Mina Witteman – author | editor | teacher of creative writing

Posts from the “YA books” Category

Gone Writing – Day 8

Posted on January 9, 2016

Shakespeare wormed his way into my manuscript. I already had a connection with the Bard and chances that he would knock on my novel’s door were big, if only because one of my main sparring partners for this project is the playwright George Isherwood, who wrote Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits back in the 70s, and recently the one-man version of Othello and the hilarious one-man-and-a-rope version of King Lear, which I saw in tryout before I left for San Francisco.   The knock came and there he was. The Bard. With Hamlet in his hand, no less. Or rather, Ophelia. Of course we all know about Ophelia’s fate. Not pretty. Not pretty at all and when she slipped into the novel, my initial thought was: couldn’t you’ve dealt me a more uplifting…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, YA books

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Gone Writing – Day 7

Posted on January 8, 2016

Last year has been a bit of a self-inflicted overload, work-wise, and after summer I realized that I had no brain space or energy left for what I love doing most: writing. Spurred on by my best friend Sieneke, I mapped out jobs, tasks, responsibilities, assignments, school visits, teaching gigs, mentoring projects and whatnot. On my page – or my three pages – appeared a staggering number of commitments. No wonder my brain refused to engage in new writing projects. It had already way too much to process. I knew that if I wanted to go back to writing I had to whip my stubborn self into change. Luckily, it turns out I can be pretty persuasive with the whip. I shelved all my commitments until further notice, and…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, YA books

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Gone Writing – Day 6

Posted on January 7, 2016

The other day, EcoSalon, a blog I follow, reposted an article by fellow writer and friend Scott Adelson, titled ‘Making Space for Your Inner Homebody‘ in which Scott makes a case for respecting your Inner Homebody as “the great indoors–and staying home, in particular—gets a bad rap”. In his article, Scott invites the reader “…to stop and look around, and pay some attention to your quarters.” because “…exploring your space can be a limitless source of creative and emotional inspiration…”.   My space, my current home, is a café in North Beach, where I’ve taken up temporary residence to write a novel. After five days, no after the first day already, it feels like home, which is good because I’m an indoors kinda gal. There’s not much that I have…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, YA books

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Gone Writing – Day 5

Posted on January 6, 2016

The muse didn’t show up. I realized halfway through the day that he wasn’t going to brighten my day with his pretty self and feed me some solid inspiration. Luckily, the writing still soared from his last visit and when that wore off, I did what writers do: I hunkered down at my laptop and wrote some more. Word after word after word, until I finished the scene I wanted to get on paper. It took some convincing and a lot of tea, but it worked. Like it always works when the muse doesn’t show his face.   After I was satisfied with what I had written, I went out – and right at that moment the sun chased the rain – to meet with fellow author Jim Averbeck (Read…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, YA books

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Gone Writing – Day 2

Posted on January 3, 2016

In the previous post I laid out my plans to sound out cafés to write in San Francisco, but yesterday’s find was such a brilliant one – one that brought me a scrumptious breakfast bagel, a delicious salad for lunch, a gallon of tea, and six hours of solid writing – that my muse ordered me to stay put. And what kind of writer would I be if I challenged my muse? Right. So I stay put and find myself again at the Café Francisco on the second day of my writing journey. It’s morning still but I have already written 1,400 words. Good words. Great words. Some might fall in the revision battle, a lot might fall in the revision battle, but for now they feel good. The story flows.…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, YA books

Daily Distraction: Prepare Your Portfolio – Illustrators’ Workshop with Doug Cushman!

Posted on October 9, 2014

The Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators The Netherlands is proud to announce an illustrators’ workshop in Amsterdam with award-winning illustrator/author Doug Cushman. In this true “hands on” day-long workshop, Doug will briefly discuss what is necessary for a professional illustration portfolio and then work one-on-one with each attendee for the rest of the day, discussing specific concerns, approaches and solutions to individual problems in their portfolios. Attendees are expected to be drawing and painting in the class, so bring your paint, your brushes, your pencils, your laptop! The workshop is the perfect preparation for the upcoming SCBWI Europolitan Conference in Amsterdam, where illustrators will have the opportunity to present their portfolios to publishing professionals like agents and Art Director Martha Rago of HarperCollins Children’s…

Categories: Books, Children's books, YA books

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Daily Distraction: Delusion of the Fury

Posted on June 11, 2014

Where to start with this distraction? A national newspaper called Delusion of the Fury virtuoso, fun, wildly imaginative and enchanting, a triumph of music theatre. I’d like to add: the ultimate shot in the arm.
Delusion of the Fury is a series of soundscapes brought to the audience by an outlandish collection of musical instruments, designed and built by a man who let his imagination run free. It blends a Japanese story of a murderer who confronts the ghost of his victim with an African comedy involving a goatherd and a deaf tramp.

During the performance of this extraordinary piece, the story of my next YA novel unfolded. Harry Partch, the composer, developed his own tonal system based on intonation, in which every octave consisted not of 12 equal intervals – as on a modern piano – but 43 small intervals of differing sizes. Partch’s unconventional use of microtones not only opened a doorway to my brain and ignited my imagination, it blew life and death into my story. I will start writing tomorrow.

 

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Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, Thrillers, YA books

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