Jennifer L. Osborne

  I grew up in Stow, Ohio.  Stow...back then, was a small, middle-class city.  I came from a conservative Catholic family, and went to Catholic school.  I fell in love with pop/rock-n-roll when I was twelve.  The first cassette tape that I bought was Def Leppard/ Pyromania.  Shortly after this, MTV came about, and I think it changed my life, and many lives. I was always in trouble for sneaking MTV!  I thought about musicians for hours on end, wondering what their lives were like.  Very inspirational to a young teen.

  Nine years later, grunge came.

  I felt like it was the rebirth of rock.  Rock turned emotional, or maybe you could just feel it more.  Don't get me wrong...I still loved everything about The Cure, New Order...but grunge hit a chord, I think, with many lovers of alternative music, or even mainstream pop.       

  

  Years later, I am a mom, wife, therapist.  Writer.  Jewelry guru.  Don't we all have many titles?  The nice thing about being in your late 40's is that you can just own what you are; the good and the bad of it! 

   So why this theme? I can't help but love the back story, the struggle, the victory, no matter how famous a musician is or is not.  All musicians have a unique struggle and it can be found somewhere is their lyrics, their album cover, or how hard they hit that note/chord.

​

The Rock Stars 

  So many musicians inspire me.  Little bits of their personalities worked their way into this story.  Here are a few: ​

  Billy Corgan.  I cannot mention rock and roll or love of grunge and just bypass everything Smashing Pumpkins ever did.  But Sebastian is not really modeled on him because my character doesn't quite have the depth...though he tries.

  Bono.  Hmm.  Not a bit of similarity unless you look at the early loss in Bono's life; which I don't think I knew about until long after I wrote about Sebastian. 

  White Stripes!  Oh how I love you both.  But Jack White has a lot of heart.  Sebastian lacks this.  Perhaps Jack White was very much loved as a child. I will always regret the night my husband said: "Jenn, let's go see this band the White Stripes.  You will love them!"  I stupidly answered "I'm not comfortable seeing a band I know nothing of.  I'm going to Jump (a local club) instead."  My loss, forever!

  And then I find myself coming back to Kurt.  This is all unfair because we never had a chance to see Kurt grow up and move through his crazy passage that his career led him down.  Who can get thrown all that fame, that schedule, and just...be okay?  I know I'm not the only one who wishes we could have seen him come out the other side.  What Kurt would the world have known?  Forget the music for a second...what about him as a person?

  Sebastian is the rock-n-roll antihero.  You want him to work through the pain, but you want to wring his neck when he's awful.  You see your selfishness in him and perhaps you are disgusted.  But would you turn down a free place to live?  Money--if someone is handing it over to you?  Love--if there are no rules requested?  Sometimes...he makes the right choice, and there is a little relief.  For a little while.

  How far does our empathy take us when someone is traumatized?  Do we get the score cards out, and try to see how much we should blame them?  After all...karma, golden rules, the universe states this and that.  Look for my free chapter giveaways!

 

  I also plan on coming up with more short stories.    I love writing about the complexities of relationships; be it family, friends, or significant others.  Not all will be mysteries.  Come to think of it...is there a short story mystery out there?  Mysteries are detail heavy.  If you know of one, please inform me! 

​