In Laura’s Words
I write to shine a light on a dim or otherwise pitch black corner…to provide relief for myself and others. It’s the light that I am looking for. And the wonder it illuminates.
May my words land in your heart.
yours, Laura
Lost in Translation?
A lot of things have been blessings in disguise from this journey of book, but one of the greatest ones has been knowing that my words are reaching people all over world. Wow. Wow. The UK has been amazing. So have been the Auzzies and Germans. Thank you. Hearing from a blind woman in Israel who tells me that my book helped her through the...
Memorial Day Re-visited
Every year Memorial Day gets a little easier. My father died on this day, May 31st, seven years ago. He would have been an old man by now. He would have been miserable. He couldn't stand it that his 86 year old body wouldn't let him skim down the stairs at the Northwestern train station in Chicago anymore. He couldn't stand it that he couldn't...
The Year My Mother Hit the Road
If you haven't stepped into my house during the day, you wouldn't know what it sounds like. There is NPR on low in the kitchen, an occasional UPS delivery and thusly, the occasional sounds of a golden retriever and a black lab barking, gravel being rolled over by truck wheels. Sometimes there's the sound of a sump pump in the basement throbbing...
For Mother’s Day
For all the mothers out there, this is for you, but especially for mine. From my Huffington Post blog My mother always says, “Once a mother, always a mother.” Growing up, I never really liked the sound of that. I thought it was sort of Bates Motel. What would I want with a mother breathing down my neck when I was an adult? Telling me...
Book Tour– In case you wondered…
I just returned from a month on the road, promoting my paperback of THIS IS NOT THE STORY YOU THINK IT IS. It was a fast forward into spring, the rolling hills of Ohio budding with forsythia and the pink pointillism of fruit trees, the Japanese magnolias bursting on Boston’s Commonwealth Avenue, the daffodil and hyacinth bedecked planters on...
Spring-blind
Today is Easter and I am officially on vacation after what has been a wonderful two plus weeks on the road. Thanks to all of you who came to my readings. I met some truly phenomenal people. As I sat here in Florida watching the Atlantic ocean this morning at dawn, flocks of pelicans flew overhead and I remembered this essay I wrote years ago....
Emotions Are Our Choice!
Choosing Your Emotions Instead of Letting Them Choose You As seen on the Huffington Post You may have read my essay about my marital crisis in the Modern Love column... You may have read my essay about my marital crisis in the New York Times Modern Love column in August of 2009 called "Those Aren't Fighting Words, Dear" or possibly read my...
Advice From the Now Writer Me…to the Then Writer Me.
By Laura Munson (in several incarnations) Published in Author Magazine Okay. You know those words that you fling into the ocean and the sinking sun every time you’re standing on an eastern facing beach? Those sometimes spoken, sometimes thought words that come out like a beggar’s prayer? I know you’re kind of embarrassed by them, but let’s...
Writer Psychology 101: Filtering Critique
For many years prior to being published, I honed the skill of asking for help. It's never easy, but one writer told me a long time ago that you have to ask. As every writer of books knows, after a certain amount of time, we can't really see our story objectively anymore. We so love our characters and the world we've created for them, that we...
The River
Paperback of THIS IS NOT THE STORY YOU THINK IT IS coming in April to a bookstore near you! As many of you may know from reading my book, I am keenly aware of my inner critic. I didn’t used to be, but through years of feeling really bad about myself for not having career success and the subsequent pain and suffering from that way of relating...
Gratitude on Ice: A Montana Lesson (ode to a crampon)
I’m going to bullet-point the last hour of my life, just for shits and giggles. Mostly the former. • 10:00 Depart house to drive teenaged daughter to bus for state-wide speaking competition. Discuss adrenaline and how you can utilize it when on stage. • 10:02 Experience how adrenaline can help you if your truck doesn’t want to go right when...
Forget a Pulitzer– I’m a Cartoon Character!
Wow-- I think my ego just exploded! Thanks to Jen Sorenson from Portland for coming out to our neck of the woods and composing such an interesting study of our town for The Oregonian. Snowghosts and all! Here's the permalink.
Horses in the Herd
This time of year in Montana, I feel like the world just needs to crack open like an egg with a chick in it that is fully ready to use its beak and its legs and even its wings. But it seems impossible, like we'll be encased in this hard shell forever. Here's a piece I wrote for the Parelli site which reminds me that, yes, sooner than later,...
Made You Laugh
My grandmother used to say that God has a sense of humor. And sometimes, I really think that's true. Yesterday, I asked my kids to unload the groceries from the truck. Which they did. Good kids have I. When I came out this morning, there was a frozen and partially smooshed, plastic-ensconced, English cucumber on the driveway. I was wondering...
Seasonal Depression No More
This time of year people go a little bit crazy around here. It's been grey. REALLY grey. For a long time. And we live in a place where just about everyone knows their way around horses or skis or both. And everyone knows their way around snow. Some lovely lunatic decided to put them all together. It's called ski joring. The history of ski joring...
