Mina Witteman – author | editor | teacher of creative writing

Posts from the “YA books” Category

Daily Prompt: Landscape

Posted on May 9, 2013

Today’s Daily Prompt is about Landscapes: When you gaze out your window — real or figurative — do you see the forest first, or the trees? Let’s hit the real part first. When I gaze out of my window I see a cityscape. Not your regular cityscape with skyscrapers and all, but the gentle Amsterdam skyline that seems pretty much the same as it was centuries ago. The trees grew taller, the people inside changed, but the rooftops are still silhouetted against blue skies and scurrying clouds as they were in the 17th century. No forest at Herengracht, just trees. Elms. On this spring day, their delicate bud green flowers catch the sunlight in the most amazing way. Diaphanous petals that seem to emit…

Writing Challenge: Opening Line!

Posted on February 7, 2013

Tomorrow will be D-Day for me and my fellow students, my brothers-in-ink. If all goes well, we will be teachers creative writing from that day on, accredited by the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. To honour our hard work over the past three semesters my colleagues and I now challenge YOU: Write an opening line for a story or a poem with or inspired by this picture and post it as a comment to this blog post. Captivate us in one single line. Can you do that? I bet you can! My colleagues and I will choose the best line. The writer of that line will be awarded The City of Inspiration and Writing People, two writing maps from the Write Around Town Map…

SCBWI Europolitan Conference in Paris

Posted on January 31, 2013

Some say it’s worth the detour, I’d say it’s worth the trip: the first SCBWI Europolitan Conference in Paris.   I know it’s worth the trip, because as the Regional Advisor of SCBWI The Netherlands I am one of the organizers of this amazing and inspiring conference for children’s book writers and illustrators. We bring you a conference packed with workshops, presentations and opportunities to share your work. Attend sessions that meet your interests, whether you’re published or unpublished, an illustrator and/or a writer. •    Work with our faculty in small groups to develop your craft •    Register for a professional critique to get individual advice on your projects •    Meet fellow members and potential critique partners •    Enter some friendly contests and get your…

DP: Toot Your Horn

Posted on January 16, 2013

That’s an interesting one: Toot Your Horn. At the Daily Post they figure that most of us are excellent at being self-deprecating, but not so good at the opposite. Tell us your favorite thing about yourself, is today’s prompt. Tooting my horn? That sounds a lot like the final assignment before graduation, early next month, when my colleagues and I can proudly state that we are accredited creative writing teachers. The assignment? Pitch yourself in no more than 100 words to let future clients know what you have to offer. So here it is… The Discovery of the Writer Students come to me with a writer’s dream. Hesitantly, because who dares to claim he is talented enough? I show them that craftsmanship and a…

Picture Poem

Posted on December 28, 2012

New Year

Connect the Dots

Posted on November 24, 2012

Another prompt from The Daily Post: Open your nearest book to page 82. Take the third full sentence on the page, and work it into a post somehow. I suspected a hard one as I am reading ‘The Cambridge Companion to Creative Writing’, doing research for my graduation article. We’ll see… I had been teaching creative writing for quite a while, mainly workshops and short courses, mostly to young people. One day I found myself standing before a particularly challenging class. Fifteen boys sized me up and said: “Writing? Seriously?” They sat back, folded their arms and waited, their body language screaming “no way”. The girls — an ominous thirteen of them — looked up, too. “You’re not Carrie Slee,” was all they said.…

Bart Moeyaert: Introspection as a state of motion

Posted on November 22, 2012

Bart Moeyaert is one of the most famous, if not the most famous of writers in the Dutch language. He writes novels and short stories, for adults and children alike. I love his work, I love his thoughts, I love the way he provokes thoughts. We had the privilege of having him teach a masterclass at our school, early November. If you are looking for inspiration… you will find it with him. Sit back and listen to his address at TEDxFlanders, where he talks about silence and introspection.