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✨Meagan Essary is back at the querying (and finishing her WIP)✨

@thecrumpet.bsky.social

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) / recovering English major / Nutmegger

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✨Meagan Essary is back at the querying (and finishing her WIP)✨@thecrumpet.bsky.social · 3d ago

August 3 #WIPsnips: “thrill” You know when they tell you Look but don’t touch, And you know—you just know!—that you shouldn’t? Though you think you know better—the pain can’t be that much! But who is to say that it couldn’t? A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

In the moment her monstrous husband gave her the keys to every palace door, Bluebeard’s wife must have known she would open the forbidden one. There was no version, or at least no satisfying version, in which she did not. As a child, Jenny had imagined herself this woman, this wife, dressed in a puff-sleeved gown, padding around her grand country home and unlocking room after room of treasure with no man in sight to stop her. What heaven! What fun! But what she liked even more than picturing herself in silk dresses and pearls as big as acorns was the subtle thrill of inevitable doom. The key was as much permission as temptation: go on, live a little, no one will ever know. What would it feel like, Jenny wondered, to be ordered not to open a door and know with equal certainty that you must? Where did curiosity end and pure pigheadedness begin? She knew she should not be here, grinding the toe of her scuffed ballet flat against the polished linoleum outside Gregory’s office door at half past seven. He’d warned her she could only knock on his door to discuss her grad school applications. Even then she’d have to make an appointment and keep the door wide open—no secrets. And yet, that was her knock echoing down the hallway, her wine-sour breath fogging the metal plate above the Braille placard. Here be dragons, princess.
✨#WIPSnips✨ A Daily Writing Share Tag@wipsnips.bsky.social · 3d ago

Welcome to a new week of #WIPSnips! The word for August 3rd is "thrill" #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

WIPSnips a bluesky writing community tag August 2 - thrill Share a line from your WIP with the daily word for inspiration Use #WIPSnips. Don't forget Alt Text for graphics Synonyms, variation and vibes are fine. Support others on the #WIPSnips tag! Hosted by rosie-j-potter.bsky.social The image behind the text is a border that is dark blue with gold stars with a black background with neon blue border. An illustrated caticorn holding a pencil and writing in a book with a rose behind one ear is in the lower right corner. A different version of the same illustrated caticorn is curled up writing in the lower left corner
✨Meagan Essary is back at the querying (and finishing her WIP)✨@thecrumpet.bsky.social · 4d ago

Ummm, I may have written another chapter, yet again, instead of finishing the damn #WIP. I swear I only have one more and I can totally stop whenever I want. Totally. <<voice cracks>> Right?

Oops I Did It Again

ALT: Oops I Did It Again

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✨Meagan Essary is back at the querying (and finishing her WIP)✨@thecrumpet.bsky.social · 3w ago

Adventures in WIPLandia: Me: Hell yeah, last chapter in this WIP!!! Also me: but what if it could be the penultimate chapter #writesky #writingcommunity

✨Meagan Essary is back at the querying (and finishing her WIP)✨@thecrumpet.bsky.social · 5d ago

August 1 #WIPsnips: “coherent” VIBES! Sort of! Solid logic is coherent, and Babe’s slam of Dr. Hugo Boyard’s inability to keep his dick in his pants and his hands on the keyboard is, um, as coherent and solid as the thump to Jenny’s back. Sure, why not? A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

“Darling girl.” Babe spread her arms wide, the loose folds of her chocolate brown kaftan drooping down to lend her the air of a rather glamorous moth. “We were just talking about you.” Jenny stepped into Babe’s smother of a Fracas-scented hug, turning her head to the side lest she chip a tooth on one of her professor’s oversized diamond earrings. “Nothing awful, I hope,” she said over Babe’s shoulder. Another glance at the doorway—no Gregory. “Not yet.” Babe pushed Jenny away to hold her at arm’s length. “But the night is young, unlike me. Now, are you here for the blah-blah-blah that Boyard and Graeme Choi from Anthro are about to unload on poor innocents like yourself and Gigi Sergio over there, or are you here for the booze?” Perez downed the last of her cup of wine and winced. “Both are terrible choices. Somehow Boyard managed to get more insufferable after his sabbatical, not less.” “Well, I for one was not surprised when someone whose personal brand is ‘I love my wife’ spent a year fucking anything that moved in Scottsdale instead of writing his book,” Babe said. “Literary and moral constipation can do terrible things to the soul.” Jenny choked on her wine hard enough that Perez had to give her a solid thump on the back. “Babe,” she rasped out, once she could breathe again.
✨#WIPSnips✨ A Daily Writing Share Tag@wipsnips.bsky.social · 5d ago

