Megan Navarro
DRIPPING SPRINGS — “No writing should happen in a vacuum,” said Toby LeBlanc, encouraging fellow writers and readers to attend the Dripping Springs Community Library’s (DSCL) Local Voices: Author Spotlight Series.
The series started in October 2025 as a way to provide a space for: authors to share their writing, editing and publishing experiences; sell their books; and build a supportive community of local writers and readers, said programs manager Jessica Sigur. It’s to celebrate local authors — even those who don’t necessarily live in Dripping Springs — as well as create a culture of writing at the library, where up-and-coming authors can come and learn from those who are already in the industry.
It was also inspired by the “Face to Face with Area Authors” — where two to three authors gather together and support one another — that is done at the Wimberley Village Library, which also has a specialized collection by local authors.
DSCL’s series is sometimes similar to a roundtable discussion with a full room, but other times, it’s a more intimate setting with five to eight people, with a range from all authors or mixed in with authors, said Sigur.
“It really is a very down to earth, just roundtable kind of discussion. It's not like a reading. This is really a time to be able to ask them questions about their work,” she said. “I think libraries are known for where to get books to read, but then, on the flip side of that, someone has to be writing these books and it's really to give back to our authors and have them create a culture together of local authors that can come together and talk about how it's going.”
Toby LeBlanc
LeBlanc had a novel, “Dark Roux,” published in 2022 and a short story collection, “Soaked,” published in 2025.
For him, there are several aspects that he loves about being an author, specifically for the fiction genre, but he really enjoys being able to take his personal experiences and those of the world into the stories that he writes.
“To be able to put stories together with characters that really put it in places, where, hopefully, I can begin to understand it better and maybe even a reader can begin to ask questions of their own experiences and begin to understand their piece is in it, as well,” he said. “As an author, I'm writing a book and it's a lot of my ideas on a page I love that often starts a conversation, that it is kind of automatically a conversation between you and the reader that could eventually lead to even bigger conversations when that reader continues to talk about something that they saw in the book or something that they experienced with someone else and it continues the conversation from there.”
He joined the Author Spotlight Series at DSCL because he resides in a corner of north Hays County where his address says Austin, but his kids go to Dripping Springs ISD schools and he wanted to grow in the close-knit, accessible community.
LeBlanc was the inaugural author in October 2025, when he saw an opportunity to connect with other people who are working on in Dripping Springs, see what they are working on and be part of the conversation. He added that he was able to talk about his own writing journey — including the ups and downs — and give insights that he has about the publishing business on how to get a book in front of people who want to read it.
“While writing is something that you're going to do by yourself, it is a very lonely endeavor and you're going to be in solitude a lot while you're doing it. No writing should happen in a vacuum. Having other people to talk to your writing, connecting with people who will potentially be readers and also give you feedback on your writing and just having other people who are going through the same process as you can understand what it's like to try and find these words and do these things and create these worlds. That community is so crucial,” he said. “I think everybody should be able to find someone they can connect with at one of those events.”
For the writers who are looking at getting started in their journey, but don’t know where to begin, LeBlanc emphasized that they should write what they know — what they care about, makes them angry, brings them joy, the places that they have been, etc. — because the more they write, the better they will become.
Currently, LeBlanc is working on a novel about two neighbors who are stuck in New Orleans, Louisiana, following Hurricane Katrina, as their survival and ability to leave the city depends on trusting each other through various obstacles, like racism and sexism, that have forced them to be strangers in their own neighborhood. He is also developing a novella that is set across the Southern Hemisphere as a woman deals with parenting and nostalgia and how to move into a world where everything is changing.
Details on LeBlanc’s books and more can be found at www.tobyleblancauthor.com.
Steven Morris
Another author, Steven Morris, has seven books in the fantasy genre that he has self-published.
An engineer by trade, he recalls wanting to become an author and write books since he was younger, but did not officially start until after he saw a friend retire and follow that path. He shared that one of the first things he did when he decided to write a book was contact an author friend of his wife’s, Eric McPhearson, and got in touch with an editor, Marla Taviano, to teach him.
Morris, who lives in South Austin closer to DSCL, said that he decided to join the Author Spotlight Series after getting connected with the people in a writing club in Belterra. He recently participated in a session held Wednesday, Feb. 11, where he was able to share his experience in self-publishing.
“I think people are wanting to understand better what it takes if you're not going to need [traditional] publishing. So, I walked them through a little bit of my journey, but mostly sort of what I have found works in my journey, but more what was positive in the end,” he said.
He continued that this series helps other writers by making connections, as there have been a couple of people — even someone who has more experience — that have reached out since the event to exchange notes and more. Morris advised that the most useful thing that young, or newer, writers can do is to connect with people who are further ahead in their journey to help them figure out how to get there.
He will be publishing the final book in his series, titled “Shepherds of Truth: An Epic Fantasy”, with an April 13 release date. It will be available on Amazon. More information about Morris can be found at www.sjmorriswrites.com.
The DSCL Author Spotlight Series is held on the second Wednesday of the month. Authors who are interested in participating can email [email protected] or use the contact form on the library’s website, which will add them to an email list for a group of local authors to learn about various opportunities offered.
To view all of the upcoming events at DSCL, visit www.dscl.libcal.com/calendar/dscl-event-calendar.
