iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

As an author, especially a small one, having any social media suspend your account is a hard blow. That’s why it’s so important to have your newsletter up and running.#Authors #BooksSkye #RomanceAuthor

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

hope it’s just a coincidence but a few hours after I posted about an experience as a blind person at an airport my Instagram and Threads were suspended for violating community guidelines. I hope it’s just a technical error. Reinforces why you need to have your newsletter. #BookSky #Instagram #Meta.

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

If you are not reading diversely, why do you hate joy? A snippet from the diversity in sports romance panel I was on this weekend. #BooksSkye #RomanceBooks #DiverseReading.

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Tomorrow, I fly out for Sports Romance Con, and I am so nervous! Not only is it my first time as an Attending Author, but PLANES. #booksky #flying #planes

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Sometimes you need to disconnect to connect. Trouble getting into your latest book? PUT THE PHONE IN THE OTHER ROOM! It's my sure-proof secret to pushing through writer's block. #booksky #romanceauthors

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

WHAT! This week I'll be at Sports Romance Con and there are readers that WANT to meet ME??? Okay, who paid them off??? #booksky #romancebooks #sportsromance #romanceauthors

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Woke just means he give a damn about people. So let’s get out there and give a damn about people! #JaneFonda #Fight #SpeakUp

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

I’m at the point where billionaire needs to be in the trigger warnings of books for me. Sorry, my billionaire romance peeps, I promise I’ll come back someday.#BookSkye #Billionaires #RomanceBooks.

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

Bullied by a billionaire... Nope, that's not a dark romance novel I am wriitng, but my actual life. #booksky #romancebooks #romanceauthor

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

Just a romance author, standing in front of readers, wondering if they’d like to read emotional romcoms about sassy FMC‘s and the MMC‘s that are down bad for them with disability/mental health rep. #BookSkye #RomanceBooks.

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

Tonight I deleted my TikTok account and the app from my phone. #BookSkye #MentalHealth #TikTok.

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Honestly, every week I make it feels like I survived another minute in the purge. #225.

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

✨ ROMCOM BINGO✨ Just a few of the things you’ll find in my books! Happy reading, and may the odds be in your favor. #BooksSkye #RomanceBooks

A bingo board featuring different tropes/reps/items in Melissa Whitney books

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Y’all they SOLD OUT of my books! A bookstore just shared with me that they were sold out of my books. That’s it. Carry-on. Freaking out. #BookSky #RomanceBooks #RomanceReading #RomanceAuthor #SpicyBooks

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Did you know typewriters were invented b/c of a blind woman? Pellegrino Turri invented it for Countess Carolina Fantoni, a blind woman, so she could regain her ability to write to friends. Just an example of how accessibility often serves EVERYONE. #booksky #disability #accessibility

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Can we talk about the literary chops of some of our romance authors? I don’t think they get the flowers. They deserve. #BookSky #RomanceBooks #RomanceWriting.

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Forget “touch her and die” vibes from fictional MMC‘s, give me real life men with “touch her rights and see what happens” vibes that fight alongside women to secure our bodily autonomy, #BookSky #RomanceBooks #Women’sRights #RomanceAuthor autonomy!!

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Did you know January is braille literacy month? This year Brown will be celebrating 200 years of its existence. #BlindnessAwareness #Braille #DisabledVoices #Disability.

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

US house resolution 722 will establish fetal personhood. This will have devastating impact on women’s lives. Contact your representative. #Women’sRights #Women’sBodies.

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Silence is driven by safety. If a If I a quiet, I sm safe. As a blind woman I’ve never had the privilege of safety therefore I don’t have the luxury to remain sielnt, nobody is will speak up for my community except for us. History shows this. #BookThreads #Disability

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Reading is political. It’s why oppressive regimes not just ban the access of certain material, but even the ability to read itself. #BookThreads #Reading #RomanceBook.

