Lawrence was born in Miami, raised in Istanbul, and left home at the age of 15 to have adventures. He has curated a private zoo for a Turkish industrialist, hitch-hiked overland from Europe to India (several times), trained as a safari guide in Africa, managed an armed security company in Texas, served as a medic in the US Army, traveled the world collecting tribal art for a gallery in London, and worked extensively in the Hollywood film industry. He currently spends much of his time in Scotland, writing while it rains. His work has appeared in Memoirist, The Corvus Review, The Molotov Cocktail, The Lowestoft Chronicle, As You Were: The Military Review, Rope and Wire, The Dirty Pool, and the online UK publication Close To The Bone. He was awarded the Memoirist biannual prize in April 2020.