Mina Witteman – author | editor | teacher of creative writing

Posts tagged “Mina Witteman”

Amsterdam view: raised from the dead

Posted on September 18, 2010

Remember the frat boat I told you about a couple of posts ago? The one that went down in Herengracht? I was sure that its owners would leave it where it was, after rescuing some essentials, but I was wrong. Dead wrong, as it turned out. Yesterday they returned, the frat boys, and they didn’t come unprepared. They had hired the Klusjesboot – which is Dutch for The Handyman Boat, I guess – and with that I owe them an apology, as I was convinced they would leave the barge where it went down, floating below the water surface and making it a hazard for everyone cruising by. The Klusjesboot-man went to work with zeal, attaching bands and ropes and scaffolding-poles and I watched, intrigued…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Amsterdam Views, The Views

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Amsterdam View: 1 Terabit per second

Posted on September 15, 2010

Just outside my writer’s residence stands a mailbox. Like all others in my city it is a crimson one. High on its pillars, its back turned to the canal and slits invitingly opened to us all, this bright red everybody’s friend almost begs you to fill it up with your letters. Evening after evening the mailman comes by, empties it and hurries all letters over to the addressees. But, happy and helpful as it is, this red mailbox is a dying breed. Every day again less and less letters are deposited in its confidential entrails. The day the postmaster will come by to carry it off it is nearing quickly. One day soon this crimson mailbox will pass into obscurity like a forgotten writer.…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Amsterdam Views, The Views

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Amsterdam View: Where’s my boat?

Posted on September 13, 2010

Sometimes nature plays ugly tricks on you. One day you have a boat, the next day… you don’t. A week or so ago a boat moored right opposite my writer’s residence after what must have been a jolly day on the Amsterdam canals. The boat – more like a giant raft – resembled an open air fraternity house, with comfortable sofa’s, rowdy boys, downy cushions, silly girls, a hefty stereo and beer on tap to boot. They were a happy bunch those boys, but they were clearly in need of some solid ground after a day’s sailing and drinking. So they threw out the fenders, cabled the boat to the railing, neatly covered up the sofa’s, courteously helped the squealing girls out and left.…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Amsterdam Views, The Views

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Amsterdam view: PLeaSe!

Posted on August 26, 2010

What to do when it is raining the proverbial cats and dogs? In my writer’s residence that isn’t a very hard question. Rain is an almost daily constant in our ecosystem. It keeps our land flat and wet, just the way we like it. So, we continue life as if this dreariness and gloom doesn’t exist. We dress up in various forms of water-repellants and water-resistants, and we go about our business as usual. We take out our finest umbrella’s and meet with our friends on the bridge for a chat, just like we would do on a sunny day, wearing our favorite miniskirts and halter-tops. Or we get out our cane and take our daily stroll, this time protecting our suit with a…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Amsterdam Views, The Views, YA books

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Amsterdam view: Published! Again!

Posted on August 19, 2010

It was a happy day, here at my writer’s residence in Amsterdam. I’d been working on The Pot Boat, my new YA novel, getting into a – not too literal – pot flow and drawing up questions for my esteemed science connection about tappin’ ‘n volts ‘n watts. I know, I know, once I was a science girl, too, but most of that priceless stuff they put in my in head in high school, kinda got lost along the way. I need my facts straight, so I turned to the best high school science teacher in Amsterdam and far beyond (he’ll be in the book!) to guide me along electrocution’s fine lines. So there I was, at my desk thinking up all the questions…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, Children's books

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Californian View: something old, something new…

Posted on August 18, 2010

For some people it is comforting to be surrounded by what they know, to do the things they’ve always done and live a life without surprises. Leave everything as it is and don’t ask questions. For them change is a scary process, a frightening journey into the dark unknown. If changes occur they – often subconsciously – try to block it. They cling to the familiar and won’t let go. It’s easy to laugh at them, but I realize that – deep down in my heart – I’m one of them. Even though I like a road less traveled, I have difficulties going off the beaten track. In hiking and biking I usually keep to the trails and in daily life I shop at…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, The Views, Views Abroad, YA books

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Amsterdam View: Escape

Posted on August 13, 2010

Arriving back in Amsterdam after a vacation in the States, I always find it difficult to adapt. I so dearly miss the abundance of space, the impressive nature, the silence. I miss the gentler pace of vacation time. Amsterdam, so picturesque for most of the year, suddenly feels claustrophobic. The city seems crowded and cramped and suffocatingly tight. It is packed with cars, with bikes, boats, pedestrians, and most of them seem to feel the need to overrun you in their hurried and everlasting pursuit of more space. When the sun comes out, the crowd seems to grow exponentially, rapidly covering every available inch of the city like a fast growing fungus on damp walls. The crowds spread out over parks, they take over…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Amsterdam Views, The Views

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