I’m giving away a Kindle Fire to one lucky winner, and all you have to do is post a picture of the cover of FLICKER, the first book in my YA trilogy, The Flicker Effect. Contest ends October 16, 2016 at midnight.
Melanie Hooyenga
Deconstructing a Cookie
How completely overhauling a novel is like changing an oatmeal-raisin cookie to chocolate chip.
How Editing is Like Painting a Merry-Go-Round
About a month ago I decided to refinish the merry-go-round in our backyard. (Yes, it came with the house and is the kind you find on playgrounds. We also have a bouncy duck, a digger thing, and we had a 4-person teeter-totter before a drunk driver destroyed it last February.) It’d been on my long-term …
Reading While Writing
The first few years that I was writing, I was convinced that if I read novels while actively writing my own, the styles of those already-published novels would somehow leak into my writing, making it unauthentic. I saved reading as a reward for completing drafts and would binge for several weeks, gobbling up the stories I’d …
There Will Be Goat
July is a busy month for me! We spent the first week in Portland, OR, visiting family, then 12 hours after landing back in MI, I was in Holland at the first of three book events. This coming weekend I will be at the Bookman in Grand Haven from 11am-1pm. Local children’s author Amy Young is launching …
Hooyenga SMASH!
(Read that in the Incredible Hulk’s voice) So, without getting into WHY it’s taken so long… the full Flicker Effect trilogy is finally on Smashwords! Which means it’s also available on iBooks. Apple makes it extra difficult (read: expensive) for indie authors to list their books on iBooks, but you can do it through another …
Goodreads Giveaway & a New Interview
It’s been a while since I’ve given away print copies of Flicker, so I decided to host a Goodreads giveaway — and it starts today! You need to have a Goodreads account, but then you just have to click to enter. Easy peasy! And, you know, add Flicker to your Want to Read shelf if …
Ninety-Nine Cents for a Book, Holy Cow!
(sing to the tune of Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall) Ninety-nine cents for a book, holy cow! Ninety-nine cents for a book! With just one click (what a neat trick!) You can be reading by lunch (or right now)! Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Smashwords (My apologies if that song’s stuck in …
Reboot
The past month has been crazy – both personally, professionally, and writerly – and while it’s (mostly) all good, my body has reached a breaking point (headaches, shoulder & neck knots, inability to stay awake – FUN STUFF). Typically I rejuvenate by spending time at Lake Michigan. We live a 10 minute walk from the …
I’m in Writer’s Digest & Biz is on Instagram
I’m even more all over the internet than before. First, the Writer’s Digest issue that features the winners of the Self-Published eBook Winners is finally out! Second, Biz has her own Instagram account!