Poem for one of my dearest friends.
Tagged: aphasia, bubbles, Poem, speech, strings of letters
Mina Witteman – author | editor | teacher of creative writing
Posts from the “The Views” Category
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…
Tagged: Amsterdam, daily prompt, Elm, gusts of wind, Herengracht, Landscape, Mina Witteman, nature, storm, the daily post, The Speed of Dark, thriller, wind blast, WP, YA
At last! We enjoyed the very first spring day of 2013. Sitting in the window, it made me think of that camp song so inextricably bound to our fair city: Tulips from Amsterdam. We usually sing the Dutch version ‘Tulpen uit Amsterdam’ and typically only when we’re drunk with joy or otherwise intoxicated — temperatures above 20ºC or over two hours of sunshine a day can do that to us. More than a few believe the song to be an old folk song, but it was originally written by German singer/songwriter Klaus-Günther Neumann. The English version became one of the signature songs of British comedian and singer Max Bygraves. The sun and the warmth drew me outside and strolling along the beautiful beautiful green canals…
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 Attend sessions that meet your interests, whether you’re published or unpublished, an illustrator and/or a writer.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…
When the sun peeks under a dark sky and catches the fall foliage in its rays, magic happens. Yellow turns golden, grey turns silver and stories are born.
My good friend Richard Tulloch mused in his blog post of today over the tyrannical regime of blog hits. With that blog post, he touched a tender spot in my blogging system. Is blogging about numbers? Is it about the content of your post? Is it something else, something we can’t quite grasp? This is what I commented on Richard’s blog post: I remember one good friend – a famous Australian writer, not unknown to yourself, Richard – who told me at the onset of my blogging life, that the best way to start was to never check the stats. Of course, that heartfelt advice never actually landed in my brain and, being the math girl I am, I obsessively checked the stats, leaving me…
Tagged: blogging, Richard Tulloch, skiing, writer's block, writer's hell
Sicily. An island with a rich history, not in the least because of that one mountain that dominates it: Etna. The Arabs named it the Mountain of Fire and word goes that Zeus trapped the deadly monster Typhon underneath it. It’s easy to imagine the father of all monsters lurking below the surface of the Etna, you only have to stick your hand in one of those fuming crevices and you know he’s there, the last son of Gaia who set out to destroy Zeus. He almost got the job done, ripping out Zeus’ sinews in their first battle. But Zeus struck back, like a true ruler of the Gods should, and threw Mount Etna on him, trapping him to all eternity. Or not……
Tagged: Dark Fiber, Etna, Mina Witteman, Sicily, Typhon, volcano, Zeus
Mina Witteman 