is the day Barbara Marx Hubbard plans to do her darndest to unite us all in what is called the noosphere, the thinking layer of the Earth, where we are not separate but one.

It will be a twenty-four hour day of celebration, a day Hubbard plans to “encourage, connect, and celebrate what’s born through all of us.” A day ”to identify what’s good, what’s loving, and what’s able to create a future that works for us all.”

After the recent shootings in at Sandy Hill in Newtown, Connecticut, we have desperate need for a celebration – especially a celebration that will help us cross the gap between breakdown and breakthrough.

Birth Day, December 22 is the day after the end of the Mayan Calendar. On December 22, Barbara Marx Hubbard will ask, “What are you giving birth to in your life, in your work, in your whole movement that you feel contributes to the shift on planet Earth?”

She hopes 100 million people will wake up, take notice, and understand that they are one Global heart, one Global brain.

Spiritual leaders who will join Hubbard in hosting this world-wide celebration in hubs all over the world are:

How can I join in?

Visit Barbara Marx Hubbard on, before, and beyond Birth Day, December 22, 2012.
Visit the Shift Network for news, publishing, television, and radio that concentrates on breakthroughs instead of breakdowns.
Choose work that is self-rewarding and of service.

Let’s join Barbara Marx Hubbard on December 22 to celebrate Birth Day, December 22, 2012, the celebration of an event that comes around only every 5,200 years.

Let’s participate in the greater whole.

Thanks as always for stopping by,

From The Reporter of Good News.

The Bla Bla Meter, Unmask Your Writing Style

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:20:00 +0000

To all writers - be you a novelist, journalist, PR-expert, or writer of Christmas letters - I think you'll get a kick out of the Bla Bla Meter to "unmask" your writing style.

Yep, it detects how much "bull" hides in your text.

Bla Bla Meter Instructions

You simply copy your excerpt (they suggest a minimum of five sentences) into a white field, hit check, and bingo!

My Bla Bla Meter Excerpt

I entered the following text from a previous blog post into the white field:

I'm not just talking about the stories written by our favorite authors for our reading pleasure. I'm talking about our life stories, the stories that begin on page one of a blank text on the day we are born and continue until the day - and sometimes even after - we die.

All the things we tell about ourselves, all the experiences we remember, the sights, the sounds, the feelings, are part of our story. As Christina Baldwin says in her book, Story Catcher, "You are a book of bone and flesh."

My Bla Bla Meter Score

Your text: 503 characters, 92 words

Bullshit Index : 0.08

Your text shows no or marginal indications of 'bullshit'-English.

If you're feeling brave today, click here for a merciless critique on your writing.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Storycatcher/ Making Sense of Our lives through the Power and Practice of Story

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 21:09:00 +0000

When writing a post recently for Visionary Fiction Alliance about the relevance of visionary fiction in today's world, I realized how important "story" is to our lives.

+Freedomby ~myonlyexceptionisyou

I'm not just talking about the stories written by our favorite authors for our reading pleasure. I'm talking about our life stories, the stories that begin on page one of a blank text on the day we are born and continue until the day - and sometimes even after - we die.

All the things we tell about ourselves, all the experiences we remember, the sights, the sounds, the feelings, are part of our story. As Christina Baldwin says in her book, Story Catcher, "You are a book of bone and flesh."

What event, besides your birth, set your story's plot in motion? What are its turning points? What are you proud of? What are you ashamed of? What will you preserve. What will you purposely omit? What will you forget? Who wrote your story? From what point of view? Yours? Your parents'? Your teachers'? Society's? What values shaped your life story? How much of your story is real? How much is fiction, created by distortions of the lens you're viewing it through. The lens of judge, victim.

How did you come up with the lead characters and settings for your story's scenes? Who are the heroes, the villians, the bit-part players? Who do you love? Who loves you? Who do you blame? Who do you judge? Which characters do you bother to flesh out enough to know them enough to care for, understand, give a voice?

Life coach, Gary Van Warmerdam, talks about the different versions of stories we tell about ourselves in the fourth of his Pathway to Happiness Audio Sessions in Self Mastery called "Attention."

