A Visit with Leon Metz

A former WWA president, Leon Claire Metz is an historian, author of 17 books, television documentary and radio personality as well as a lecturer on the Old West. His programs have been presented across the nation, primarily in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, and his television documentaries include A&Es "The Real West" series, which is also shown on The History Channel.

Leon, how and when did your radio show and weekly column in The El Paso Times come about? Also your apparance on the BBC?

Frankly I am uncertain as to when any of these started. Both the radio show and the Times column have been going at least 15 or 20 years. As for the BBC piece, I only vaguely recall that one.

 Why have you found southwestern history fascinating enough to write 17 books and countless articles about?

 I am fascinated by history.  It was so different than what I grew up with back in West Virginia where I completed high school.  The history here is different, unique, often individualistic.  And  there is so much of it.  It is history that so much of the world has no idea about.

 Your most notable books are about gunfighters. Which one did you find most interesting and/or difficult to research?

The most interesting piece of history--and most difficult to research--was the biography of  gunfighter .John Wesley Hardin.   By the time I had finished with that story, I was on tranquilizers.  During my sleep, I thrashed about so much in bed during the night, my wife sometimes laid across me at night to keep me from falling out on the floor. I was chewing and swallowing tranquilizers during that Hardin writing period......and finished up a nervous wreck.  I've written about other bad guys, but I just shrugged them off and went to sleep. Hardin turned me into a nervous wreck. That lasted a few months.

 Who served as your mentor and how did the relationship come about?

My mentor was Doc. C. L. Sonnichsen, a professor of history himself at U.T.E.P., then Texas Western College. He taught me how to do research, and how to write.  After reading one of my history pieces, he looked up at me and said, "Leon, you can say  "done went," and sometimes you can get away with it. But you cannot write "Done Went," and expect to get away with it.

 You’ve served as WWA president and were awarded the Saddleman Award, among others. Which meant the most to you and why?

Gads, being President of Western Writers of America,and later getting the Saddleman Award, was the greatest and most helpful thing that ever happened to me during my writing.  Would I have thought that I would ever get recognition such as that.?  NOT AT ALL.  How I won those two awards, I still don't know.  I'm still flabbergasted.

What do you foresee for the future of the western genre?

I don't really foresee anything in terms of the future of the Western genre.  I just hope the Western genre will continue.

Advice for aspiring western writers?

As for aspiring writers, I would advise then to do the best they can, but never be afraid to ask for advice, to ask for help, to ask someone who you have confidence in.  Even the great writers originally had mentors.

Never be afraid to ask someone--especially someone who knows their business of writing--to read something of yours and give you an analysis.  One may not agree with it all, but somewhere in that evaluation, you are going to say, "I"m sure glad he (or she) caught that!"

          

Thank you, Leon.