This week was the start of a new chapter in my life. I recently obtained a visa for the US, a so-called artist’s visa that identifies me now as an alien with extraordinary abilities in writing children’s books. Needless to say I am super excited at this opportunity to spread my children’s books wings. But it’s also a life-changing leap into uncharted waters and I feel like the little ones in the picture below. Intimidated by the dark around them, you can see them think: are we going in or… I’m that little one at the end of the rudder. I made my choice and went in. These next years I will be exploring and navigating these, to me, uncharted waters. I’ll be enjoying Californian life, too. Let myself be lifted…
Mina Witteman – author | editor | teacher of creative writing
Posts from the “Amsterdam Views” Category
an elm tree stands oblivious of the misery in my witless brain its bark rutted with waterfalls of moss and mould that suck up sap buds the color of crimson crowd its branches festering wounds ready to burst a swift breeze whips quicksilver over chocolate water eyes that mock and flee similitudes of the words that mock and flee my pen before I can ink them in a line a boat floats by fingers point sunglasses stare up cameras snap as if they can capture the illusive muse and me in an embrace of body and mind a display of fire that feeds me the final scenes and carries me to the climax of a novel that gutted my soul
Tagged: #amwriting, Amsterdam, canal, Herengracht, Mina Witteman, muse, YA
Tea with my dear friend and colleague writer Sieneke de Rooij never fails to end in a marvel of imaginative discoveries. This time, we met a the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam, a find an sich. Way back in 1921, the Lloyd started out as a hotel, but in the years after it also served as prison and a juvenile detention center before returning to her old use a few years back. Imagine staying in a room that once was the cell of a thief or a murderer… Every writer’s dream.
We sat outside until the sun chased us in. We climbed up to the second floor to the exhibition of the Street Comber. For over a year, the Street Comber made one collage per day out of small junk she found on the streets. The collages on display were gems of intricate genius. With every collage, a card listed when and where the Street Comber found what bits and pieces.
We circled through the exhibition over and over, every time discovering more stories in these tiny but wondrous finds. We left invigorated and with a heads full of new ideas.
Tagged: Amsterdam, Inspiration, Lloyd Hotel, Sieneke de Rooij, Straatjutter, Street Comber, writing
Imagine you are sitting in your house boat, quietly reading a newspaper after a day of hard work. It’s Friday evening. You’re pondering if you will pop over to your favorite hang-out for a drink with your buddies.
A screeching sound alerts you. It’s followed by a creaking, a groaning almost, as if someone pushes your front door out of its frame. Before you know it, before you can even get up from your chair, or gasp for air, a car lands in your hallway. And another one…
Can you figure out what happened?
Tagged: 2014
Time to announce a writing workshop, my friends! Writing for Young Adults, an advanced writing course with Mina Witteman You have that YA novel brewing in the back of your mind and you want it out on paper? You are working on a — your first? — YA novel and need inspiration and guidance? You would like to hone your YA writing skills? This is your chance! From September on, I offer a course Writing for Young Adults, where we will go into the most important traits of the YA novel. We will explore structure, voice and character building. We will dive into famous and less famous YA novels to find out what it takes to entice young adults into reading your novel. And…
Tagged: Amsterdam, SCBWI, The English Bookshop, Writing Course, writing workshop, YA, Young Adult
Another writing prompt. This one features character and love: have two characters sit on a bench and talk about love. Again from the amazing Writing Maps. I watch her from behind a wave of butterfly bushes. She sits on a bench tucked away in a corner of the park. Her hand taps a rhythm on the empty seat next to her. I draw in a breath and push away from the oak. I stare at my feet and how they hesitate, as I cross the nine steps that part us. “Hey, what’s up?” I ask. Her eyes rest on my face for a while, before she lowers her gaze to the joint in my hand. Her nostrils flare when the musty scent of burning…
Tagged: character, Love, Writing exercise, Writing Maps, writing prompt
Mina Witteman 