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Francis D

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2024

Stories (7)

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57 Followers

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7 Stories

372 karma pts

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Bashful on the Edge of Town

Francis D

Submitted to Contest #334

Cottage door slams. White’s dress sways. Like a vision she dances across the forest as the dwarves play. It is the heavy oak door, the one Doc reinforced after the winter storms and Grumpy said would still fail when it mattered. It shuts with a sound that lands low and final, wood meeting wood, a sound that does not ask how you feel about it. The hinges rattle once and then settle. For a moment, everything listens. The birds go quiet. The finches stop first. Then the thrushes. Even the sparrows pause, heads tilted, waiting to see if this is ...

0 likes

Splendor in the Grass

Francis D

Submitted to Contest #330

Splendor in the Grass A Story of Eden The garden had looked beautiful every day since the beginning, but this morning, it looked like it had just remembered how. Sunlight didn't simply shine; it rested. The breeze didn't merely move; it lingered, brushing softly over skin as if trying to understand it. Even the water seemed to run more slowly, with a quiet awareness, like it had discovered that flowing was a choice. The grass was the first to notice. Grass never knew much, except how to be soft, how to grow toward warmth, and how to bow poli...

10 likes

All Lines, No Map

Francis D

Submitted to Contest #321

All Lines, No Map Act OneAvery: Page one. Who starts?Mara: You do.Avery: It does not say that.Mara: It does not say anything. That is the point.Gus: Stick to the script.Priya: The script is six names and a bunch of lines. There is no sticking. There is sliding.Leo: Sliding is dangerous. That is how you end up improvising.Tessa: Improvising is forbidden.Avery: Forbidden, by who?Tessa: By the absence. The silence where the directions should be.Mara: That sounds like philosophy.Gus: It is also obedience.Priya: Which is also annoying.Avery: Then...

9 likes

Store Directory

Francis D

Submitted to Contest #307

I was born in 1973. Concrete slab.Forty-eight stores. One Orange Julius. People drove from three towns over just to walk around inside me and eat something fried on a stick.Before me, this was called the Pine Woods. Just trees and deer and sky.People used to hunt here. Teens would throw parties or park and neck. Kids built forts out of fallen branches and old mattress springs. This was the kind of untouched land where memories were made and legends were whispered on late summer nights.Then came the vote: shopping center or subdivision. Back ...

12 likes

Excerpts from the Maplewood Falls, Vermont Town Day Recipe Contest Winners

Francis D

Submitted to Contest #306

1911 – Mrs. Edith TempletonMaple Apple Brown BettyExcerpt from the Maplewood Broadside, October 1911:“It was with great pleasure that the Ladies’ Committee awarded first prize in the inaugural Town Day Cookery Contest to Mrs. Edith Templeton of Church Street. Her Brown Betty, humble in ingredients but noble in flavor, warmed the hearts of all who partook. It is said the Reverend himself returned for seconds.”Recipe:Ingredients:4 tart apples¼ cup brown sugar1 teaspoon cinnamonA pinch of nutmegA scrape of lemon peel6 slices of stale bread4 ta...

14 likes

The Ghost and the Hack

Francis D

Winner of Contest #304 🏆

Thomas Mcoy, no second C, is a name you’ve probably never seen. Maybe you’ve spotted “Tommy M.” buried in the acknowledgments of a bestseller or scrawled on a Starbucks cup while he tapped away on a Chromebook in a corner booth. But you won’t find his name on a book cover.Tommy, you see, is the best ghostwriter in America. Maybe the world.The book about the astronaut who battled alcoholism? Tommy.The one by the Yankee who named names with too much pride? Also Tommy.Fourteen CEOs, each with a different spin on leadership: “The Pyramid of Powe...

124 likes

Bless Us, Oh Lord

Francis D

Submitted to Contest #301

You are supposed to be watching a VHS tape about the central nervous system. The class is health, but it is held in a Science room, so you sit at a table on a stool instead of a desk with a molded plastic desk chair. You hear that the brain is the control center, yeah, right.Health, like gym, woodshop, and lunch, doesn’t segregate the students by perceived intelligence. You are in Bugle Boy cargo pants and a paisley dress shirt. There are others in the class who wear leather jackets with authority. Two people are starting to be goth. There i...

8 likes

Author bio

Originally from New Jersey. I like Springsteen, Taylor Ham, and telling a good story. My name’s Francis, like the former Pope. My favorite song is “Suspicious Minds,” and my favorite album is Rumours. Writers I keep going back to include Nick Hornby, Chuck Klosterman, Joan Didion, Michael Lewis, Jay McInerny, and Raymond Chandler.

When I’m not writing creatively for myself, I’m writing creatively for others as a Career Coach and Resume Writer. I help people make sense of their experience and tell it in a way that actually lands. I also love being a father. That’s the real stuff.

1 winning story 🏆

Contest #304

The Ghost and the Hack – read story