Mina Witteman – author | editor | teacher of creative writing

Posts tagged “Lydia Davis

Gone Writing – Day 6

Posted on January 7, 2016

The other day, EcoSalon, a blog I follow, reposted an article by fellow writer and friend Scott Adelson, titled ‘Making Space for Your Inner Homebody‘ in which Scott makes a case for respecting your Inner Homebody as “the great indoors–and staying home, in particular—gets a bad rap”. In his article, Scott invites the reader “…to stop and look around, and pay some attention to your quarters.” because “…exploring your space can be a limitless source of creative and emotional inspiration…”.   My space, my current home, is a café in North Beach, where I’ve taken up temporary residence to write a novel. After five days, no after the first day already, it feels like home, which is good because I’m an indoors kinda gal. There’s not much that I have…

220W — 220 Flash Fiction Words

Posted on November 26, 2012

It seems that the popularity of ultra short stories is on the rise. Events with famous writers of short stories, like the brilliant and funny A.L. Kennedy, and — to me — the empress of the short story Lydia Davis prove it. I like that, because I have this thing going for flash fiction. I love reading it and I love writing it. Writing with a constraint on word count forces you to zoom in on the very essence of your story. It pushes you to be terse. It allows you to rip out every empty word. No more than 220 Words. That was the prerequisite to enter the contest for the A.L. Snijders Award for Flash Fiction 2012. I had the story in a flash,…

The End of the World or Cows?

Posted on May 20, 2011

It’s nearing, they say, the end of the world. I have no idea who ‘they’ are, but they’re quite convinced that it/us will end tomorrow, May 21. I beg to differ. I think we have a future ahead of us and even a bright one, we just have to look for it and make it work. Last Wednesday Lydia Davis was in Amsterdam. Wim Brands interviewed her and had her tell us where to look. It’s right there, she said. And she told us about the observations she makes at home or traveling; observations that form the source of her ultra short stories. When she looks out of the window and across the street from her home she sees green hilly pastures, a red barn…