Who is Mary Pope Osborne?
Hello,
My name is Mary Pope Osborne, and I grew up in the military lifestyle—an Army brat. That took over my life, so making friends became easy for me. Being very close to my family made all of these moves really painless for me while also feeding my yearning for adventure. After my dad retired from the military, I still had that desire for adventure, but it wasn’t until I started writing professionally that I was able to take myself from place to place with my husband, exploring and learning all I can to create accurately depicted children’s books.
My name is Mary Pope Osborne, and I grew up in the military lifestyle—an Army brat. That took over my life, so making friends became easy for me. Being very close to my family made all of these moves really painless for me while also feeding my yearning for adventure. After my dad retired from the military, I still had that desire for adventure, but it wasn’t until I started writing professionally that I was able to take myself from place to place with my husband, exploring and learning all I can to create accurately depicted children’s books.
How did you become a writer?
I got started writing in a very melancholy way. One day, out of the blue, I just started writing. My story was about a young girl who grew up in the South, and this girl was a lot like me. I really didn’t take it too seriously, and the first copy was a very “rough” copy. I guess word spread in town that I had written a book, and an editor got his hands on it. From there, the book ended up being published and became a young adult novel. Then, with all the hype, I knew what I wanted to do “when I got older”: I wanted to be a writer. I fell in love with it, and there was no stopping me from there. I think because I was always moving as a kid, I grew to love that lifestyle—the unknown, meeting new people. The day my dad retired from the military, the urge was still very much instilled in me to want to keep moving. I knew that my only so-called “escape” was writing.