A bike ride through the emptiness of Vondelpark on a stormy day A stiff breeze sweeping sleet and rain in my face The cold sting cooling my brain A sore burn reminding my hamstrings of a killer workout A stork gracefully stepping through the grass Spring blossom unperturbed by the night’s frost Being grounded by the heavenly needles of my acupuncturist and dear friend Sandra Light fooling the eye into believing the lucent snowdrop is white The fluffy tail of a dog waving defiant and high Eating a bar of Hands Off Double Dark chocolate because I got wet twice Having a drink with my pal Laura The prospect of introducing one-year-old Tommy to Chagall Working the line edits of my middle grade adventure novel The art on my desk Listening for the quietest sound (the…
Mina Witteman – author | editor | teacher of creative writing
Posts tagged “Boreas en de duizend eilanden”
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…
One more day and night to go before I travel on to my next destination. These past weeks were intense with days of glorious, sometimes even demonic writing and days of calm and reflective composing. Days of solitude and days when my muse popped in to shake up my thinking. Days when I shamelessly called in my writer friends Jim, Donna and Scott to brainstorm about this wretched project of mine. Days that I plunged so deep into the dark that I was beyond grateful to be enveloped by the loving care of the Adelson family. Good weeks. Productive weeks. Weeks that taught me my writing soars when I’m alone. The book ain’t half done and I have decided that I need to come back here to finish it. It’ll be a few months…
Last year has been a bit of a self-inflicted overload, work-wise, and after summer I realized that I had no brain space or energy left for what I love doing most: writing. Spurred on by my best friend Sieneke, I mapped out jobs, tasks, responsibilities, assignments, school visits, teaching gigs, mentoring projects and whatnot. On my page – or my three pages – appeared a staggering number of commitments. No wonder my brain refused to engage in new writing projects. It had already way too much to process. I knew that if I wanted to go back to writing I had to whip my stubborn self into change. Luckily, it turns out I can be pretty persuasive with the whip. I shelved all my commitments until further notice, and…
Mina Witteman 