Laura Munson’s Personal Blog
Welcome to my blog: a place to learn how to write and about all things writerly, a place to get inspired by writing prompts, a place to take Montana and Motherhood adventures, a place to know that you are not alone…
Feeling Good in Your Body in Support of Your Craft
From Abbe Jacobson, Haven Home Wellness Coach! Abbe and I have known each other since high school. She is an exceptional wellness coach, and she has helped me be MUCH more kind to myself, my muse, my writing life. Abbe will be the first expert for my 8 week Haven Home Writing Course! Please enjoy her wisdom, and consider signing up for Haven Home today! It all begins on Monday, January 18th, and...
A Very 2020 Holiday Card/Cure
Well…it’s been a motherf***er of a year. Many of us feel that we can’t complain about it unless we got Covid, lost someone we loved to it, or are on the health care front lines. But we have to talk about it. We have to. However we are affected by this global pandemic, I know that if we don’t talk about it, whine about it, rage against it, beat it with a broom, laugh in its face, thank it the way...
Haven Home for the Holidays
Maybe you'd like to write your way through the holiday season... Maybe you're alone. Maybe your elderly loved ones are alone. Maybe you’re quarantined and can’t get home for the holidays. Maybe you’ve lost loved ones to Covid. Maybe you suddenly have a house full of people and you’re worried about getting sick. Maybe you’ve been home-schooling for months and want to keep traditions alive but...
Happiness Healing… Try it!
Recently a new friend asked me what makes me happy. I talked for a while, trying to get at the truth of it and landed on: caring for others. It felt authentic. But then I woke up this morning and there was something in my gut that wanted to answer that question again in a way that was more self-indulgent. Self-preservational. As I let myself dream my list, I realized that I’ve done very few of...
Alone Together
I have been an observer of humans all my life. My father used to say, “People are the same everywhere,” and I feel like my life has been a field study in seeing if I agree with him. And that means: I talk to people. The cashier at the gas station, the person on the park bench, on the airplane, in the grocery store line, taxi/Uber/Lyft drivers. But the people I have studied possibly the most are...
Distanced and Disoriented
I have never been more hyper-sensitive in my life than in these last six months. At first I was ashamed of it. All my life, people have told me “You’re so sensitive” and not as an observation. Rather, as a criticism. There’s a lot of shame around that feeling for me. Even so, I’ve worked hard to keep my sensitivity intact, along with its siblings: empathy and curiosity, but I’ve learned how to...
Haven Summer Blog Series #4: The Pandemic and Me
Here are the last three short essays from Haven Writing Retreat alums in our Pandemic and Me Series. We hope that you will be inspired, and mostly that they help you know you are not alone. We're not going for talking points or even wisdom. We're going for truth, whatever that means for each author. You might consider writing your own. The only writing prompt I gave them was this: The Pandemic...
Haven Summer Blog Series #3: The Pandemic and Me
I will be posting short essays from Haven Writing Retreat alums for the next few weeks... ...in hopes that you will be inspired, and mostly so that you know you are not alone. We're not going for talking points or even wisdom. We're going for truth. Here is the next installment of the series. You might consider writing your own. The only writing prompt I gave them was this: The Pandemic and Me....
Haven Summer Blog Series #2: The Pandemic and Me
I will be posting short essays from Haven Writing Retreat alums for the next few weeks... ...in hopes that you will be inspired, and mostly so that you know you are not alone. We're not going for talking points or even wisdom. We're going for truth. Here is the next installment of the series. You might consider writing your own. The only writing prompt I gave them was this: The Pandemic and Me....
Haven Blog Series: The Pandemic and Me
I will be posting short essays from Haven Writing Retreat alums for the next few weeks... ...in hopes that you will be inspired, and mostly so that you know you are not alone. We're not going for talking points or even wisdom. We're going for truth. You might consider writing your own. The only writing prompt I gave them was this: The Pandemic and Me. 800 words. Go for your truth. I invite you...
Taking Flight from The Empty Nest
I originally published this piece with Covey Club and I re-read it this morning to remind myself that it's okay to dream about the future in exotic ways. After five months of a very full nest, after a very empty one, I’m back to living solo. The last time this happened, I hit the road. Spent a month in Morocco, and two weeks in Spain. I’m so grateful for that trip and for all that it showed me...
Pandemic Fatigue
Announcing the summer blog post series! Theme: The Pandemic and Me I will be posting short essays from Haven Writing Program alums for the next few weeks, in hopes that you will be inspired, and mostly so that you know you are not alone. We're not going for talking points or even wisdom. We're going for truth. Writing heals. Telling our stories heals. Reading heals. I hope these essays will...
Summertime Taps: an ode to young motherhood from an older mother
I wrote this twenty-three years ago, as a new mother, at the end of a long Montana summer day... It was my first published piece and I still love it. The kids are off on their own now, climbing mountains into their own setting suns. The world is a different place, and yet we're still the same. Enjoy! It is summer in Montana and it is past our collective bedtime, but we are driving into a sky...
Peace of the Morning
Every morning, before tea, before anything else, I open my front door, and stand on my porch and say, “Thank you for this day. May I be joyful in it.” Most of the time I don’t want to open that door. It’s snowing and cold and I’m in bare feet. Or I’m not feeling thankful or joyful at all. A lot of mornings I just want to pass by the door and go straight to the tea kettle, my favorite mug, my...
Re-entry: can a smile wear a mask?
I woke up this morning feeling the way I’ve felt for months. This feeling of knowing I have to run. Hard. But can’t. No matter how hard I try. I can’t run. Something is holding my feet to the ground—disorienting, foreign ground I didn’t ask to be on. There’s something I have to run away from. Something very dangerous. And there’s something I have to run toward and save. If I don’t do it, no one...
Hugs in the Time of Covid
I’m a hugger. I love that long, hard, heart-to-heart, arm-ensconced, deep-breathing moment of physical connection. It doesn’t matter if it’s with an old loved one or a new one, or frankly, in certain circumstances, a stranger. People who like to hug aren’t picky that way. We just like a moment to stop everything and enjoy some significant touch. Hello, human being. I can open my heart to you. My...
Writing Prompts: Getting to the Truth
My next So Now What writing workshop is June 14th from 10:00-3:00 MST. To register, click here! (more info below) You want to learn how to write but you don't know where to begin. You've heard this phrase: writing prompt and it's got your attention. But what is a good writing prompt? Here's some help for you. Please enjoy my new Writing Prompt for you at the end, inspired by this essay!...
A Gift for You: let’s write our way through this
I went out to the front porch today, feeling so low. Worrying about the things that we’re all worrying about right now. Trying not to worry. Trying to focus on one breath after the next. Trying to feel my inner light. But still feeling darkness. Wanting to look into eyes, real eyes, of dear friends and family and neighbors, and also of people in India and Nigeria and all the faraway...
Off Script. Musings from my fear and my love
I’m going to go on for a while. So make some tea. We need to talk. I need to talk. You need to talk. We are off script. And our minds need to bend and move, just like our bodies do. This is not a time to edit ourselves. (Unless we’re being mean. Please don’t be mean.) It doesn’t help to say things like, “Well, someone else has it worse.” Or “My problems are small in comparison to…” No. Your...
So Now What: love from Laura, and the women of Willa’s Grove
We’re all asking this question right now, globally: So Now What? Life isn’t going as we planned, to say the least, due to COVID-19. So many of our labored-over plans have been derailed. We’re off script. We’re worried. We’re trying to find the balance between staying calm and being informed. We’re trying not to catastrophize. We’re trying not to complain. But we are in pain. And we need each...