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

What does this blind chick do after spending a day dealing with inaccessible airports and people asking others what I need rather than addressing me directly? I get to my hotel, pull out my laptop, and continue to write my next own voice romance with blindness rep. #BookSky #RomanceBooks

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Today I write my spicy books. Tomorrow, I write my spicy books. The day after that, I write my spicy books. #BookSkye #Authors #AuthorSkye #RomanceReaders

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Weird. Nothing I post seems to be posting...

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

The story that is talking to me right now is so delicious!!! I love that moment in a WIP, when the characters are chatty! #romanceauthor #booksky #writingcommunity #romancebooks

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

It’s going to be a rough week so I wanna do something nice. Follow me/subscribe to my newsletter and I’ll pick three people to win free copies of At First Smile’s audiobook! #BookSky #Audiobooks #RomanceBooks

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

How does a bad boy hockey player that challenges, his own toxic masculinity and is down bad for his blind FMC sound? At First Smile, an own voice hockey romance. Available now. #BooksSkye #RomanceBooks #RomanceReading

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

Blanket. Check. Giant cup of tea. Check. Michelle Branch music. Check. All right time for this girl to get writing! #BookSkye #WriterCommunity #Author #RomanceBooks #RomanceReader #RomanceAuthor

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

Booktok’s short tenure has transformed publishing. More bookstores opened. More authors out there. More readers. I truly do worry what the US TikTok ban will do to publishing. #BookSky #Books #TikTokBan

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Fun fact, as a blind author I sometiems need sensitivity readers for my sighted characters, becasue their POV is so different than my blind characters. The way they describe/experience the world is told so different. I demo this in At First Smile with Rowan v Pen's POV chapters. #booksky

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

If we’re bringing things back from the early 2000s can Michelle Branch have a resurgence? I need some girl with guitar energy in my life! #2Thousands #BooksSkye #RomanceBooks #RomanceAuthor #MichelleBranch

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

If Game of Thrones was written by a woman, and the fan base was predominantly female, would they call it corn? Probably. #BookSky #RomanceBooks #SpicyBooks #Authors

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Booklovers for LA online auction donation form up! #BooksSky docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Can’t wait for the 39 minute long video calling out predatory men in the book space, rather than degrading women for enjoying spicy books. #BooksSkye #RomanceBooks #Books #RomanceReading

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

So Cal friends, the Winds are picking up again. charge your devices. Make sure you have batteries, flashlights, and the things you may need in case we lose power again. Stay safe out there! #SoCal

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Some ppl are in their villain eras with this "if I can't have her, nobody can" mindset about TikTok. You didn't thrive there, so you're celebrating this loss for those that did? And this is a LOSS. Ppl are grieving. Relationships. Community. Income. So much will be lost by the US #TikTok Ban.

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Booktok has transformed the publishing world. It’s opened doors for so ma. More bookstores. More indie authors. More discourse about diversity in publishing. I can’t help but worry what will happen if it goes away. #BookSky #Books #Reading #BookTok

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Booklovers for LA online charity auction will happen January 29 through February 5. The auction will raise money to support the LA region, which has been devastated by wildfires. Donation interest form/details will drop on my socials January 14. #BookSky #Books #LAFires

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

What kind of a reader am I? Well so far this month I’ve read JAMES by Percival Everett and The Wiener Across the Way by Amy Award. Show me the box you try to put me in and I’ll crush it. #BooksSkye #Author #Books

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

I’m channeling my inner Bridgete Jones but instead I choose Britney Spears and chai! #BookSky #RomanceReaders #RomanceAuthor #Saturday #RomanceBooks

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

Y’all I feel like a big girl author! I will be having my first author signing event at an all romance bookstore on January 31! Stop by heart obound books in Anaheim, California between 5 and 7 PM to get signed books, swag, and maybe cookies. #BooksSkye #RomanceReaders #SoCal

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

I already know that I am not everybody’s cup of tea. What I need to work on is ensuring that I’m always my cup of tea. #Self-esteem #WorkInProgress #Life #BookSkye

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Melissa Whitney author @melissawhitney.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

I’m going to vent for one second and then be done. Boy I am tired of non-marginalized people telling marginalized people how they should feel about things. If I say something is a struggle as a disabled person, don’t tell me to just look on the bright side.

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