Frances M Thompson

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About Frances M Thompson
Frances M, Thompson is the author of contemporary fiction and poetry. Her books include the short story collections Shy Feet, London Eyes, and Nine Women, the suspense-thriller novella, The Wait, and a collection of modern poetry called Lover Mother Other. Based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with her partner and two young kids, Frances is originally from London, UK, and also works as a blogger and freelance writer.
More about Frances M. Thompson's Books
Lover Mother Other: Poems About Love, Motherhood and Everything Else Womxn Transcend is a collection of modern poetry and prose written before, during, and after the experiences of falling in love, becoming a mother, experiencing post-natal depression, and juggling many different, and often conflicting, identities, desires and dreams.
The Wait is a fast-paced suspense story about an unusual and unexpected side of London's criminal underworld. The first in an up-coming series of novels, The Wait introduces you to a gang in London you want to know everything about, but never want to meet.
Nine Women: Short Stories is a collection of short stories featuring nine very different girls and women at various stages of their lives, facing various problems of varying descriptions and magnitudes. Some of the stories - and women - may shock you, others will inspire you, but all will stay with you in some way or another.
London Eyes: Short Stories is a compilation of short fiction about London. It is a moving and humorous collection of stories, inspired by the people, places and experiences Thompson encountered while working and living in London.
Shy Feet: Short Stories Inspired by Travel is her first collection of stories and it was written while the author travelled the world, spending time in many of the destinations she writes about.
More about Frances M. Thompson
While she writes about a wide variety of people, places and themes, there are always consistencies in Frances' writing; her characters are identifiable, vivid and perfectly flawed, you will enjoy more than a few gentle laughs, and you will always be left with something to think about long after the final sentence is read.
Since October 2011, Frances has been writing a blog about her many journeys - travelling, writing and self-love - called As the Bird flies (www.asthebirdfliesblog.com).
To find out about Frances' upcoming books first, sign up to her newsletter http://www.fmthompson.com/y91a9i (copy & paste the link into a web browser).
Follow Frances on Twitter @asthebirdflies, and on Instagram @asthebirdfliesblog.
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Author Updates
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Blog postIt makes me irrationally excited, scared and proud to announce today that my next book is coming! While it's my second full-length novel, it's my first contemporary romance, and can you believe it, my editors tell me it's actually a rom-com!
Nobody is more shocked than me that I've managed to pull off such a feat of being funny for most of the 400 pages that this story is told on. Also, this book - it's steamy! Spicy! Hot, hot, hot!
Announcing Five Sunsets, My Next Book! Taking p -
Blog postOn Wednesday this week I hit send on an email that I'd been getting ready to send since January. Attached to it was the first draft of the sequel to The Weaker Sex, a book tentatively titled The Way We Were. That email whisked away the 80,000 word draft to my developmental editor (not sure what that is, read this post about different kinds of editors) and I will get it back some time in May covered in highlights, red lines, comments and questions about what the eff is going on in my brain. It
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Blog postBelow is the author's note I included in the back of The Weaker Sex, the second in my London Killing series of thrillers, which begins with my novella The Wait. I wanted to publish it here to share a bit more about why and how I wrote The Weaker Sex because it was not a linear or easy journey. To say I learned a lot writing this book is a grand understatement and it's important I acknowledge some of the lessons I had to learn in order to make this book what it now is.
If you get the eb -
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Blog postGuess what? I wrote another book! And it's available to pre-order, right now! The Weaker Sex will be published on 17th January 2022 and is available on Amazon as a paperback or as ebook for Kindle. You can also add The Weaker Sex to your Goodreads reading lists here.
And this isn't just any book. It's my first published novel. Can you believe it? And this is what the cover looks like:
If you've been hanging around here a while you'll know that I have been writing fiction on and -
Blog postWhen I shared this list of the things that helped 2020, an undisputably hard year for one and all, it was a really excellent exercise in making me realise that despite the year being one of my hardest to date, it hadn't been all bad and that in the process, I had learned an incredible amount about myself, and the world around me, while also growing as a human being.