In Storycatcher, Christina Baldwin explores story as the core of life experience. Through stories, education, writing and oral prompts, the book illustrates how we use narrative to make sense out of what is happening to us and around us.

And here comes the big question.

How can your story still change?

The group, Rascal Flatts, sings about how "Life's like a novel with the end ripped out."

What can you change?

What will you change?

How will your life story end?

As always, thanks for stopping by.

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And don't miss out. Sign up for my blog updates below.

A Letter from Dean Koontz

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 19:45:00 +0000

I've been blogging for over two years, and lately I've been doing some serious soul-searching about the value of working so hard.

Then today, I received an email from Dean Koontz about a post I wrote about him at Visionary Fiction Alliance, and it has energized me in a way I haven't been energized in a long time.

Dear Margaret,

My editor at Bantam, Tracy Devine, sent to me your lovely post at Visionary Fiction Alliance, and I'm asking her to forward this to you. I was quite touched by your words. After a long career as a novelist, I've learned that what anyone writes about my work, good or bad, will only occasionally, very occasionally, be written with true insight regarding my intentions. For so many years, I have
denied being a horror novelist, never thought I was, and struggled to prevent earlier publishers from putting that word on my books. You got to the heart of what I try to give readers when you mentioned hope and healing, and spoke of seeking to "help readers see the world in a new light and recognize dimensions of reality they commonly ignore."

If you will provide my editor with a mailing address, I would like to send you
two inscribed books that are close to my heart.

Best wishes,

Dean Koontz

Oh my, talk about synchronicity!

Thank you, Dean Koontz, for taking the time to inspire a fellow writer to not give up. Ever.

I'm back.

Writer Welcomes Mother Nature's Distractions

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:04:00 +0000

Mother Nature speaks to us in a language we can all understand. It's the most beautiful language in the world, because it stimulates all our senses and sends invaluable messages to help us navigate our life journey.

During my morning walk today, it felt as if I were on a Hitchcock movie set, with birds screeching and feasting on our newly harvested fields.

My monkey brain was startled into silence.

And my worries and cares took flight on the wings of blackbirds.

Speak on, Mother Nature. This writer welcomes your distractions.

Dean Koontz/ Author of Horror or Visionary Fiction?

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 15:32:00 +0000

I'd like to introduce you to Visionary Fiction Alliance, a website created to promote visionary fiction.

I've written a post there, titled Is Dean Koontz a Visionary Fiction Writer?

It starts like this:

Dean Koontz is generally categorized as a writer of horror, and I’m not a fan of horror, so I’m not sure what possessed me to read one of his novels. Maybe someone gave it to me. Maybe I picked it up in a bargain bin somewhere.

What I do remember is that the book’s title was Watchers and, while reading it, I fell in love with a dog named Einstein and an author named Dean Koontz.

For more, please visit Visionary Fiction Alliance.

If you like fiction that heals, empowers, and bridges differences, you'll be glad you did.

Five Top Trends Shaping The Future of Publishing

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 17:57:00 +0000

Mark Coker

I recently attended a "sit-up-and-take-notice" workshop about how to produce, distribute and sell your work in the evolving eworld given by Mark Coker, founder and CEO of Smashwords.

His opener jolted my writer self like a sip of vanilla latte on a cold, groggy morning. "There's never been a better time to be an author."

Okaaaay, I thought, as though he had just told me math was fun. Prove it!

He proceeded to do just that.

I took furious notes and now pass a bit of his expertise on to you.

