Today, I visited the clipper Stad Amsterdam, a tall ship from the Netherlands which is currently moored at the San Francisco Embarcadero. Quarter Master Frank van Wamelen and Captain Andi Manser welcomed Boreas and me aboard their ship, where I presented them with copies of the three Boreas books for the ship’s library to entertain crew and guests during long ocean crossings. So, from now on, Boreas will sail the seven seas aboard the Stad Amsterdam, too! Next destination is Mexico. I am excited and so is Boreas. And the Captain and the Quarter Master? They can’t wait to start reading the books! Here are some pictures: Of course, I hurried back home to finish Boreas 4 which will come out this fall.
Mina Witteman – author | editor | teacher of creative writing
Posts tagged “San Francisco”
This week was the start of a new chapter in my life. I recently obtained a visa for the US, a so-called artist’s visa that identifies me now as an alien with extraordinary abilities in writing children’s books. Needless to say I am super excited at this opportunity to spread my children’s books wings. But it’s also a life-changing leap into uncharted waters and I feel like the little ones in the picture below. Intimidated by the dark around them, you can see them think: are we going in or… I’m that little one at the end of the rudder. I made my choice and went in. These next years I will be exploring and navigating these, to me, uncharted waters. I’ll be enjoying Californian life, too. Let myself be lifted…
Hurray! BOREAS EN DE VIER WINDSTREKEN (BOREAS AND THE FOUR WINDS) has been proofed and should be on its way to the printer now. I am super excited about this third book in the Boreas series, which will come out mid April. Again, I’ve thrown Boreas in adventure after adventure on his trip around the world with his parents on their yacht the Argo. In BOREAS AND THE FOUR WINDS, the family sails from Miami up the East Coast of America all the way to New York, and back south again to Key West, Cuba, the Cayman Islands and Colombia. After passing through the Panama Canal they sail north to San Francisco for a short trip to the Sierra Nevada. The final destination of this…
the sternum cracked from the inside alveoli plugged with broken stone sand cement water my brain taut with blood thoughts judgments incoherent rambling pushing to where I can’t go so I stay nameless invisible alone and die
Tagged: #amwriting, Mina Witteman, Revision, San Francisco, Sunshine, YA
the soles of my shoes scuff black-spotted concrete pavers i wind my way past withered faces tied up bags a crumpled newspaper never read city doves flock the streets innumerable like the homeless equally maligned i slip into gough’s sanctuary sit and listen to the opening of my heart i watch the smile inside my eyes and strain to look beyond the vagrant paintings from outside
My apartment is in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. And Tenderloin is, as a friend said, a bit dodgy. If I walk home from the library, I don’t even have to look around to know that I’m nearing my block: the air changes from a light kale-and-goat’s-cheese infused richesse to the dense odor of human waste that heralds the vast number of homeless that scurry around. It’s an odor that seems to envelop you, that tries to cling to your skin. Does that scare me? Yes and no. During daytime, I’m fine. The homeless are fairly harmless and we slowly get to know each other. I pass by small gatherings of men and women hanging around a former hotel, now a shelter-like facility for the homeless,…
Tagged: #amwriting, Homeless, San Francisco, Taxes, Tenderloin
I went out to look for lonely places for a lonely protagonist. I did that on a day that I felt pretty lonely myself, being in a foreign city with even my muse going AWOL on me. Loneliness is often perceived as a negative emotion but I think it can be a great creative boost too. You just have to find the break in the clouds. In this case my loneliness made sure I would pick up on all the right vibes. Evelyn, who works at the café where I’m writing this book, had pointed me towards The Wave Organ, a curious installation at the end of a jetty in the Marina district. The installation consists of 25 organ pipes made of PVC and concrete. The pipes are located at various elevations, allowing for the…
Tagged: ghosts, Marina, San Francisco, The Wave Organ
Mina Witteman 