Two more weeks to go before the second Amsterdam Literary Death Match. You know the drill: 4 writers, 3 judges, 2 rounds and 1 epic finale. I know who I will vote for: Fantasy-fictionista Mina Witteman, author of The Soul Snatcher, The Weed Man and Dark Fiber. Hey? That’s me! Right, it is me! Unveiling just a shred of my strategy to win (and those who know me know that I’m merciless if it comes to winning)… I will be reading from my new and burning YA thriller THE WEED MAN. Prepare for a scare, people! The smell of weed and the stink of burning flesh will linger for a long, long while in the great Old West. Buy your tickets now and let…
Mina Witteman – author | editor | teacher of creative writing
Posts tagged “The Weed Man”
Three things came together this past week. We had a couple of late bloomers signing up for the first SCBWI conference in the Netherlands. Yay! D-Day is this coming Saturday and I am very, very excited about the illustrious illustrator and writer Doug Cushman who will open the conference. The title of his keynote? In the Beginning Was Space Cat. Who doesn’t remember the cosmic adventures of the space hero who effortlessly rivals Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and many other great space age heroes? Space Cat was the onset of Doug’s stellar career, as it still is the onset of the reading careers of so many kids. The other thing that came to me was the Literary Death Match. These killing matches, as co-creator…
While I was sitting in my usual quiet corner at Odette’s, enjoying my truffle-cheesed omelette, minding my own business, these two lads came in. Black-rimmed glasses were their main theme today, not just on the nose, but embroidered on their matching grey jeans as well. They peered around and, even though there was plenty of space, they choose to sit in the middle of the room, just next to the goodies fridge and spot-on in my view. I had fled the house and the Poles and THE WEED MAN, but didn’t have any company. That turned out to be a smart move, as it gave me plenty opportunity to listen, to observe and to so not minding my own business anymore. Both lads had…
It’s been a while, people, I know. It was hard work, finishing the Dark Fiber revision and it didn’t leave much room for anything else, but last Monday I hit those six keys I’m so fond of, the ones that give me that TGIF feeling: THE END. Dark Fiber is done and I’m very happy with the result. Now starts the long wait until my agent has read the new version and comes with his verdict. Waiting is a constant in the life of a writer. We wait a good deal of our time and most of us have learned to live with it. Some waiting bouts are worse than others, though. The most agonizing one is when you wait for a positive reply to a query.…
Tagged: 36 cube, Dark Fiber, Mina Witteman, The Sun Spirit, The Weed Man, thriller
It was a almost like a trip down memory lane. I had to report at school, at 12 sharp. High school, that is. Now I have been at high schools quite a bit these past years. It comes with the territory: children’s book writers go out for reading and signing sessions at schools. It’s fun and it creates an audience, it sells books. I often combine a reading session with a workshop creative writing. It’s amazing how much talent there is out there! After spending a couple of hours with kids I usually head home tired but totally replenished. My inspiration cup filled to the brim with intriguing protagonists and unexpected plot twists, and with the strongest urge to write, write and…
Tagged: Amsterdam, De wietman, density, dry ice, potato cannon, science, spud gun, The Weed Man, YA, Young Adult
Every writer longs for it: that time that words seemingly effortless find their way from your head to your manuscript and your fingers become instruments creating works of art. It’s the time that sentences build themselves, that the plot moves forward at just the right pace: slow where it needs to ease the reader into your story, fast where it needs the reader to hold his breath and run along with the protagonist through hot and dry deserts and under ominously thundering skies. Yes, every writer longs for the FLOW. I long for that flow, too. Sometimes it’s music that gets me right there. A great song or an album on repeat – Levon Helm’s ‘Ophelia’, Eddie Vedder’s ‘Guaranteed’ or an album like Anouar…
Tagged: Amsterdam, construction, De wietman, flow, Herengracht, The Weed Man, writing, YA, Young Adult
At first sight it may seem like a bit of a stretch: a Straight Edge writer writing a Young Adult novel about pot smoking and weed growing. As it turns out, juxtaposing straight edge with weed presented me with some very interesting plot twists. Straight Edge or not, if you are writing for YA you need to be true, you need to tell the tale from the heart, throw in your own experiences and make it as real as possible. If you don’t, they will prick right through it and trash you and your precious novel before you know it. So, where to go if you need to find your way in the land of the dazed, if you need to raise the veil…
Tagged: Amsterdam, coffee shop, de dampkring, De wietman, grow shop, straight edge, The Weed Man, weed, wiet, YA, Young Adult
Mina Witteman 