Five Top Trends Shaping the Future of Publishing

Book selling is moving from brick and mortar outlets to the web. The web offers better price, convenience, and selection. As a result, shelf space is no longer in short supply. Just think, virtual shelves! Good for the reader. And yes, good for the writer (see below).
Reading is moving to screens. Smartphones and e-readers are becoming available to everyone. Coker has traveled the world, and even where people are short of basics such as bread, water and electricity, he noticed they have cellphones. Smartphones are becoming entry-level phones. EVERYWHERE. And that means EVERYONE now has the ability to sample and enjoy books.
There is a rise in ebook self-publishing (also called Indie publishing). This comes as a result of Indie author advantages, such as: faster time to market, greater creative control, lower expenses, better distribution to the global market, books never going out of print and more profit per book, while offering lower prices to the consumer (even selling their books at $.99 to $2.99, Indie publishers can make 60-80% more than selling through traditional publishers at $8.00).
Content explosion leads to price competition. Soon traditional publishers will no longer be able to compete with self-published authors who can make more money selling their books for less.
Traditional publishers are loosing their monopoly. The printing press and knowledge about publishing, distribution and marketing are now free for all.

Instead of facing years of rejection, delays in getting their books to market and having their books forced out of print early (if they don't immediately gain a large audience), authors are becoming their own gatekeepers to the pearly gates of publishing.

But here's the clincher. As their own gatekeepers, authors must be super-duper careful to honor their readers and only put out books that are equal in quality to (or better than) books put out by traditional publishers.

That means NO CUTTING CORNERS.

Don't publish before your book is ready.
Revise, revise, revise.
Hire an editor.
And revise again.

Otherwise what you get for all your hard work is Negative Virality.

By Mark Coker

When what you want - and need - is Viral Catalysts. In other words, happy readers.

One satisfied reader shares with two readers, who share with four readers, who share with...

I don't have a visual from Mark's presentation to demonstrate this, but I'm sure you get the picture.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

This Book Sucks!

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 23:57:00 +0000

I took this picture at an Ebook publishing workshop given by Mark Coker, founder and CEO of Smashwords.

Please, God, don't let this happen to me.

I promise, I'll consider the comments made by my Beta readers.

I promise I'll heed the advice of my critique partners.

I promise I'll edit, edit, edit.

I promise not to publish before it is time.

Visionary Fiction/ Niche-Specific Audience

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 12:00:00 +0000

I've heard that writers need to find a niche and then directly address a niche-specific audience.

But in order to do so, the writer must first figure out who that audience is.

Each of us, of course, hopes our work will enjoy universal appeal, when more than likely it will attract one segment of the population over others.

With this in mind, one of my creative writing teachers gave us the following assignment:

Create a character who is your ideal reader--the one you imagine pulling your book from a shelf and thumbing through the pages you have written.
Give the character a name; give us a picture of your reader and write a brief scene that shows him/her interaction with something you have written.
350 words.

Here was my response:

My Ideal Reader

Lorna bites her tongue and prays for patience. Each time she ventures into an unfamiliar bookstore and asks the clerk to direct her to Visionary Fiction, she gets the same response. A blank stare.

By Denis Colette

"Paul Coehlo," Lorna says, already anticipating the response.

"Oh you mean the Metaphysical section."

No, Lorna thinks. I mean fiction in which the expansion of the human mind drives the plot. But she nods. Guess Metaphysical will have to do.

No matter where she goes, she finds Paul Coehlo shelved under Metaphysical, with nonfiction books on Wicca, astrology, and self-actualization. These books have their merits, true, but Lorna believes that Paul and writers like him deserve a section of their own.

No use asking for the author Lorna is specifically looking for. Margaret Duarte is too obscure for that. Duarte's fiction appeals mostly to Cultural Creatives such as herself, a subculture equally obscure, invisible, and under the radar.

Lorna fumes at the thought. Duarte's stories are as familiar to her as her own face in the mirror. She likes the author's first person accounts of the mystical, psychic, and paranormal.

Duarte presents a third way, not a neutral center, but a bridge to connect the end and the beginning. Her stores are like surf crashing on rocks.

Lorna is an optimist, but hardly a Pollyanna. Just because she likes reading about expanded mental abilities with an eye on solutions rather than dysfunctional relationships and political corruption, doesn't make her less valuable as a reader and consumer.

She takes the only copy of Margaret Duarte's novel Between Will and Surrender from the shelf and places it dead center on the table displaying the current best sellers.

It's time more people step into "the between."

