The way that she came to this book is that she collected a series of vignettes over the course of about a decade, a way to take short reprieves while she was writing her other two books. She would archive scenes from everyday domestic life: the nuances and the struggles. And then, after her first two novels were published, she strung these vignettes together into a more cohesive narrative, utilizing elements of both fiction and truth. Many Seasons might be considered a work of autofiction or a fictional memoir, but she prefers the term “new narrative”.

Frances holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology and practiced as a psychotherapist in both community mental health and private practice settings before taking a short sabbatical to write her first book, I Don’t Blame You. That book began as a memoir about losing her mother a mere two months before becoming a mother, a means of working through the emotions of both grief and joy. In the end, she decided to publish that book as a novel to veil the narrative. That process of turning truth into fiction was the first phase of what would compel her towards the fictional devices that she found in her second book, Salad Days, a coming of age in the 90s story about a twenty-something, misguided bartender who works at an independent music venue on the Jersey side of the Hudson. It is the story of a very brief first marriage that brought her out to Portland, where that relationship quickly fell apart and a new one began. She considers Salad Days work of autobiographical fiction.

The period of intensive writing and personal excavation that became her debut novel began as a six-month hiatus from her work as a psychotherapist. Once those six months were over and a draft of her book was written, she made the intention to somehow shift her career focus and figure out a way to combine the craft of creative writing with a therapeutic practice. In time and after her first two novels were written, she developed what is now her mentorship program, a platform that supports creative writers in their own practices.

In addition to her books, Frances continues to write and publish personal essays, short fiction and interviews, some of which have appeared in The New Yorker, The Believer Magazine, BOMB Magazine, Longreads, Vol.1 Brooklyn, Mutha Magazine, Hip Mama, The Rumpus and Buckman Journal.

Frances lives in Portland, Oregon, where she mentors writers and teaches writing workshops with the local nonprofit, Literary Arts, amongst other organizations.