About Francie

I’ve been writing my whole life. My novel, Chuckerman Makes a Movie, will be published by She Writes Press this October. However, I published my first book, Winter Poems, in third grade with the help of the librarian at Kennedy School in Highland Park, Illinois.

Third grade was only the beginning for me as far as writing goes. I went on to journal my every move, which included attending college at the University of Michigan— where I was a reporter for the Michigan Daily and the writer of award-winning skits for my sorority—and getting my J.D. at The George Washington School of Law in Washington, DC.

While I worked as a litigator, I spent a lot of time in my cubby writing a book about a “fictional” young lawyer who had no interest in practicing law. Eventually, I quit the law and became a full-time writer. I began by writing all kinds of copy, whatever work I could get. I wrote everything from traditional marketing materials, catalog copy and annual reviews to newsletters and white papers. I also produced web content for big companies like Whole Foods and Chase Bank, for not-for profits like the United Way and Northwestern Memorial Hospital Foundation.

In 2001, around the time my twin daughters were born, I began to focus solely on creative writing. For years now, I’ve been a member of a writing group, the Wesley Writers led by authors Steve and Sharon Fiffer of Evanston, Illinois.

My essays have appeared in a variety of publications. They have also served as performance material for the Moth, Listen to Your Mother, Chicago 2016 and TEDX Chicago 2018.

Through my writing, I’m able to skew reality in such a way that whatever the issue of the day (and there always is an issue of the day), it seems much less dire when I’m done writing about it. I credit my writing with keeping me in school, off drugs, married, and out of the eye of child protective services.

Every so often, my writing helps other people, too. Along the way, my readers have said things to me like, “Thank you for giving a voice to my own feelings.” Or, “You have a way of saying what we all are thinking.” Or, “Your pieces make me laugh.”  This—touching others—is the best part of writing.

When I’m not in front of my computer, I can be found in front of my TV. Or walking Pickles, my dog. Or doing a spin class. Or complaining about making dinner.

I live outside of Chicago, in the same town in which I grew up, Highland Park, Illinois.