Francesca Leader
@mooninabucket.bsky.social
Winner of Southeast Review’s 2023 World’s Best Short-Short Story Contest, 2025 Best Small Fictions. Lapsed scholar/ Pun Perpetrator/ Montana Expat. Words in HAD, Wigleaf, Stanchion, Five South, etc.
https://mooninabucket.com
https://mooninabucket.com
Pinned
What I published in 2024 (a thread, in installments, since I don’t know how else to do it in bsky lol): 7 stories, 38 poems, 2 pieces of CNF, and 6 pieces of visual art (reprints excluded). My production this year was less than 2023, but I won a prize, and received 5 award nominations. ⬇️
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The 2025 #BSF anthology is available for pre-order, and I’m in it 😳 😃 My story “Cowboy,” originally published in @southeastreview.bsky.social, somehow landed a spot in this selection of dynamite stories by flash and micro authors from around the world. Pre-order link below 👇 🙏 🤗
November 16, 2025 at 2:09 PM
The 2025 #BSF anthology is available for pre-order, and I’m in it 😳 😃 My story “Cowboy,” originally published in @southeastreview.bsky.social, somehow landed a spot in this selection of dynamite stories by flash and micro authors from around the world. Pre-order link below 👇 🙏 🤗
Such a beautiful thing to have three poems up in @bloodhoneylit.bsky.social - one very new, one sort of new, and one that wandered for years in the wilderness until someone (the lovely @davidestringel.bsky.social ) was kind enough to adopt it 🤗 Link to the full pieces below👇
November 14, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Such a beautiful thing to have three poems up in @bloodhoneylit.bsky.social - one very new, one sort of new, and one that wandered for years in the wilderness until someone (the lovely @davidestringel.bsky.social ) was kind enough to adopt it 🤗 Link to the full pieces below👇
Finally got around to claiming mooninabucket.com and moving my author page into that space. I’m by no means a Wordpress whiz - I’ve just sort of FAFO’d my way through it, so the page is still a bit janky, but I’d love if you’d take a look. Link below ⬇️ 🙏
November 12, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Finally got around to claiming mooninabucket.com and moving my author page into that space. I’m by no means a Wordpress whiz - I’ve just sort of FAFO’d my way through it, so the page is still a bit janky, but I’d love if you’d take a look. Link below ⬇️ 🙏
Throwback to last fall in the wonderfully eclectic litmag @harpyhybrid.bsky.social 🍁 🍂
November 10, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Throwback to last fall in the wonderfully eclectic litmag @harpyhybrid.bsky.social 🍁 🍂
Reposted by Francesca Leader
The Shortlist for November 7, 2025:
Some of the best short writing I've come across this week.
Featuring nonfiction from:
Francesca Leader @mooninabucket.bsky.social in @pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Rachel Dorn in @anmlymag.bsky.social
Some of the best short writing I've come across this week.
Featuring nonfiction from:
Francesca Leader @mooninabucket.bsky.social in @pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Rachel Dorn in @anmlymag.bsky.social
The Shortlist for November 7, 2025 - Turn & Work
This week: nonfiction by blog faves Francesca Leader and Rachel Dorn, and fiction from Kim Weldin, Pamela Painter, and Hal Wright
www.turnandwork.com
November 7, 2025 at 3:02 PM
The Shortlist for November 7, 2025:
Some of the best short writing I've come across this week.
Featuring nonfiction from:
Francesca Leader @mooninabucket.bsky.social in @pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Rachel Dorn in @anmlymag.bsky.social
Some of the best short writing I've come across this week.
Featuring nonfiction from:
Francesca Leader @mooninabucket.bsky.social in @pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Rachel Dorn in @anmlymag.bsky.social
Wow, I’ve got almost a cool million left in dental benefits? Can I use that to pay off my mortgage and send a couple kids to college??🤣 #phishingfails #fridayfunnies
November 7, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Wow, I’ve got almost a cool million left in dental benefits? Can I use that to pay off my mortgage and send a couple kids to college??🤣 #phishingfails #fridayfunnies
Reposted by Francesca Leader
Wooohooo! My poem "Pomogranates" (from Down the Bermuday Highway) is included in The Alien Buddha's Best of 2025! Thanks, @alienbuddhapress.bsky.social!