I suspect that that is part and parcel of navigating difficult periods of time - and this is a lesson in and of itself - -
Blog postIt makes no sense to me that my final batch of positive daily affirmations from this year-long challenge were actually the easiest to write. Last month I thought I was all out of ideas, inspiration and even enthusiasm for affirmation, but this month something shifted and this list of positive affirmations for December are easily among my favourite of the whole year.
I suspect it's because I had something to really focus on as the calendar year comes to an end - the last twelve months -
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Blog postPlease accept my apologies in advance because this batch of 30 daily positive affirmations for November are not the happiest or most upbeat I've ever written. And there's a reason for that. I think I have to finally accept that I struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder and these shorter days, longer nights, also darken my mood.
If you can relate (if you are indeed in the Northern Hemisphere) then it's my hope at least that these positive affirmations will offer you some comfort or a -
Blog postThe Best Creative Habits You Should Try When it comes to building effective creative habits, it's important that they are easy to both start and maintain. There's no point trying to introduce a range of exciting and inspiring creative habits that you work hard to start but you're unable to keep going with them. By definition this means whatever you're trying - be it journaling, reading more, trying a new creative hobby - isn't a habit because it's not possible for you to keep it going.
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Blog postTen months into this year of affirmations challenge and I can hand on heart say that this month's collection of daily positive affirmations for October are the biggest mix bag of all. These affirmations came to me here and there over the last few weeks. Sometimes during a short meditation session, other times when I was riding my bike around Amsterdam, or out on a run in this bright Autumn sunshine. A handful came only when I had to sit down and finish this list, because only a handful was ne
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Blog postSeptember always feels a bit like a second new year to me. I know this is hugely because I associate it with the beginning of a new school year - and that hangover has lasted far too long - but to be honest, I don't mind. Being a huge fan of sunshine and summer weather, I often have a tendency to dread the changing of season from summer to autumn but this "new year" feeling of September often helps to alleviate that a little.
This year, September feels especially fresh -
Blog postThis batch weren't the easiest positive affirmations to write, and I can't exactly put my finger on why. Possibly it's because we are now eight months into this and so yeah, I'm running out of brand new and original affirmations, but I also think it's because this month my kids were off school and childcare so I was incredibly time short. Speaking honestly, I was also a little affirmation-short, in that I wasn't really prioritising speaking positively to myself. And I have learnt the hard way
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Blog postWhen I sat down to write these affirmations - I normally do most of them in one or two big batches, and also add in other ones that come to me out of nowhere as and when they do - I really felt quite blocked. Rather than stare at a blank page, I went back re-read some of the positive affirmations I wrote for this challenge and you know, it helped release so much of the negative thinking I was having relating to why I couldn't come up with 31 positive affirmations in one go.
It was -
Blog postWriting has been my main source of income for nearly a decade and while it's been an up-and-down journey, it's not one I've ever regretted going on. I earn money writing stories on this blog you're reading now, for clients as a freelance writer, and also in actual real published books, like my three short story collections (Shy Feet, London Eyes, Nine Women).
It took me a while to figure out that making money from writing stories was not only possible but it actually also has unlimite -
Blog postSummer has finally arrived in Amsterdam and it's very, very welcome.
So yes, you can expect this month's collection of affirmations to be a sort of list of positive affirmations for summer, as many are heavily influenced by the lovely, hopeful, warm wonders of this new season. However, I would still like to think tha most of them can and should be used on any day of the year.
I will be honest and say that as I arrive at the half-way mark of this year's challenge of writing one affirm -
Blog postHow to Travel with Kids I shared these tongue-in-cheek golden rules for travel with kids in an Instagram post back in September last year, but had such a fun response that I want to give them a more permanent home here. Consider these rules for family travel as anything but real rules. They are more guidelines on a good day, or depressingly accurate annoyances on a bad day, and let's be real - we all have bad days when we travel with kids!
