Last year Lane was asked to write a piece about his evolution as a writer for Stout Magazine. Below is a brief excerpt from the article, which provides a personal look at how Lane has developed as a writer and creative over time.
Excerpt from Stout Magazine:
My beginning voice, generated by pure light and love, first made itself heard by screaming in Houston, Texas in 1959. It was a time of great conflict and war: my parents’ divorce and with a big brother that loved to beat the hell out of me! With a couple of unfortunate – unreported – sexual abuse incidences.
One’s “own voice” is often most audible while in pain, or peace. In my case, it was born in personal emotional pain.
Generally, this child voice, my feeling about myself and the world, seemed to be sweet and loving. But there was inadvertently an ever-growing committee of people telling me who I was. My television-star mother casually chatting with a store clerk might offer, “Yes, Lane is the creative one, and Gary is the smart one.” The ancient sixth-grade teacher who once told me forcefully, as she was digging her fingernails into my neck, that I was an “impudent” young man. The frequent verbal attacks from my older brother, who referred to me as a “titty baby”, or “faggot!”. My father’s singular instructions for a happy life were, “Rocky, you need to be a doctor or lawyer and sleep with as many women as you can!” Schoolmates said, “You are crazy, funny, and weird!”