Author Bio. And why?

I was an only child in Chicago in the 1970s. At age eleven, I lost my mother to cancer, an isolating and then emboldening — (maybe not quite empowering!) — experience that I mine in my writing. My memoir, Girl Next Door: A Coming-of-Age Memoir of Early Loss, traces the bleak changes to my life and, later, my reliance on my inner compass and the strength instilled by my mom.

I’ve finished revising it and am ready to send copies to six beta readers for their feedback.

I wrote this book to share with other motherless daughters and those who love them. I wrote it to find the story and the meaning in my memories. I wrote it to honor my mother and my friends and family. I wrote it to use the personal writing in my many journals and give that body of work a public purpose.

Three of my essays have been published on TueNight.com. I have a B.A. in creative writing from Columbia College Chicago’s Story Workshop. In Pocket MFA’s spring 2023 term, I was mentored by Briana Gwin of Milkweed Press. I also blog about memoir and memories at franmason.substack.com/

You can read a little more about me on the About page, or in any of my posts.