But all this being said, travelling with my ki -
Blog postI found this list of positive affirmations for May quite hard to right as I am experiencing a lot of multiple different, conflicting feelings right now. I am feeling deep gratitude for how life is a little easier in these post-lockdown months, and I cannot deny my heart is being buoyed by the hope on the horizon that are the vaccinations happening all over the world, but I am also feeling something of a hangover from the last year, and especially the hard, hard start to the year.
That' -
Blog postSelf-Care Activities for Kids In this post I wrote all about what self-care for kids looked like and suggested ways to introduce children to self-care that were very general. These self-care for kids ideas could be explored as much or as little as you wish, and the same goes for this post, which lists more specific (but still quite general) self-care activities for kids. If you're completely new to thinking about self-care for kids, I do encourage you to read that post first, or maybe go back
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Blog postUltimate Guide to Self-Care for Kids Tell me honestly, how much - as a parent, carer or just, human being - how much have you thought about self-care for kids? Enough to make it something your kids grow up learning about? Enough to know you would like to introduce to your children, but you're not sure how? Or is this maybe the first real time you are thinking about self-care for children?
Whatever your answer, welcome! You are in the right place to learn more about self-care for childr -
Blog postHere in the Northern Hemisphere, Spring has truly sprung and so my mind naturally feels a little bit more positive thanks to more daylight and signs of growth popping up everywhere. I am also tentatively starting to think about summer and what those months will be... However, with all this comes a natural tendency to think a bit too far ahead rather than keep my mind in the here and now, which as many of you is kinda basic level mindfulness stuff!
But of course, positive affirmations d -
Blog postAs I was researching and writing this post on self-care for kids, I wanted to include some information about the history of self-care and self-love, in order to frame how they are both modern and historical concepts. After doing some research, it quickly became clear that what I wanted to include about this was actually big enough to be a stand alone blog post and so that's what you're reading today; a short history of self-care and self-love.
The reason I haven't separated the two con -
Blog postI had hoped I'd have found a rhythm for writing these daily positive affirmations by now, considering we are three months in to this year of daily positive affirmations, but actually this month felt the hardest of all - hence the late publication date. Upon reflection, I don't see this as a bad thing, especially as (yet again) SO MUCH has happened this month. (And if you'd like to, you can also read January's and February's positive affirmations.)
Each week, huge world events have prom -
Blog postToday we have a guest post for you by a freelance book editor. While I have written extensively about writing on this blog, I haven't specifically written much about editing, and I certainly haven't explained the different types of editors that can help you make your book - non-fiction or fiction - the best it can be.
As an indie author it's imperative to me to produce and publish my best possible work, as sadly us self-publishing authors often have to put up with a stigma of bei -
Blog postWhen your birthday falls in February and you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you can quickly develop something of a love-hate relationship with this short month. I love that it's my birthday month, and while I have mixed feelings about Valentine's Day I do love me some hearts, and ooh, there's also Pancake Day but let's be honest too. WE ARE ALL SO OVER WINTER by the time February rolls around it can also be a hard month to get through no matter how short.
Daily Positive Affirmations for -
Blog postLast week, when I first heard a snowstorm was heading Amsterdam's way, it wasn't a lie. I've honestly never seen so much snow in Amsterdam.
The city woke up on Sunday morning to a blanket of white covering almost everything and still the snow fell. Indeed it fell all day and into Monday too. The temperature also plummeted and an icy cold wind whipped its way down the streets too, really reminding us that it was a snowstorm rather than a snowfall.
Ever since then we have been exp -
Blog postOnce upon a time when we could (rightly or wrongly) travel far and wide without fear of spreading a deadly virus, I established myself as something of a luxury travel blogger. This even extended to luxury family travel once I started popping out children - ha, I hate how easy it sounds when you say it like that when in reality family travel, no matter how luxurious, is anything but easy! - and you can find all my luxury family travel tips here.
But what about luxury travel in Amsterdam
Titles By Frances M Thompson
There's sunshine, there's her stack of erotic romance novels, and there's... Irishman Aiden "Marty" O'Martin, a man thirteen years her junior who could potentially solve one of her problems; the absence of back-breaking, bone-shaking, delicious sex. He is the ultimate holiday fling and she's not at all mad about it.