The #WIPSnips word for August 1st is "coherent" #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

WIPSnips a bluesky writing community tag August 1 - coherent Share a line from your WIP with the daily word for inspiration Use #WIPSnips. Don't forget Alt Text for graphics Synonyms, variation and vibes are fine. Support others on the #WIPSnips tag! Hosted by rosie-j-potter.bsky.social The image behind the text is a border that is dark blue with gold stars with a black background with neon blue border. An illustrated caticorn holding a pencil and writing in a book with a rose behind one ear is in the lower right corner. A different version of the same illustrated caticorn is curled up writing in the lower left corner
✨Meagan Essary is back at the querying (and finishing her WIP)✨@thecrumpet.bsky.social · 5d ago

If we're talking cinnamon rolls, it has to be Hallie Sinclair, who can't get her pretty little head of nepo baby curls around why everyone can't just be, y'know, nice to each other. Because when you live in a bubble of privilege and pain never touches you, it's easy to be easy about everything, no?

🌱🫜 Charlie (Chelizabeth) Delta 🦊🪻@charliedeltawrites.bsky.social · 5d ago

Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters Welcome to the Intermittent Character Award Ceremonies!👏 Amongst all your characters, who gets the superlative? Today's award goes to: The Sweetest! Who's your cinnamon roll? Please award them! 🥇 #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

✨Meagan Essary is back at the querying (and finishing her WIP)✨@thecrumpet.bsky.social · 2w ago

July 25 #WIPsnips: “double” A girl should be practical, and shouldn’t feel guilty about snatching away gifts freely given. But not all gifts have the price tags taken off, and Jenny’s pretending she can’t see the little white sticker on the bottom of this one. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

“I won’t take your money,” she said flatly, but she didn’t shake off his hand. “I can help with your studies, which will be far more useful. A second set of eyes for your senior thesis. And I can help you with grad school applications. I know people, Jenny. I have friends at NYU, Penn, Columbia. I can open doors for you.” So that was the bait, the exquisite Fabergé egg she had no right to reach for and roll between her dampening palms, letting its jewels dig into her skin. Not money, not more silk scarves and dinners like this one, but something far rarer, something that did not call for the slap of his platinum Amex on a little plastic tray. Access. Privilege. A chance to step on someone else’s back for a leg up. She bit the side of her lip. Gigi would do it, she thought, and she’s loaded. Without shame, her best friend never turned down a treat, never hesitated to grab hold of a handrail or clamber up a bookcase to grab anything shiny, anything that would put her one pace ahead. What was that thing she’d said last year? “How do you think the rich stay so rich, Jenny? They don’t act like they’re above picking diamonds out of the trash.” If she could muck out a pigsty and dress a stag, she could pick a diamond or two out of Gregory’s trash heap. “And what do you get out of it?” His chest rose; she fancied she could see his heart double-thrum below his trim linen shirt. “You. I get you.”
✨#WIPSnips✨ A Daily Writing Share Tag@wipsnips.bsky.social · 2w ago

The #WIPSnips word for July 25th is "double" #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

WIPSnips a bluesky writing community tag July 25 - double Share a line from your WIP with the daily word for inspiration Use #WIPSnips. Don't forget Alt Text for graphics Synonyms, variation and vibes are fine. Support others on the #WIPSnips tag! Hosted by rosie-j-potter.bsky.social The image behind the text is a border that is dark blue with gold stars with a black background with neon blue border. An illustrated caticorn holding a pencil and writing in a book with a rose behind one ear is in the lower right corner. A different version of the same illustrated caticorn is curled up writing in the lower left corner
Kristen Schmitt@kristenschmitt.bsky.social · 2w ago

