Workshop & Writing

Last weekend, I attended a short story workshop in Amsterdam, organised by the Amsterdam Writing Workshops. I had a great time, and it was nice to be among a bunch of talented other writers (and a great teacher!). I really enjoyed listening to all the stories being read aloud. It also helped my self esteem, as I liked my own story a lot better when I could sit back and listen to it, rather than staring at the pages all the time.

The story in question will be expanded & revised, and then I think I’ll try to get it out there somehow, as I really enjoy its theme: a bit more genre-specific this time, with touches of cyberpunk and dystopia.

I finished typing up the first draft of “Harvest Dance”, which will also be revised for future use.

Time to work with some new ideas, because all I have left at the moment is revision work. Seeing how it’s been going lately, inspiration will strike down its frenzied bolts soon enough.

Finally, I’ve put up “Voyage to the White Island” here on the blog, for your enjoymeny, hopefully.

Until next time… if you’re interested in seeing what I’m reading at the moment, rather than writing, check out the GoodReads link at the right hand side of this blog.

Open

I’ve finished writing and translating “Open”, my first explicitly bilingual piece. It’s a very short poetic story, written first in Dutch, and immediately translated into English. Due to the spontaneous nature of the piece, there has been very little in the way of revision, and the rough final result may reflect that. All the same, I feel that the story expresses some of the themes I simply had to put on paper just now.

I quickly printed up two copies, using the last special paper I had around. One is for the archive, one is for Terje Ø, that amazing young writing friend that will hopefully graduate on his experimental prose work Decapitated Snake Descending soon from the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam.

Both the Dutch and English versions of “Open” will be readable on this blog not too long after I write this.

A New Home

I’ve found a new home for my writing blog, and it’s right here, of course. Bear with me while I get the hang of it all…

Things have been progressing, of course. Last February I finished up my home printed version of Homecomings, which was handed and sent out in an edition of 15 copies on luxury paper. Around the same time, I wrote “Rust”, a flash fiction piece, and my first attempt at something with more of a horror and suspense touch to it. I printed two copies of it on copper inlaid paper, folded into an amber-coloured card square. I might try and find a home for this piece somewhere else later.

The coming time, I’ll be finishing up some new material. One short story in English, as yet untitled, is finished, and will be revised sooner rather than later. It’s a bit more folklore-influenced than Homecomings, as well as more magical-realist. More about that soon. I’m currently writing a shorter poetic prose piece in Dutch, which I’ll probably translate into English as well, afterwards. Finally, I’m of a mind of revisiting “De Nachtelijke Jager” [The Nightly Hunter], my very first serious short story, written four years ago. A revision and translation into English are the obvious possibilities.

If you’re reading this, thanks for your interest! It means a lot to me.

Voyage to the White Island

It’s a bit late to post, but a story of mine has been published in the Fall/Winter issue of Hex Magazine.

For this story, entitled Voyage to the White Island, I drew upon a folktale from the North Sea area (Norderney in the North of Germany, to be precise). You can consider it to be be a ‘literary’ adaption of a folkloric original, a style I use often in my short stories.

So, if you’re interested, I recommend you to check out the magazine at http://www.hexmagazine.com – most of the content is heathen/religious is nature, with many articles on things ranging from mythology to cooking.

Perhaps this here blog will turn out to be one of those writer’s blogs? Perish the thought…
However, I will post newsbites about my progress as an amateur writer. I intend to make available digital versions of my writings with fine layout and illustrations, some under my own name, some as part of Where Rivers End. Stay tuned, in any case.