But trainee chef and college dropout Marty is not looking for sex. In fact, he's deliberately trying to avoid it after the year he's had.
Marty's also trying to get his life back on track. He still doesn't know how he'll get over what happened, but a free holiday may help. Even if it means waking up at the arse-crack of dawn everyday so his father can drag him around Crete on a racing bike. Even if it means his Ma is there – always there! – wanting to put sun cream on his back and a self-help book in his hands. Even if it means risking Carpal tunnel from holding his sister's phone as she records hours of social media content for her hundreds of thousands of followers.
However, when Marty sees Jenna's freckled skin glow in the sunset, everything changes. He feels something and it's not just acid reflux from one too many sugary mocktails. It's a spark, it's curiosity, it's hope.
But they only have five sunsets together. How are they going to make them count?
Written by Guardian Top London Blogger Frances M. Thompson, London Eyes is a compilation of thought-provoking contemporary fiction inspired by the sights, sounds and souls of the world's most popular, and some say greatest, city.
Meet the Wizard of Elephant & Castle who stirs a secret ingredient into the cocktails he serves in his bar, follow newly-divorced Georgina in The Tourist as she goes on a bus tour of the city... after twenty-one years of living in London, and find out how and why one young woman uses the busy streets of the City of London to disappear in An Invisible Girl. In A to Zed two truanting teenagers find out more about a Shepherd's Bush gangster than they expect, and in Angel you begin to understand the lengths some people go to to avoid loneliness in London. Travel across the capital's vast metropolis as you learn the reasons why Mick is London's most flirtatious cabbie in Keep the Change, and discover what it is that keep The Ghosts of London Underground trapped in the abandoned Tube stations below us.
London Eyes is a collection of short stories for the Londoner, the London-obsessed, or the one time visitor who dreams of arriving or returning.
I never wanted to be Madam. I set out to run London's most exclusive members-only bar, but it also became the city's most sought after and infamous brothel. And it's not your typical brothel either, because as well as sex work, my girls offer another kind of service, a service I believe this world needs... Because "they" are also the women who kill for me because that's what the dead deserved.
Doing this work comes with great risk, and great enemies, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have any of them before this all began. I'd be lying if I said that it was only the women I hire who kill. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ready and waiting to do it again.
Because while there are many men I need to find - my missing business partner who knows too much, a colleague on the cusp of a breakdown - there's one man who I have been looking for for over twenty years. A man I blame for it all because of what he did to me.
But I'm yet to find him, and I know I'm running out of time, not least because there is another man, another enemy, coming after me. A man who wants to lock me away because of what I do. A man who knows my weakest link and isn't afraid to exploit it. A man who I can't kill... a man who won't give up.
However, I am the one thing that is more dangerous than that. I am a woman who won't give up... at least, not without a fight.
It's Friday night in a London hospital's busy A&E ward. Waiting to be seen is Conrad Douglas, a 48 year old man who is bleeding from a nasty cut above his right eye and sitting on a small mountain of secrets.
Who is Conrad? What's he doing in A&E? How did he get hurt? And who's the man sitting next to him who refuses to leave? These are the questions that The Wait answers... and more.
There are three sections - Lover, Mother, and Other - and together they take the reader on a journey through the highs and lows of lust, loss and love, on to the profound challenges and deep love of motherhood, and then finally, into the many other identities, roles and experiences we encounter when you open your eyes and your heart to the many other ways women can be seen and heard and valued in this life without the labels of Lover or Mother.
Each section tells its own story, and as a whole Lover Mother Other is a book with its own journey, one of constant hurting and healing, hurting and healing, hurting and healing.