###

First, I imagine my future readers as female (though I hope to attract male readers as well). After all, I write about a woman's struggle for psychological freedom and her yearning to discover a path based on meaning and purpose rather than income and security.

But then I take it a step further and add an emerging subculture called Cultural Creatives as my ideal readers.

A Cultural Creative is someone who:

Loves nature.
Cares about self-actualization and spirituality.
Wants equity for women.
Wants to be involved in creating a new and better way of life in our country and our world.
Dislikes emphasis on getting and spending.
Likes experiencing and learning about other ways of life.
Is optimistic about the future.
Walks his/her talk.
His/her sense of the sacred includes personal growth and service to others.

As an author, how would you describe your ideal reader?

Or, if you're a reader, how would you describe yourself and your preferred author?

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Visionary Fiction by Free Association

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Defining visionary fiction is tough, because the genre means different things to different writers. So in coming up with my own definition, I used a technique often used in psychoanalysis called free association.

As a result, I came up with the following words and phrases:

open door
entry into the between
not a place, but an attitude
openness
curiosity, questions, seeking, longing
non-judgment
freedom
growth
uncomfortable, unstable
beyond rules, tradition, and authority

My next step was to cut and paste until I came up with an original, one-sentence definition.

Here it goes.

Visionary fiction opens the door to the space between, where questions serve as stepping-stones along winding paths that circle back to a starting point, leaving the reader changed.

by~MoniCarlo

Although I didn't incorporate all the words and phrases, I like the definition I came up with.

At least for now.

The definition will likely change each time I try to peg down what visionary fiction is.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Margaret

Visionary Fiction Alliance Blog Blessings

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:18:00 +0000

Visionary Fiction Alliance goes live today.

The Founding Members of the Visionary Fiction Alliance invite you to join us in our blessings, our intentions, and our prayers for this site.

Blog Blessings

Visionary Fiction Alliance

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 00:30:00 +0000

I'm proud to announce that I've joined a group of talented writers in starting a website aimed at raising awareness of and interest in the genre of visionary fiction.

Though visionary fiction has been around for a long time - think shaman stories of ancient times - most agents, publishers and big book buyers don't recognize it as a genre. "No interest," they say. "It won't sell."

Well, we at Visionary Fiction Alliance hope to prove them wrong.

In a world riddled with fear, misunderstanding, and lost hope, we believe there are people prepared to transcend the boundaries of their five senses and open to new thoughts and ideas. In other words, we believe the audience is ready for fiction that heals, empowers, and bridges differences.

In previous posts, I've written about how important it is for writers to find their own niche and identify with a specific audience. I also wrote about how difficult it can be for writers to categorize their work. Well, thanks to my friends at VFA, I have found all three.

Why not visit us at Visionary Fiction Alliance and see if visionary fiction is for you.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

White Noise and Warm Air Distracts Monkey Brain

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 22:24:00 +0000

I get my best inspiration for writing while blow drying my hair. Really.

Maybe it's the combination of white noise in my ears and warm air on my scalp.

Maybe it's because I can't hear the phone, the doorbell, or my family calling.

Maybe its because the task distracts my monkey brain long enough for my subconscious to break through.

Whatever the reason, it works, and for me, that's what counts.

I'm grateful for anything that helps me put words on the page

Oh, and by the way, I took a quick break from blow drying my hair to write this post. Better get back before the rest of it dries on its own. That wouldn't be good.

Photo credit goes to: ~sunnyszelda

As always, thanks for stopping by.

The Angel and the Brown-Eyed Boy/Visionary Fiction

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 21:08:00 +0000

I just finished reading the first seven chapters of Sandy Nathan's The Angel and the Brown-eyed Boy and enjoyed them tremendously. This Indie Excellence and IPPY Award winner is an example of Visionary Fiction, and she's giving it away FREE today on Amazon.

In an article titled "Can I Achieve Fame and Glory by Giving Away an Angel? --Does Amazon's KDP Giveaway Program Work?" Sandy writes about her struggle to market her well-written novel. Yes, I say well-written, and as a fellow author of visionary fiction, I'm picky about what I read and what I pass on to my friends.

