Mina Witteman – author | editor | teacher of creative writing

Posts tagged “#amwriting”

Lost My North

Posted on February 19, 2016

I plowed through the tons of letters and invoices that gathered on my desk while I was away, I’ve done the laundry, I reconnected with my workout buddies Toni, Maria, Astarti and Anna. I sniffed up Amsterdam air. I plunged into a swarm of tourists diddling around outside my house. I bought tickets for the new Chagall exhibition. I witnessed a beautiful sunset from my fourth floor window.   The good news is I haven’t forgotten how to ride my bike.   The bad news is that I seem to have forgotten how to write, as if my compass lost its north.   I’ve written one word for my new project since I’m back at my desk: ‘It’. And then it all stopped, as if someone had…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, YA books

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It Was All About Change

Posted on February 16, 2016

I was on the road for 45 days and what did it bring me, this Gone Writing trip? An almost finished manuscript and a new level of understanding of my writer’s brain and how it works (and how and when it doesn’t work). Gone Writing brought me change. I think Maurizio Nannucci’s Neon tubes nails it:  

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, YA books

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Gone Home

Posted on February 15, 2016

After 45 days on the road, it’s time to go home and last night’s show was the perfect ending to this road trip. Fiddler on the Roof is all about love and loss, just like my journey was rediscovery of the power of love and loss. A rediscovery that I could pour into the story I’m working on.   I didn’t have to wait long before I realized that Fiddler on the Roof perfectly illustrated what writing means to me, Tevye’s first lines were enough. I’ve adapted them slightly here to show you (and I hope Joseph Stein will forgive me for changing his words):    “A writer on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But here, in our little village of Fiction, you might say every…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, YA books

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Gone Writing – Day ♥♥

Posted on February 14, 2016

Valentine’s Day.   I usually shy away from commercial festivities like this, but being all wrapped up in my love for writing and books these past weeks and since it’s International Book Giving Day, I thought I’d make an exception and give you not a book but a little snippet of my protagonist’s view on love.   The girl sits in Cody’s chair and digs her nails into her boyfriend’s arms. It’s her first ink and she squirms and squeals even before Cody touches her with the needle and she almost passes out when he does, hyperventilating through the whole thing, but the look in her eyes is not one of terror but one of love, of devotion. Surrender. She’s doing this for him. She’d do anything for him. She…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, YA books

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Gone Writing – Day 43

Posted on February 13, 2016

At the Winter Conference of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators in New York. Not much writing. Enough ideas, though. Always great to listen to other writers and illustrators, to publishing professionals like editors and agents. Today we had a full day of intensives for published authors. Here’s a few quotes from amazing speakers:   Literary agent Rubin Pfeffer of Rubin Pfeffer Content on agents: Should I stay or should I go? Remember your objectives!   Publisher and author Arthur A. Levine on writing: Continue to be moved by what you write.   Author Martha Brockenbrough on social media tip for writers: share insights into your creative process.   Author Jane Yolen (of 360 books!) addressing mid-list authors: Write the damn book!   Editor in Chief of…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, YA books

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Gone Writing – Day 42

Posted on February 12, 2016

Today’s writing was about morphing two apparently disparate ideas into one. The morphing process had me push the envelop big time and somehow in this process this elusive muse of mine planted two words in my brain that seemed completely unrelated to my project (night sky and farmland). It sparked a train of thought that had me arrive in the end at ‘skywalk’ and ‘pig’ (or maybe I just sigkilled the process there because I felt this could lead to bad things only).   And it did. I googled skywalk and pigs and whaddayaknow, an oldie popped up: Pigs in Space.   Did I manage to morph my two ideas into one? Nope. I quit writing for the day and diddled around on the Internet. Thanks muse! That was really helpful.…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, YA books

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Gone Writing – Day 41

Posted on February 11, 2016

Walking down the marina in San Diego my eye caught the name of a boat. The muse. I found my muse! Granted, he manifested a tad different than I had imagined but I took his/her/its picture, just to be sure. Then hopped on a plane to my next destination, New York, where I will attend the Winter Conference of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.   To pass time on the flight I decided not to write but to read. A friend had recommended I read Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, a book that I had missed when it first came out – at that time my mind wasn’t into anything jesty with a two-year-old who had a tendency to stop…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, YA books

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