FUNNY STORY x SANDWICH Mackie’s starting over at exactly the wrong time. To salvage her dumpster-fire life, she takes an ADULT GAP YEAR. While her life starts to improve, a long-buried family secret threatens to unravel the only stable thing left: her relationship with her daughter. #questpit

✨Meagan Essary is back at the querying (and finishing her WIP)✨@thecrumpet.bsky.social · 2w ago

I've got a case of "just one more chapter, I can stop whenever I want" syndrome. Because when I write THE END, where will all my characters go? Will they perish without my constant attention? Will no one think of these fake people? I CARE, FAKE PEOPLE!😭❤️ Listen! #writingcommunity #writesky #podcast

I'M Not Ready Lilly Bainbridge

ALT: I'M Not Ready Lilly Bainbridge

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Bad Lit Friends@badlitfriends.bsky.social · 2w ago

✨NEW BLF✨This week: You know your book has an ending. You are writing another chapter anyway. This week we discuss how to actually finish the damn thing. Also sprayed edges are cool, justice for Chewbacca, and did you know Meagan likes trains? You will soon! 📚🎧🔥 #writesky #podcast #writingcommunity

✨Meagan Essary is back at the querying (and finishing her WIP)✨@thecrumpet.bsky.social · 3w ago

July 19 #WIPsnips: “divine” What’s in a name? Jenny’s been dunked in the rough rude sea of Gregory’s affection and emerged like Botticelli’s Venus on the half shell, now bearing the title “girlfriend.” Some titles are brands, and some brand you. Permanently. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

Girlfriend. The word had tripped down his tongue as if he’d said it ten times before. A hundred times before. As if that was what she was to him now, nothing strange about it. Though she parted her lips, she didn’t correct him. She was her mother’s child, and she wasn’t about to embarrass him in front of a stranger like Muttonchops. A girl with a white cotton bed skirt wouldn’t do that, even if its eyelet trim was hiding a sordid secret like an Alexander McQueen dress that was closer to couture than she liked to think about. Because what was she supposed to say? “No, Gregory. I’m not your girlfriend. I’m just the person you’ve been fucking in a variety of hotel rooms for the past six weeks and buying ten grand of gifts for and parading about at museums”? No, that sounded insane. He’d think she was insane. Girlfriend made more sense, so she said nothing, and let him anoint her with the title like he’d dabbed his thumb in sacred oil and smeared it across her brow. The word lingered, curling around her like incense, sanctifying something that wasn’t holy. Thing is, she thought as he explained how he was more of a Sapporo man than a Kirin one, once you’ve been consecrated—dedicated to some force greater than yourself—there’s no turning back. The divine mystery would always cling to you. Shakespeare had gotten it right: Not all the water in the rough rude sea / Can wash the balm off an anointed king.
✨#WIPSnips✨ A Daily Writing Share Tag@wipsnips.bsky.social · 3w ago

The #WIPSnips word for July 19th is "divine" #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

WIPSnips a bluesky writing community tag July 19 - divine Share a line from your WIP with the daily word for inspiration Use #WIPSnips. Don't forget Alt Text for graphics Synonyms, variation and vibes are fine. Support others on the #WIPSnips tag! Hosted by rosie-j-potter.bsky.social The image behind the text is a border that is dark blue with gold stars with a black background with neon blue border. An illustrated caticorn holding a pencil and writing in a book with a rose behind one ear is in the lower right corner. A different version of the same illustrated caticorn is curled up writing in the lower left corner
✨Meagan Essary is back at the querying (and finishing her WIP)✨@thecrumpet.bsky.social · 3w ago

July 12 #WIPSnips: “extra” The Beech Tree’s not exactly the Connaught Bar, but people don’t go there for atmosphere. It does, however, offer drinks strong enough to take the edge off confessing to certain crimes of the heart, as Jenny’s doing here in a snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