November 5, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Wooohooo! My poem "Pomogranates" (from Down the Bermuday Highway) is included in The Alien Buddha's Best of 2025! Thanks, @alienbuddhapress.bsky.social!
What a beautiful piece of mail I received this afternoon, all the way from Dublin, Ireland 🇮🇪 💕 📖 🍀 Grateful to the editors of The Storms Journal for treating my weird little poem so well, and for paying a ridiculous sum to post me a copy of their gorgeous publication. 🥰 🙏
November 5, 2025 at 7:51 PM
What a beautiful piece of mail I received this afternoon, all the way from Dublin, Ireland 🇮🇪 💕 📖 🍀 Grateful to the editors of The Storms Journal for treating my weird little poem so well, and for paying a ridiculous sum to post me a copy of their gorgeous publication. 🥰 🙏
Reposted by Francesca Leader
"I watch the EMTs strap my daughter to a stretcher. She tells me she loves me; I tell her I love her, too. I brush her dimpled hand in parting, hoping it never loses that babylike softness."
Y'all! This piece by @mooninabucket.bsky.social is brilliant and heartbreaking.
Y'all! This piece by @mooninabucket.bsky.social is brilliant and heartbreaking.
When My Daughter Says She Cut Herself at School
Francesca Leader I hear her say she didn’t mean to cut so deep. That her father left his razor out (though I begged him to be careful), so she took it, just in case. She tells me the blade’s sharpn…
pitheadchapel.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:05 PM
"I watch the EMTs strap my daughter to a stretcher. She tells me she loves me; I tell her I love her, too. I brush her dimpled hand in parting, hoping it never loses that babylike softness."
Y'all! This piece by @mooninabucket.bsky.social is brilliant and heartbreaking.
Y'all! This piece by @mooninabucket.bsky.social is brilliant and heartbreaking.
Wow, guys - thanks for helping land me spot among the top ten most read poets of October 2025 in @OneArtPoetry1 🥹🥹!! There are certain joys a print-only litmag cannot confer, and this is one 🥰 ICYMI & wanna see what all the fuss is about (jk), the link is below👇 😉
November 2, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Wow, guys - thanks for helping land me spot among the top ten most read poets of October 2025 in @OneArtPoetry1 🥹🥹!! There are certain joys a print-only litmag cannot confer, and this is one 🥰 ICYMI & wanna see what all the fuss is about (jk), the link is below👇 😉
Up with the sun this Saturday, and so is the new issue of @pitheadchapel.bsky.social, including a CNF piece that flowed unbidden into my notes app on a long night at the hospital, but felt so painful to revisit that it took years—YEARS—to revise to its final form. Link in comments ⬇️ 🩵 🙏
November 1, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Up with the sun this Saturday, and so is the new issue of @pitheadchapel.bsky.social, including a CNF piece that flowed unbidden into my notes app on a long night at the hospital, but felt so painful to revisit that it took years—YEARS—to revise to its final form. Link in comments ⬇️ 🩵 🙏
Can’t wait to share my new work with you all in November!
@pitheadchapel.bsky.social - flash CNF
@bloodhoneylit.bsky.social - 3 poems
@villaineralit.bsky.social - 4 poems
Storms Jrnl - 1 poem
(*Sorry if updates get annoying, just so excited after the publication drought I’ve had this year 😉)
@pitheadchapel.bsky.social - flash CNF
@bloodhoneylit.bsky.social - 3 poems
@villaineralit.bsky.social - 4 poems
Storms Jrnl - 1 poem
(*Sorry if updates get annoying, just so excited after the publication drought I’ve had this year 😉)
October 28, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Can’t wait to share my new work with you all in November!
