“Do you want to be Princess Leia’s assistant?” Byron Lane’s Life After News 🎙️✨

Send us Fan MailAuthor/playwright/former TV newsie Byron Lane talks origin stories, on-air anxiety, assisting Carrie Fisher, chasing the Northern Lights, indie films, best-selling novels, big love, and bigger reinventions. This one’s honest, funny, and full of heart. 💛What you’ll hear🚨 “I’m still just telling stories.” Why the news muscle never leaves🏕️ Boy Scout tour → WWL legend. Byron’s “pharmacist moment”⏰ Overnights + 8am classes. Grit that built a storyteller😬 The cost of ‘live.’ On-air nerves, pressure, and knocking on doors at 2am📡 Live shot disasters. Speakers blasting, trucks failing—lessons anyway⭐ Pivot to Princess Leia. How Carrie Fisher changed everything🌌 “Take your broken heart and make art.” Northern Lights with Carrie🎬 Herpes Boy → Octavia Spencer + JVN cameo. News rules that power scripts💍 Proposal in the acknowledgments. Yes, really—book as ring🎭 Tilda Swinton Answers an Ad on Craigslist. Why the play still has another life🌈 Big Gay Wedding. A mom’s “coming out,” Polite Society Ranch, and small-town love🌴 Palm Springs life. Community, creativity, and signed books at Best BookstorePull quotes“It’s not just before all that—I still feel like I’m just telling stories.”“Take your broken heart and make art.” —Carrie Fisher“News taught me to find the headline of a scene.”“I proposed to Steven… in the acknowledgments.”About Byron 📚Author of A Star Is Bored and Big Gay WeddingPlaywright of Tilda Swinton Answers an Ad on CraigslistFormer local TV reporter/producer/writer; past assistant to Carrie FisherPartner to author Steven Rowley (The Guncle, The Celebrants)MentionedBooks: A Star Is Bored, Big Gay Wedding, The Guncle, The Celebrants, Chuck Palahniuk’s Invisible MonstersProjects: Herpes Boy (indie), Last Will & Testicle (web series), Tilda Swinton Answers an Ad on Craigslist (play)Shop local: Best Bookstore in Palm Springs — ask for signed copies of Byron’s books ✍️🎧 Listen • Share • Support❤️ If this resonated, text it to one newsroom friend.⭐ Rate & review the show—helps more people find these stories.🛍️ Buy Byron’s books from your indie—if you’re in Palm Springs, request signed at checkout.🌐 Go to our website for new episodes, essays, and behind-the-scenes.👥 Know a great guest? Pitch me. Let Life After News inspire your next chapter. Because leaving the news doesn’t mean the story’s over—it means a new one’s just beginning.