The Beech Tree was where you ended up if you wanted a drink without running into half your senior seminar, and didn’t mind paying an extra dollar a pint for the privilege. It sat on Collegeview Avenue, barely more than a quarter mile from Jenny’s dorm, one in a row of shops and storefronts in a singularly homely, Gothic-cum-half-timbered Tudor development that some architect must have considered stately back in the Thirties. The bar itself was a little less pretentious than the building that housed it: one brick-walled room with a dark red ceiling, exposed wood beams, and faux-Tiffany lampshades dangling cockeyed over mismatched tables. A long oak bar bent in an L toward the back where the postcard-sized, eponymous grill pumped out burgers and plates of risotto. Jenny spotted Kit in the far corner at one of the high-top tables, his back to the wall so he could watch the door. He’d made a minor effort to spruce himself up, swapping his thrift store T-shirt and grandma cardigan for a worn chambray shirt she knew he’d paid three bucks for at the Salvation Army, but at least it had a collar. A faint foam mustache from the Guinness he’d nearly finished lingered above his upper lip, and he was leafing through a copy of Granta, which he claimed was alluring to the right kind of women. (It was not.)
✨#WIPSnips✨ A Daily Writing Share Tag@wipsnips.bsky.social · 4w ago

The #WIPSnips word for July 12th is "extra" #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

WIPSnips a bluesky writing community tag July 12 - extra Share a line from your WIP with the daily word for inspiration Use #WIPSnips. Don't forget Alt Text for graphics Synonyms, variation and vibes are fine. Support others on the #WIPSnips tag! Hosted by rosie-j-potter.bsky.social The image behind the text is a border that is dark blue with gold stars with a black background with neon blue border. An illustrated caticorn holding a pencil and writing in a book with a rose behind one ear is in the lower right corner. A different version of the same illustrated caticorn is curled up writing in the lower left corner
✨Meagan Essary is back at the querying (and finishing her WIP)✨@thecrumpet.bsky.social · 4w ago

In which we sing praises for some platforms, deliver ample boos and hisses for others, and go deep on more AO3 drama. Can I say it again for the cheap seats? When people make dumb AI choices, by all means call them out but BULLYING IS NOT THE ANSWER. Sheesh! #writingcommunity #writesky #podcast

Amy Santiago's 'Oh Grow Up!' (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)

ALT: Amy Santiago's 'Oh Grow Up!' (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)

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Bad Lit Friends@badlitfriends.bsky.social · 4w ago

💻🖊️NEW BLF EP!🖊️💻 We’re covering writing tools this week: the good, the mid, and the WHY IS THIS APP TRYING TO WRITE MY BOOK FOR ME?? Also: AO3’s Heated Rivalry PDF drama and if you hate AI, why are you using spellcheck? PHARISEE! BLASPHEMER! Listen up! #writesky #podcast #writingcommunity

✨Meagan Essary is back at the querying (and finishing her WIP)✨@thecrumpet.bsky.social · 4w ago

July 10 #WIPSnips: “substitute” Jenny thought she’d be a dead cert for Shipp’s Wordsworth seminar after her grade in his Romantic Poetry class. Excluded, she tracks him down at home to plead her case. Very normal behavior for a student who can’t stand losing in a snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension”

“You need to look at me when we’re talking, or I’ll think you’re being rude.” Her head shot up. “Oh God, Dr. Shipp—” “Gregory.” He ran one of his large hands through his dark blond hair and tweaked his smile one degree brighter. “And like I told you before, I don’t bite. Tell me why you belong in my class and Ted Cosgrave doesn’t.” As snow sifted down to fill the corners of the windowpanes, teacher and pupil spoke, beyond the final bleed of daylight into the January dark. Jenny pushed, framing her position as one of equity, of allowing female voices in a room that (from her quick scan of the class list) contained none, which seemed strange at a former women’s college. Gregory pushed back, harder, remarking that equity by headcount alone was a poor substitute for the equity of accomplishment. There was also the matter of Jenny’s final grade in the Romantic Poetry seminar, an A-, which neither disputed was both a mark of distinction and demonstrably higher than a B+, which Ted himself had bragged to Jenny about as a “great grade from a hardass like Shipp.” (Gregory would neither confirm nor deny Ted’s characterization of his grade or assessment of the instructor who awarded it to him.) Back, forth, lob and volley, game, game, set, yet no match as snow piled on snow outside the three windows. Gregory would not budge on his decision, nor smash the ball and declare the matter concluded. What’s worse, the more of Jenny’s arguments he swatted away, the more she could not ignore the amusement flickering in his brown eyes and the upturned left corner of his mouth.
✨#WIPSnips✨ A Daily Writing Share Tag@wipsnips.bsky.social · 4w ago