@pitheadchapel.bsky.social - flash CNF
@bloodhoneylit.bsky.social - 3 poems
@villaineralit.bsky.social - 4 poems
Storms Jrnl - 1 poem
(*Sorry if updates get annoying, just so excited after the publication drought I’ve had this year 😉)
@pitheadchapel.bsky.social - flash CNF
@bloodhoneylit.bsky.social - 3 poems
@villaineralit.bsky.social - 4 poems
Storms Jrnl - 1 poem
(*Sorry if updates get annoying, just so excited after the publication drought I’ve had this year 😉)
Our Lady of FunLand
October 17, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Our Lady of FunLand
You guys, I’m in @oneart.bsky.social !! 😃 🤗 Link to the full poem, “Weights & Measures,” in the comments ⬇️ 🙏
October 9, 2025 at 2:01 PM
You guys, I’m in @oneart.bsky.social !! 😃 🤗 Link to the full poem, “Weights & Measures,” in the comments ⬇️ 🙏
Kinda crazy & so freaking exciting to have 8 (8!!) poems and 1 CNF coming out in November 😃 (Especially after publishing just 6 poems in the 1st 9 months of ‘25) Prepare to be bombarded with updates 😆 #ThankYou @pitheadchapel.bsky.social @bloodhoneylit.bsky.social & @villaineralit.bsky.social 🙏
October 5, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Kinda crazy & so freaking exciting to have 8 (8!!) poems and 1 CNF coming out in November 😃 (Especially after publishing just 6 poems in the 1st 9 months of ‘25) Prepare to be bombarded with updates 😆 #ThankYou @pitheadchapel.bsky.social @bloodhoneylit.bsky.social & @villaineralit.bsky.social 🙏
Watch your step 😸 Happy Caturday 😻
October 4, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Watch your step 😸 Happy Caturday 😻
I think I made him late for something 😆 🐢 🍃 💚
September 30, 2025 at 2:40 PM
I think I made him late for something 😆 🐢 🍃 💚
The irony of my child failing to complete this particular assignment on time is not lost on me 😂
September 23, 2025 at 1:01 PM
The irony of my child failing to complete this particular assignment on time is not lost on me 😂
Reposted by Francesca Leader
This is NOT just america. This is happening here. Local coverage of it, if you can bear the pop up ads....
www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/2548259...
#UKKidlit #Edusky
www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/2548259...
#UKKidlit #Edusky
September 23, 2025 at 10:39 AM
This is NOT just america. This is happening here. Local coverage of it, if you can bear the pop up ads....
www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/2548259...
#UKKidlit #Edusky
www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/2548259...
#UKKidlit #Edusky
Sure, I’ll take a tiered rejection from the great @cincinnatireview.bsky.social 😊 Kinda wonder what the response might’ve been if I hadn’t had to withdraw half the pieces in my packet 🤷♀️ Maybe next time 😉
September 22, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Sure, I’ll take a tiered rejection from the great @cincinnatireview.bsky.social 😊 Kinda wonder what the response might’ve been if I hadn’t had to withdraw half the pieces in my packet 🤷♀️ Maybe next time 😉
Reposted by Francesca Leader
Can I laugh my belly off instead of my ass? My butt isn’t that bad.
September 19, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Can I laugh my belly off instead of my ass? My butt isn’t that bad.
Eleventh time was the charm with dream-mag @pitheadchapel.bsky.social ! 😃 I did sort of break in last July when they chose a painting of mine for their cover, but what I really wanted was to be in their pages as a writer—been trying since April ‘22–and it’s finally happened. #keepgoing 😊 🙏
September 19, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Eleventh time was the charm with dream-mag @pitheadchapel.bsky.social ! 😃 I did sort of break in last July when they chose a painting of mine for their cover, but what I really wanted was to be in their pages as a writer—been trying since April ‘22–and it’s finally happened. #keepgoing 😊 🙏
Writers, I’ve got bad news: No one is going to promote your work for you. You must be not only a writer, but a market researcher, a networker, and a salesperson. I’m so sorry.
September 16, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Writers, I’ve got bad news: No one is going to promote your work for you. You must be not only a writer, but a market researcher, a networker, and a salesperson. I’m so sorry.
ICYMI, this poem is the first work I’ve had out in five months. 😃 Grateful to Lee for choosing to publish it, and to all who’ve chosen to read it so far 🤗 🙏
Link below ⬇️
Link below ⬇️
September 16, 2025 at 12:09 PM
ICYMI, this poem is the first work I’ve had out in five months. 😃 Grateful to Lee for choosing to publish it, and to all who’ve chosen to read it so far 🤗 🙏
Link below ⬇️
Link below ⬇️
Reposted by Francesca Leader
The Moon asked me to tell you she says hey 👋 🌕
September 8, 2025 at 5:37 AM
The Moon asked me to tell you she says hey 👋 🌕