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💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿

@thecrumpet.bsky.social

1.3K followers 1.4K following 780 posts

Legally non-blonde / writer of minor repute (I'm in the Congressional record!) / querying 1st novel THIS ENDS NOW / noodlings at meagantheauthor.com / co-host of podcast BAD LIT FRIENDS (@badlitfriends.bsky.social‬) / transplanted Nutmegger / Valley Girl

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💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

Look, what did the Good Lordt create the "listen at 1.75x" function for on podcasts if not to get through our 1.5hr extravaganza? Come on, live a little. Listen to @kirkrafferty.com and me disagree about adverbs (I AM RIGHT) and why you should kill your darlings, especially if they are super cute.

Bad Lit Friends @badlitfriends.bsky.social · 2d

NEW EPISODE OF BAD LIT FRIENDS IS UP!

Wherein we talk about writing rules and why every single one of them is complete trash. (not really)

Bad Lit Friends is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts!
#WritingCommunity #Podcasts

open.spotify.com/episode/1eMk...

💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 1h

October 10 #WIPsnips – “prize”

Yet another way Lainey Pike isn't like Donald Trump: she didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize (again!). But she did draw a line at last when it comes to Gregory, and her prize for defending it is better than any damn medal. A snippet from “This Ends Now.”

I regret to inform you that in my reverie in the vestibule, this topsy-turvy interlude, with his strong arms wrapped around my back and my cheek pressed to his dark blue sweater so the dull, familiar th-dum th-dum of his heartbeat filled my ear, with the scent of his clean hair and the sour tang of his wine breath in my nose, one word bounced again and again upon the walls of my brain like a rubber ball: yes.

Yes yes yes y-yes yes yes.

Jenny and Dave remained outside on the porch, or else Gregory might not have crushed me so tightly nor dotted a kiss on the crown of my head. If they’d been closer, he might not have been so bold as to say, “I’ve waited so long for this. I knew you’d see it my way.”

With these words, the greasy smear on my mind cleared. The bouncing ball stilled. “No.” I shoved him hard enough that his back thumped against the plaster vestibule wall. “Get away from me.”

Gregory’s shock—the widened brown eyes, the parted mouth—will forever be an image I cherish, one to roll about in my memory like a pair of cool marbles in my hand. It was only a moment, but I grabbed it. It was, after all, my prize.

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💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 2h

a woman in a blue and white dress with a braided ponytail

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💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 13h

Ridiculously handsome is a job description.

A very attractive black cat with white whiskers is looking quite grumpy, seated on a bed, in a room with green walls and a white-painted vaulted ceiling.

💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 14h

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💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 14h

THANK YOU MA'AM!!!

💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 17h

I would have murdered him if he'd said otherwise!

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💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

October 9 #WIPsnips – “battery”

For a very intelligent person, Jenny’s had plenty of bad ideas. Licking a 9V Duracell may not be that smart but it sure as hell is smarter than getting messed up with the guy whose Romantic Poetry seminar she took last semester. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

One time, ignoring everything her father told her about the dangers of electricity, Jenny licked a nine-volt battery, just to see what would happen. She’d never forgotten it. The light shock that zinged her tongue wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t unpleasant. The danger was so small. A cheap thrill. The temptation to do it again still pestered her once in a while, though to date there had been no repeat performance.

This close, Gregory could be that battery, but she doubted the danger was as mild as a Duracell’s electrical pulse.

Kiss me again. How will you feel?

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💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you!

💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

Bad Lit Friends @badlitfriends.bsky.social · 2d

💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

THE WEDDING PEOPLE x SANDWICH

THIS ENDS NOW: Serial husband-ditcher Lainey hasn't met a functional relationship she didn't want to escape—until now. But she can't stop bolting until she takes down the charismatic man who wrote the toxic love playbook she's ready to toss out. #DVPit #A #UP #WOC

💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

SANDWICH x THE PAPER PALACE

THIS ENDS NOW: Ditching perfectly good husbands is a bad look, especially for a wedding planner. But Lainey can't stop running until she takes down the manipulative ex who made disappearing feel like devotion—and who's still rewriting their history. #DVPit #A #UP #WOC

💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you! 😊

💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

Love love love this! I've said it before and I'll say it again: I want this book!

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💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 1d

THE WEDDING PEOPLE x THE PAPER PALACE

THIS ENDS NOW: When her second marriage crumbles, a Gen X wedding planner spots a pattern: she dissolves into the men she loves. To break free, she must confront her first love—the man who taught her she was too much and never, ever enough. #DVPit #A #UP #WOC

💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 2d

A banger of an opening line!

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💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 2d

THE PAPER PALACE x SANDWICH

THIS ENDS NOW: Why has Lainey Pike fled another perfect marriage? At an Instagram-ready women's retreat, she recognizes the beast she must slay to break free: her brilliant, dangerous first love—who'd burn everything down before letting her go. #DVPit #A #UP #WOC

💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 2d

October 8 #WIPsnips – “dungeon”

No dungeons in this snippet from “This Ends Now,” but the dank cellar of Lainey’s worst memories is where she keeps thoughts of her first, worst love. She’s forbidden herself from peeking inside—only terrors dwell there. Handsome, rotten terrors named Gregory Shipp.

The night before we left for Lost Acre, I broke one of my rules. I let myself peer inside the room I kept the bastard in, in the furthest, foulest corner of my mind’s cellar. Little Lainey lived there, too, and she was so sad, and he so awful, that I didn’t want to revisit their cheap little scenes. Nothing ever changed—the players jangled their bones the same, spoke the same, raved and cried and loved the same. There was nothing new to learn.

Looking this time through the keyhole, much seemed unchanged over the years, a bit dustier, a bit more faded. Little Lainey still made herself small, small, so small. Small enough to fit inside of him. And he—strong and tall and brilliant—reminded her in his seedy, silky tone that she hadn’t been quite as clever before he walked into her life and into her mind to sweep away the clutter. Without the clutter, there was more room for him, and wasn’t it marvelous that their thoughts and moods now echoed each other, chimed in each other’s tones? They’d become parts of one another.

Isn’t it romantic?

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💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you!

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💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 2d

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💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 2d

Aw shucks 😊

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💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 2d

SANDWICH x THE WEDDING PEOPLE

THIS ENDS NOW: 2 husbands, 3 hometowns, 1 wedding planner ready to stop staging messy exits from her own marriages. But there's no breaking the cycle until Lainey confronts her clever, cunning first love, who's still dying to put her in her place. #DVPit #A #UP #WOC

💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 2d

Ahhhh, thank you Soph!

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💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks! But he's not a literal ghost, just to clarify. Not all ghosts are dead -- some haunt our lives despite being still very much on this mortal plane, and Lainey's ex Gregory is alive and well and shuffling around as a horrible human being. 🙃

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💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 2d

From your lips to some agent's ears!

💫Meagan Thompson-Mann is zhushing up her manuscript 🌿 @thecrumpet.bsky.social · 2d

I love the conceit of a third world in this pitch--living between cultures is such a fertile ground to dig in. And your fertile ground has secrets buried in it!

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