I am a Dutch published writer. Becoming an architect was my childhood dream, but all my drawings invariably ended in stories. In short: time to put down the pencil and take up the plume. My debut Deedee’s Revenge came out in 2005, soon followed by more books, like The Sun Spirit and The Soul Snatcher.
I write for every age group, but – true to my motto no guts, no glory – every story is a spine-chilling adventure. My writing is said to be intense, pulling readers dead into the stories. The trade secret? Experiencing what the protagonist experiences: if the main character crashes down a waterfall in his kayak, I crashed down a waterfall, too; if the hero roams icy cold mountains or scorching deserts, I wandered the same icy cold mountains and scorching deserts.
I honed the storytelling and writing craft attending the 4-year course Prose for Children and the Editor’s minor at the University of Amsterdam. I write full-time now, but still moonlight as an editor, translator and ghostwriter, and occasionally teach creative writing to middle graders and young adults. I write both in Dutch and English.
Erzsi Deàk of Hen&ink Literary represents all my titles, new and old. For more information visit the Hen&ink Literary website.
As of January 2011, I am the Regional Advisor for the Netherlands of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Good luck with the blog, Mina.
Now all you have to do is tell everyone you ever meet about your blog, write a lot of posts, and try to to worry too much about how may hits you get. But it does get addictive! Anyway, at least you have one reader now, which is not bad for a first morning.
Thank you, Richard. It was fun writing this first post, gave me lots of ideas for more (yes, addictive, I can see that).
And you being my first reader is definitely encouraging.