See what sisterhood really means to a hopefully optimistic ten-year-old in The Girl Who Would Be King. Learn just how many times the course of true love fails to run smoothly in Together, Apart, before discovering what Stephen King has to do with one young woman's passionate summer fling. In Balloons you can lie on a beach with a heavily pregnant woman who is thinking about the men she has loved and lost and in That's What I Want to Say you hear all the things one woman wants to say but rightly or wrongly, she doesn't. It's Just a Smile is all about one activity many women enjoy, people watching, and Leaving Rotterdam takes you back over 130 years to a time when women were seen and not heard... at least in public. And finally you will discover how age truly strengthens a woman as a widow's heart tries to heal in The Pink Flowers and when good and bad old memories are revisited in Tell Me a Story.
Nine Women: Short Stories is a collection of moving stories which takes a long, slow look at what it means to be born a woman, to grow up as a woman and to live a variety of lives as a woman.
The Runaways: A Trilogy of Short Love Stories is a short but very sweet read with lots of romance, a little food for thought and plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing and rooting for the couple at the heart of the stories.
(PLEASE NOTE: If you've already read London Eyes: Short Stories and Shy Feet: Short Stories Inspired by Travel, please note that you will have already read the first two stories in this trilogy, so you may want to jump straight to Tell Me a Story, or alternatively enjoy re-acquainting yourself with this much loved couple of romantics.)
***That's What I Want To Say is a mysterious and moody short story taken from a collection of short fiction to be published in December 2015. For more information, check out the author's blog www.asthebirdfliesblog.com.***
There was Peter, her first love. Later, she fell for Mitchell, but he became the one that got away. Now she's with Chas, a man who makes her feel valued and wanted. And so they decided to have children together, which is why she's lying on that beach six months pregnant on their "babymoon".
As she reflects on her previous relationships and questions those in her future - particularly that with her unborn child - it becomes clear that she still has much to learn from those past loves... and those that lie in her future.
Balloons is a short story about a pregnant woman struggling to deal with the anxieties of not only carrying a child, but facing up to some home truths about her past.
Together, Apart is as romantic and magical as it is gritty and honest.
Together, Apart is written in two word sentences. No more. No less.
** About The Pink Flowers **
One summer, Yorkshireman Martin and his wife went to see the Amalfi Coast.
Twelve months later, Martin has died and his wife is trying to put her life back together again after caring for him in the late stages of cancer.
As she begins to clear out the contents of Martin's beloved garden shed she finds a stack of overdue library books and in them are letters Martin has written and a very specific order for her to read them in.
The Pink Flowers is a short and heart-warming story about loss, grief and hope in the form of pink flowers that also aren't quite what they seem.
** Praise for Frances M. Thompson **
"A masterful collection of short stories bound together by the theme of travel, but actually embracing just about every important theme in literature - love, death, motherhood, marriage, etc etc - in deftly woven, well-timed tales that had me gripped. Very well written, with a nice blend of humour, and poignant situations, never predictable and always pleasing."
"London Eyes was a collection of short stories that exposed the real London, and it's quirky inhabitants; magic bartenders, eccentric single women, the elderly, taxi drivers, and even a cat. Each story showed a different angle to one of the many aspects of the bustling city, be it a new neighbourhood, the iconic red bus tours, or an out of the way pub."
"Shy Feet is a great collection of short stories.The stories are ostensibly linked by the theme of travel, but using that as her starting point she takes the reader in all sorts of unexpected. She uses the unlimited opportunities afforded to her by travel to explore the limits that as people we sometimes create and impose for ourselves, a theme that runs through a number of stories including Oh Henry and Katie's Maps."
"I love the cover designs, by the way - as fresh and vibrant as the writing itself. Great work, Frances M. Thompson!"
Tilde O'Hara lives in London with two cats who don't like her very much.
Tilde O'Hara has a job she loves, a gay best friend she loves and a maisonette she loves, albeit really a bed-sit.
One night Tilde O'Hara meets an old woman on the number 94 bus and everything changes.
Night Bus is a gentle and thought-provoking short story about dreams, love and the strange things that happen when you get the night bus in London.
Taken from a collection of short stories to be published in the summer of 2014, you can find out more about this book at www.asthebirdfliesblog.com.
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