“[I]n my late 20’s I discovered WLT for the first time, birds of my feather, soul mates and mentors, and they said the words I needed to hear: ‘welcome home.'”
— Lance Elliot Osborne
A recent returnee to the Writers’ League, Lance lives in Austin, TX.
Scribe: Welcome, writer! Tell us — what do you write?
Lance Elliot Osborne: Historically-based stage plays, screenplays and recently, my first young-adult novel.
Scribe: If you could choose one author to blurb your book, who would it be, and what would you want it to say?
LEO: Louise Erdrich: “Through the eyes of brave teens of many races, cultures and creeds, this story captures a universal human struggle: to find our own true paths and thrive.”
Scribe: You have one book you’re allowed to push onto all of your friends, and they’re forced to read it to remain your friend — which one would you choose?
LEO: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – The most perfect, laugh out loud, cry out loud, love every diverse character despite his or her flaws, amazingly crisp dialogued book ever written.
Scribe: Tell us your WLT story.
LEO: I’ve tried to be an author since I was nine years old. Public schooling pushed me off my path, the wrong kind of friends pushed me off my path, surviving life pushed me off my path, but in my late 20’s I discovered WLT for the first time, birds of my feather, soul mates and mentors, and they said the words I needed to hear: “welcome home.”
Scribe: Where do you see your writing taking you (or you taking it) in the future?
LEO: If I can continue to hone my craft, and work hard enough, perhaps writing will become the career I have craved for over 40 years…a living versus a haunting.
Scribe: Here at the WLT, we love sharing book recommendations. What’s one book that has come out within the past few years that you couldn’t put down? (Bonus points if the book is Texas related!)
LEO: Spying on the South – An Odyssey Across the American Divide by Tony Horwitz
Scribe: Is there anything else about you that you would like to share with the world? An opportunity for blatant self-promotion!
LEO: The two main characters in my first novel are teenagers, Malcolm and Wukubuu, brave, fragile, big-hearted rebels in their own struggles to find their own paths, to survive. It’s their voices that I share, their stories I promote…because my greatest hope is that their stories are our stories too.
Scribe: Where can our readers find more of you?
LEO: My Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and you can find my book here.
