iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Melanie Whitmarsh @mgwhitmarsh.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

I’ve always want to doodle! Yesterday, I gave it a go. Had the word picnic in mind. #doodle #procreate #sketch

Melanie Whitmarsh @mgwhitmarsh.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Jam-packed, super-useful talk on @write-mentor.bsky.social today about editing novels. Thank you, @authorsaragrant.bsky.social! I do love a craft book and this one sounds brilliant! 📝 #writers

Front cover of Sara Grant’s The Ultimate Guide to Editing Your Novel. The word ‘editing’ is highlighted in yellow.

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Reposted by Melanie Whitmarsh

Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

My cartoon for this week’s @theguardian.com Books

Image: a huge pile of crumpled gift wrap in the corner of a room.

Caption: By concealing herself within a cocoon of discarded wrapping paper and surviving on a diet of surplus festive chocolates and liqueurs, Emily hopes to read undisturbed as far into January as possible.

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Reposted by Melanie Whitmarsh

Books for Keeps, the children's books review journal @booksforkeeps.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

ICYI - read interviews with each of the four authors on the shortlist for the #NeroBookAwards Children's Category now via #BooksForKeeps. Winner announced 14 January 25. Which is your pick? #Awards #KidLit buff.ly/4iZhh9p

Photographs of the four authors shortlisted for the Nero Book Awards Children's Category: Catherine Bruton, Scarlett Dunsmore, Liz Hyder and Patrick Ness

Graphic with the four books - spine on - shortlisted for the Nero Book Awards Children's Category: Bird Boy by Catherine Bruton, Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody by Patrick Ness, How to Survive a Horror Movie by Scarlett Dunsmore and The Twelve by Liz Hyder.

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Melanie Whitmarsh @mgwhitmarsh.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

Just finished Murakami’s short, interesting memoir looking at the parallels between long-distance running and novel writing. Also, his thoughts on aging, marathon prep, and disappointing race times. A good companion to his essay collection Novelist as a Vocation. #HarukiMurakami #marathonrunning

Front cover of Haruki Murakami’s memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. Cover shows a slinky black river crossing a white land, disappearing into a black sky. A red sun sinks at the horizon. The book is photographed between a pair of grubby white shoe laces.

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Melanie Whitmarsh @mgwhitmarsh.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Have you taken the @mcnallyeditions.bsky.social reader quiz? 📚Turns out I’m an Escape Artist.💥 How about you?! 🔎

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Melanie Whitmarsh @mgwhitmarsh.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Just finished Edward Carey’s Heap House. Not sure if I want to chuck out all my junk, or cosy up to the clutter and make pets of random tins and trinkets. #EdwardCarey #book #ya

Front cover of Edward Carey’s paperback novel Heap House. Cover shows the unsmiling faces of the hero and heroine underneath the bright red title. In the background is a giant hodge-podge mansion atop a massive rubbish dump.

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Melanie Whitmarsh @mgwhitmarsh.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Sally Jones, what a delight! Loved the muted palette, the worldwide travel, all the boats, and Wegelius’s economic writing - with drama, twists, and surprises unfolding in single text boxes. Cannot wait to settle down with The Murderer’s Ape. @sushibooks.bsky.social #JakobWegelius #kidlit #books

The front cover of The Legend of Sally Jones by Jakob Wegelius. It shows an illustration of a sinking ship with a single sailor escaping through the waves in a wooden lifeboat with a gorilla at the stern.

Showing an illustrated spread inside the graphic novel The Legend of Sally Jones. On the left is a pale-faced detective in a black hat. On the right is a lavishly-dressed jewel thief walking beside the Bosphorus River.

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Melanie Whitmarsh @mgwhitmarsh.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Just picked up Alex T. Smith’s latest as a Christmas present. How fabulous is this opening line?! “I never thought I would be lucky enough to stumble across a dead body because I don’t have a dog.” Can’t wait to read it! #middlegrade #kidlit #kidlitUK

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Melanie Whitmarsh @mgwhitmarsh.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Just came across this fabulous artwork. Too good not to share and marvel! That’s Lora Senf’s #middlegrade creepfest and Alfredo Cáceres’ darkly delicious illustrations. @redolaf.bsky.social @lorasenf.bsky.social This is my weekend read! 🫣👻 #kidlit #books

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Melanie Whitmarsh @mgwhitmarsh.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Congratulations Fleur Hitchcock on #MyBookBuzz news! 🎊Let’s make Murder at Wintertide today's Book of the Day! A cosy, Christmassy, middle grade thriller with fossils and technology... @fleurhitchcock.bsky.social www.pageturnercliffhanger.com/home/murder-... #kidlitUK @nosycrow.bsky.social

pageturnercliffhanger.com

Murder at Wintertide by Fleur Hitchcock — Pageturner Cliffhanger Book blog

Peril, intrigue, and hot chocolate in this cosy middle-grade Christmas thriller.

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Reposted by Melanie Whitmarsh

SF Said @whatsfsaid.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

What are the children's books that changed YOUR lives? Here are a few of mine: books without which my own books would not exist...

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Reposted by Melanie Whitmarsh

Books for Keeps, the children's books review journal @booksforkeeps.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Our NEW Book Of The Week is here: MAGGIE BLUE AND THE LOST CHILD is the thrilling conclusion to Anna Goodall's deservedly acclaimed Dark World fantasy trilogy #kidlit. booksforkeeps.co.uk/review/maggi...

Decorative graphic with the cover of Maggie Blue and The Lost Child. Artwork by Sandra Dieckmann features Maggie standing on a rock in a pool holding a wrapped object - a baby presumably but deliberately rock shaped too in a buccolic scene with trees all around. She is looking alarmed, behind her is a big tabby cat with one eye missing. In the distance are mountains with birds flying in front of them and a huge domed city with watchtowers all around.

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Melanie Whitmarsh @mgwhitmarsh.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

“All I need is a window to not write.” 🪟That’s author Tobias Wolff talking about office design in Issue 171 of the Paris Review. 📝Yep, am with you on that one, Mr Wolff. #TobiasWolff #ParisReview #writingcommunity #📚

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Melanie Whitmarsh @mgwhitmarsh.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Going back to 2021 for this Book of the Day: my current favourite in Elizabeth C. Bunce’s fabulous Myrtle Hardcastle historic whodunnits. Archaeology, poison, and secret societies... #KidLit #KidLitUK #📚 #💙📚 www.pageturnercliffhanger.com/home/coldblo...

pageturnercliffhanger.com

Cold-Blooded Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce — Pageturner Cliffhanger Book blog

High stakes for detective Myrtle in this middle-grade mystery

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