Here's a short synopsis of the story:

The Angel & the Brown-eyed Boy is a story about a girl from out of town–way out of town, another planet––who drops in on a mission to save her planet. Little does she or anyone on her world know, things on Earth have reached a very bad state. So bad that we’ll blow the place up––all of it, every living thing––the next day unless someone does something right away.

Eliana doesn’t know this. She knows she must find “the Golden Boy.” She does this effectively, finding him at an upscale high school for the arts in New York City. But he isn’t who she thinks he is. And there the plot doesn’t just thicken, it explodes.

Hurry, if you want a free copy for your Kindle from Amazon. Today is the last day!

Left Brain Versus Right Brain Education

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 15:43:00 +0000

The main thrust of my four novels is my protagonist Marjorie Veil's year long search for spiritual and emotional freedom, using the Native American Medicine Wheel as her guide.

However, in my fourth novel, Between Now and Forever, where Marjorie takes on a class of troubled middle school students with psychic abilities, a question that naturally arises and becomes a major conflict in the story is the validity of emphasizing left brain over right brain education in our schools.

The following video helps spark the fire

As does Daniel Pink's book, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future.

My protagonist and antagonist in Between Now and Forever present valid arguments for both - arguments that almost take them too far.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Best Exotic Marigold Hotel / Transformational Media

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 13:31:00 +0000

Good acting. Intelligent script. No explicit sex. No violence. Mature actors. Sounds like the formula for disaster, right?

Wrong.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a movie based on 2004 novel, These Foolish Things, by Debra Moggach, is proving to be what Hollywood calls a sleeper hit.

Some stories have great transformational power, and I applaud The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for being one of them.

According to GATE (Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment), there is a growing audience for consciousness-enhancing media that touches and inspires, rather than entertainment full of negativity, fear and lost hope.

In a post called Wisdom Films/Consciousness-Enhancing Media, I wrote about award-winning media composer/producer Gary Malkin's inspiring short films at Wisdom Films. These films feature spoken wisdom from around the world combined with time-lapse cinematography and musical soundtracks - meditations to help slow us down after a stressful day.

Though longer in length, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, with its spoken wisdom and wonderful cinematography and soundtrack, fits this genre

I'll leave you with a few lines spoken by Judith Dench in this fine story, followed by the movie's trailer, so you can decide for yourself if you, too, belong to the growing audience for transformational entertainment.

"This is a new and different world. The challenge is to cope with it. Not just cope, but thrive."

"India, like life itself, I suppose, is what you bring into it."

Fox Searchlight Pictures specializes in independent and British films.

Searchlight.

Has a nice ring to it.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Gate Crashing - By Invitation

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Wed, 30 May 2012 16:07:00 +0000

Just so you know there's more to my life than writing, let me introduce you to one of the events I regularly attend, put on by the Portuguese community to which my husband, an immigrant from Flores, Azores, belongs.

Altar exhibiting crowns representing Queen Isabella and The Holy Spirit

Portuguese communities all over the world hold Holy Ghost Festas (pronounced FESH-tas) at different times of year to preserve their cultural and religious traditions and keep bonds alive.

You may have witnessed a Festa do Divino Espirito Santo-related activity yourself in or near your town. A parade with decorated floats, queens dressed like royalty and marching bands is an integral part of the event.

The parade is followed by the serving of sopas e carne (soup and meat), free to all attendees. Pans of sliced bread and mint ladled with gravy and platters of cabbage and beef are distributed to the tables, with plenty to go around.

What you may not know, is that festa activities are open to everyone, no matter what nationality.

You can experience the excitement of sharing a new tradition with perfect strangers without the worry of being asked to leave. It's like gate crashing - by invitation.

Go ahead and satisfy your interest in other cultures without traveling a great distance or spending a dime.

However, there's more to the festa than sopas and a parade.