The #WIPSnips word for July 10th is "substitute" #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

WIPSnips a bluesky writing community tag July 10 - substitute Share a line from your WIP with the daily word for inspiration Use #WIPSnips. Don't forget Alt Text for graphics Synonyms, variation and vibes are fine. Support others on the #WIPSnips tag! Hosted by rosie-j-potter.bsky.social The image behind the text is a border that is dark blue with gold stars with a black background with neon blue border. An illustrated caticorn holding a pencil and writing in a book with a rose behind one ear is in the lower right corner. A different version of the same illustrated caticorn is curled up writing in the lower left corner
✨Meagan Essary is back at the querying (and finishing her WIP)✨@thecrumpet.bsky.social · 4w ago

July 8 #WIPSnips: “humid” Ugh, summer in Manhattan really does a number on your hair and demands way too much from your antiperspirant. Kayla’s right: Jenny’s gonna need some luck to extricate herself from this mishigas. Oh shit indeed. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

Kayla stopped short, nearly causing Tessa to stumble into her. “I’m not lecturing you. I’m reminding you that what you’re calling ‘just for the summer’ probably isn’t going to stay in a tidy little box all tied up with a Barneys ribbon. He’s going to want more. And you know what?” Jenny had paused too, right in front of a restaurant supply store with freshly painted “going out of business sale” placards slumped in its plate glass windows. Whatever Kayla was about to say, she didn’t want to hear it. It was likely to be true. “No, Kayla,” she said anyway, resting a hand on each hip of her pin-thin cigarette pants. “Educate me.” “Oh, shit,” Tessa murmured. In this humidity, Kayla’s hourlong efforts with her ceramic-plated straightening iron had vanished entirely; the yellow streetlamps above illuminated a halo of her fine brown frizz. “You don’t want to keep it in a box, do you? You’re going to keep seeing him when you get back to campus, and I bet you think you can have it all under control. Good luck.” “You think I don’t have it under control already? You didn’t know a single thing about him until this afternoon.” Kayla smoothed the front of her sleeveless black jumpsuit, plucking off a stray hair. “I knew from the Becker event that he was hot,” she said, meeting Jenny’s burning cheeks with her level gaze. “Hot and slimy. I saw how he looked at you, like he’d bend you over the sign-in table and fuck you from behind if he thought he could get away with it.”
✨#WIPSnips✨ A Daily Writing Share Tag@wipsnips.bsky.social · 4w ago

The #WIPSnips word for July 8th is "humid" #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

WIPSnips a bluesky writing community tag July 8 - humid Share a line from your WIP with the daily word for inspiration Use #WIPSnips. Don't forget Alt Text for graphics Synonyms, variation and vibes are fine. Support others on the #WIPSnips tag! Hosted by rosie-j-potter.bsky.social The image behind the text is a border that is dark blue with gold stars with a black background with neon blue border. An illustrated caticorn holding a pencil and writing in a book with a rose behind one ear is in the lower right corner. A different version of the same illustrated caticorn is curled up writing in the lower left corner
✨Meagan Essary is back at the querying (and finishing her WIP)✨@thecrumpet.bsky.social · 4w ago

July 7 #WIPSnips: “quarter” A fashion emergency requires Jenny’s attendance in men’s accessories. For a man like Gregory, indecision can be a parlous condition, especially when he’s suffering from a case of strategic incompetence requiring a woman’s assistance. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension”

