Find the Westertoren

When I looked out of the window this morning and saw cold and wintery Amsterdam, I couldn’t help but think of Hodur, the Nordic God of Winter, the one who was tricked by Loki into killing his brother Baldur.
Hodur was blind and it dawned upon me how apt this was for the God of Winter. Snow and mist do diminish your sight. I tried to locate the Westertoren, as I always do when I start my day. You live in Amsterdam if you can see the Westertoren from your window, real Amsterdammers say. I know it’s right there, behind the tree, just a notch left from the tallest building on the other side of the canal. But… I couldn’t find it. It vanished, not into thin air, but into the grey winter mist and into the snow.

While I was trying to figure out what those Amsterdammers would have to say about that –do I still live in Amsterdam if I can’t see the Westertoren from my window?– I suddenly realized that my writing life is about brothers.
In DEEDEE’S REVENGE, Deedee takes revenge on her ragging brother. In THE SUN SPIRIT and in THE SOUL SNATCHER, Tom finds his blood brother Jay.
Even in the two thrillers I am working on right now, it’s about brothers. Not the literal ones, though. In DARK FIBER Jonathan finds his –rather antagonistic– double. Dorian, my protagonist in THE WEED MAN, is desperate for a brother and he adopts Pepto Bismo as his big brother.
Yes, my writing life is definitely about brothers. I wonder what that says about me.

A sturdy sprig of lavender