Mina Witteman – author | editor | teacher of creative writing

Posts tagged “#amwriting”

Gone Writing – Day 40

Posted on February 10, 2016

a downward current pulls her under sinks her like a grain of salt water bars the sun from warming refracted rays distort and turn her vision blue liquid pressure bursts her eardrums clogs every pore with brine her heart gives out as oxygen is crushed from the alveoli and anoxia destroys her brain   if only she would shift her weight in time reach up her arms her course would change but no one told her or she never heard my sunshine how painless it can be to rise again break through the surface fill her lungs with air and reclaim life    

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, YA books

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Gone Writing – Day 39

Posted on February 9, 2016

Is there no end to this writing trip? Actually, there is. I have one more week to go before I fly home to settle back at my desk in Amsterdam, where – I hope – the line edits for my new Dutch middle grade Boreas en de duizend eilanden (Boreas and the Thousand Island) will be waiting for me.   Am I excited to go back home? I have mixed feelings. It’ll be great to wander around in my own house again, to sleep in my own bed, to eat the delicious spelt bread from the store around the corner, and above all it will be absolutely fabulous to see my favorite curly-headed boy in real life again. Skyping and texting is an excellent way to keep…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, YA books

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Gone Writing – Day 38

Posted on February 8, 2016

Almost 200 years ago Felix Mendelssohn wrote “Every day … I am more sincerely anxious to write exactly as I feel, and to have even less regard than ever to external views; and when I have composed a piece just as it sprang from my heart, then I have done my duty towards it…”. His words were quoted in a Brainpickings article about artistic integrity, a website I frequently visit on my procrastination tours. Where I would never compare myself to an artistic genius like Mendelssohn his words do resonate with me, because the book I am writing now is one that I write exactly as I feel and one that comes from my heart.   I realize that the locations and pictures might have…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, YA books

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Gone Writing – Day 37

Posted on February 7, 2016

green-eyed monsters visit me smack me left and right warp my vision fry my brain in cold-fusioned passion i try to communicate through the wicked tubes that connect you and me i shut my eyes for the devils that are out on the bay today no sailing for me no water no wind no people my muse calls in and whips me into writing forces me to finish this wretched piece of fiction then slips away like a pipe dream i end a story that consumes my heart that sears the rims of my darkened soul my mind tries to protect procrastinates scours the net for snippets of sweetness and love finds none i cry for characters that die my hands slick with blood dripping from their broken skins i crave the muse’s resurrection hunger for his twists to bring them back to life and i wonder…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, YA books

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Gone Writing – Day 36

Posted on February 6, 2016

Signs. Incarnations. You believe in them or you don’t. I do. The other day, I told a friend some news that had me set back and she responded not only with an encouraging note but told me she’d seen a hawk that day while thinking of me – vision, power, rebirth, teamwork – and a lone goose – bravery, confidence, communication, determination. That lifted my spirits. Another friend had some powerful stuff happening at the exact same time I had the same powerful stuff happening. It forged a close bond between us.   It happens too when I write my books. While working on my debut Deedee’s Revenge (De wraak van Deedee), a crow with an important role cropped up in the story. The next morning a crow settled on a branch in the tree outside…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, YA books

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Gone Writing – Day 35

Posted on February 5, 2016

Sometimes all you need is the wind to blow your mind free and the sound of the surf to drown out your inner critic.   But sometimes you need trusted friends – a.k.a. critique partners – who are there when you need a sounding board and who will just let you ramble on about your project so your brain can recalibrate and your story becomes clear again. Friends who can relate to the woes and joys of being a writer and who will not judge you when you’re weepy or euphoric, who can shed some light on your musings when they turn dark or block out the sun when the light’s too bright. Trusted friends who can gently guide you and bring some perspective so you can open portals and let…

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Gone Writing – Day 34

Posted on February 4, 2016

Do you ever have that feeling that you are really close to something, that you can almost touch it, that you almost have it in your hand and then it slips through your fingers and it’s gone? Like snapping a picture of a turtle in the water.   It happens with plot twists and turns. When you’re brooding over your story to find a twist that will bring you the change your protagonist needs to move forward, a turn that you need to move the story forward and keep the reader engaged.   They’re fickle things, stories, and they can keep you tossing and turning at night, surrounded by the dark like you are snorkeling in murky waters without even a sliver of light piercing through. It can make it impossible…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, YA books

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