Though several sharply suited and booted clerks offered their assistance, Gregory dismissed them to listen to Jenny explain why one tie was trying too hard to be clever (deep navy, scattered miniature typewriter keys) and another would make him look like “your name is Beauregarde, you own a tasteful brothel in the French Quarter, and you’d much rather be wearing a cravat” (plum silk, charcoal and copper micro-paisley). “You can read that much in a tie?” he asked, as she dropped a glossy black Dolce & Gabbana number back onto the Lucite display. She’d been holding it between her fingertips, as if letting any more of the silk touch her might transfer the faint tonal floral print to her skin, leaving a permanent stain. “Mm-hmm.” Jenny was impressing herself with how eagerly Gregory chowed down on the bullshit she was making up. “And what does this one say?” he asked, leaning across to retrieve the offending slip of black silk, his body close to hers. “That tie says, ‘I exclusively date bottle girls and live in a chrome and glass bachelor lair in Midtown.’” Gregory burst out laughing. “That’s highly specific.” “New York guys can be highly specific.”
✨#WIPSnips✨ A Daily Writing Share Tag@wipsnips.bsky.social · 4w ago

The #WIPSnips word for July 7th is "quarter" #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

WIPSnips a bluesky writing community tag July 7 - quarter Share a line from your WIP with the daily word for inspiration Use #WIPSnips. Don't forget Alt Text for graphics Synonyms, variation and vibes are fine. Support others on the #WIPSnips tag! Hosted by rosie-j-potter.bsky.social The image behind the text is a border that is dark blue with gold stars with a black background with neon blue border. An illustrated caticorn holding a pencil and writing in a book with a rose behind one ear is in the lower right corner. A different version of the same illustrated caticorn is curled up writing in the lower left corner
✨Meagan Essary is back at the querying (and finishing her WIP)✨@thecrumpet.bsky.social · last mo.

July 5 #WIPSnips: “bench” If you’re lucky, you’ve had a Rachel Perez in your life. I’ve had a couple, women who were generous enough to hold me to account while giving me enough space to fail and learn from it. Jenny should have learned more from hers. A snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension.”

If Jenny were to name her favorite place on campus, it wouldn’t be in the Cushing House parlor, where late afternoon light pooled like drizzled honey in the open pages of her books, her legs tucked beneath her on one of the battered sofas. It wasn’t beneath the low-sweeping boughs of the mammoth London plane tree on the library lawn, or on one of the benches dotted around the banks of Sunset Lake. Those were easy choices, and Jenny preferred to think she didn’t like things easy. No, it would be here, in Seminar Room 301 in Rockefeller Hall, every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon at three o’clock, where nothing was easy and Professor Rachel Perez wouldn’t let her get away with anything. Well, not without a fight. She’d learned that in Perez’s class on material culture and feminine identity last semester, back when the most complicated thing going on in her life was deciding if she wanted to stay on the East Coast for grad school. Perez taught with the expectation that everyone wanted to be there and everyone present—Perez included—was responsible for themselves. After a polite round of day one introductions, you either showed up having done all the reading or you prepared to be read yourself. Perez had a talent for flipping over students’ inchoate thoughts to expose their soft underbellies, and then poking and squishing until the ideas took form or collapsed under pressure.
✨#WIPSnips✨ A Daily Writing Share Tag@wipsnips.bsky.social · last mo.

The #WIPSnips word for July 5th is "bench" #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

WIPSnips a bluesky writing community tag July 5 - bench Share a line from your WIP with the daily word for inspiration Use #WIPSnips. Don't forget Alt Text for graphics Synonyms, variation and vibes are fine. Support others on the #WIPSnips tag! Hosted by rosie-j-potter.bsky.social The image behind the text is a border that is dark blue with gold stars with a black background with neon blue border. An illustrated caticorn holding a pencil and writing in a book with a rose behind one ear is in the lower right corner. A different version of the same illustrated caticorn is curled up writing in the lower left corner