Each Portuguese community brings its own unique flavor to the celebration that commemorates Portugal's Queen Isabella feeding of the poor during the 14th century famine in Europe. Depending on the Portuguese hall you visit, you'll find such activities as the crowning and presentation of queens, bloodless bullfights, dancing (the Chamarita), auctions (silent and live), carnival rides and games.

One of my favorite festa traditions in the Sacramento area is the Espeto de Carne (Barbecue) picnic, which takes place yearly at the SPHSS Portuguese Hall on the Saturday proceeding the main events on Sunday.

Families bring potluck items and purchase spits of meat (pork or beef) for an outdoor barbecue.

Skewers of beef and pork on the barbecue

Unlike Sunday, this event isn't free, but for what you get, it's a bargain. The pork and beef is marinated and ready to go. Just step up to the pit and barbecue to your taste.

To keep the children (and some adults) occupied, there is a Portuguese paper game. Hundreds of tightly rolled and bent squares of paper are sold, seven for a dollar.

Portuguese paper game

If you find a number written inside, you win the corresponding prize.

Prizes for Portuguese paper game

Believe me, the kids love it. They go home with lots of loot.

Children unrolling papers for prizes

Families gather at tables in an outdoor covered patio to eat and socialize.

After the meal, participants often share desserts.

Cupcakes by Martina

Become a member if you like.

2012 Festa President Evelyn 'Tinker' Rosa

The Espeto de Carne picnic is an enjoyable way to spend an evening with family, soaking up a festa tradition that has been going on in the Riverside/Pocket area since 1914.

Evening comes to an end

For a schedule of the festas in your area go to Festas in California, and for a complete history behind the Holy Ghost Festa tradition go to Connecting with my Portuguese Heritage by Chef Bud.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Is A Bad Memory Ever A Good Thing?

noreply@blogger.com (Margaret Duarte) — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:00:00 +0000

by Express Monorail

Can a bad memory be a good thing?

"Yes," says Robert Olen Butler, professor of creative writing at Florida State University.

When you're an artist.

In From Where You Dream, he warns: If you are a writer who aspires to create fiction that arrives at the condition of art, your literal memory is your enemy.

"Tell your mind to back the hell off," he says. "It's another place in yourself entirely where you must look to create a work of art."

And where is that?

In the place where your dream. Your unconscious.

I always thought the best fiction writers had photographic memories. I thought this was how they came up with such unique, moment-to-moment sensual details. That every detail was meticulously remembered and stored in the artist's mind.

Not so, Butler says. Having a great memory actually hinders creativity. Your literal memory keeps you out of "the zone" that you must enter to create art. Artists don't reproduce things as they really are. Their memories decompose and ferment in the "dreamspace of the unconscious," where experiences aren't remembered as much as reshaped, recombined, and ordered in ways that a reader can encounter as if real.

The subconscious is a place of meditation, a place of sense memory, that must be surrendered to and cannot be willed. And from there comes art.

"The way you'll know that you're writing from your head," Butler says, "is that you'll look at your story and find it full of abstraction and generalization and summary and analysis and interpretation."

I've heard writers say that sometimes their stories come to them fully formed as if dictated from an outside source. After reading Butler's process of writing fiction, I understand what they mean.

In fact, it brings to mind how I completed the assignments for my creative writing classes at UC Davis Extension. The instructors often gave us a writing prompt at the end of class to be worked into a scene or short story for the following week. Since our classes ended around 9:00 PM, this allowed thirty minutes on the drive home and a full night's sleep for the prompt to decompose, ferment, and restructure into an idea without the interference of my conscious mind.

Almost invariably, on waking the next morning, a story would present itself--fully formed. I'd head straight to my computer and, voila, a rough draft appeared--compost heap to paper--that needed little revision. Later I'd wonder, Who the hell wrote this? It came. I wrote it down. And then it disappeared from my mind.

A miracle?

I thought so at the time.

Now, I know better.

In fact, I've "dreamed" up some of my best story ideas while:

blow drying my hair
mowing the lawn
walking
driving
dreaming

Thank you Robert Olen Butler. You've given me the incentive to keep putting my bad memory to good use.

"All good novelists have bad memories."

--Graham Greene