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
Snow Bathing– January in Montana
"That's it. I've had it," I declared just yesterday when I, as my children say, ate crap in my icy driveway and fell with a bag of groceries, managing somehow to land partially under my truck. We live in a valley where there's 75 days of sun on average a year. I swear this summer we must have gobbled up all of them because it has been one thing...
Boozing the Muse
Originally for Author Magazine Fitzgerald. Hemingway. Steinbeck. Faulkner. O’Neil. Poe. Kerouac. Bukowski. Capote. Dorothy Parker. Katherine Anne Porter. And so many many others. Why is the muse so thirsty? I want to know the answer. Allow me then, to muse upon the muse. For the sake of this pursuit, I’m going to make some...
Two Kinds of People
This piece was inspired by Susan Bearman's fab blog called Two Kinds of People. She is holding a contest and for the writers out there, take a whirl. It's a lot of fun and you may learn something about yourself. Here's my attempt: I’ve been thinking about the Two Kinds of People thing for a long long time; struggling with it, actually. I’m...
Children’s Books
I did a poll on Facebook the other day. Here was the question: What are your three favorite children's books? Within an hour, 50 people had responded. They're still responding. I do polls all the time because I'm curious about the collective We...and this was the one that had the most immediate and passionate response. This not just enlightened...
Mother’s Nature.
Two people died on our ski mountain last week in tree wells. One was 16, the other was 29. If you’re not familiar with the definition of a tree well, here’s a visual: The long and short of it is this: evergreens, especially those with low hanging branches, can prohibit snow from filling in and consolidating at the base of the tree. Skiers and...
Being a Princess
A word on being a princess for iVillage. I invite you to go there to comment. Thanks! Princess by Laura Munson When my daughter was in second grade, she wanted to be an almond for Halloween. “An almond?” I asked her, smiling but sort of worried for her in the way of playground politics. “Yes,” she said with knowing eyes. “An almond.” So we made a...
What Does it Mean to Let Go?
Living the New Year Moment by Moment as seen on the Huffington Post For me, it took 14 unpublished books, my father's death, and a near divorce to finally see that happiness is a choice. And one I was hell-bent on making. But it meant that I had to let go of suffering once and for all. In the spirit of New Year's resolutions, I've asked myself...
One Man’s Trash…
When we were kids, a person my parents held in highest esteem gave us some Christmas ornaments. They were red balls with Santa's caps, felt eyes, and faux fur brows and beard. My parents coveted them and would only let the kids hang them when we were dexterous and teenaged, and even then we'd get stern looks before they put them in our charge....
The Agony of Submissions– One Writer’s Rant
I write regularly for Author Magazine, which you should DEFINITELY check out if you're a writer or if you love reading or if you love to listen/watch writers being interviewed. Here is my most recent piece. It's about my relationship with submitting my work. Enjoy. Or feel my pain. Either one. I'd love to hear your own angle on the business side...
I Like Skiing
One of the things I love about blogging is that you put yourself out to a global community, and you find kindred spirits. It's so powerful to admit my weaknesses and observations and little vanities here, and have them meet with people from all sorts of different countries and cultures and social groups. I especially love how people are so...
A Tale of Two Cookies
Ever since I posted that I'm not much of a baker, I've gotten emails from readers sharing their favorite holiday cookie recipes. And as, by Murphy's law, I seem to be on the radar for email chain letters re: sharing holiday cookie recipes, I've decided to give a few of these a whirl. I'm glad I did. The first one is the ginger-iest triple play...
Letter to a Young Blogger
Recently a blogger wrote to me asking for advice, feeling desperate and raw the way that every writer feels. I get a lot of letters, for which I am deeply thankful, and have learned that I have to be economic with my response time in a committment to finishing my current novel. I started writing her what I assumed would be a short but honest...
Holiday Baking Panic
As I've written before on this blog, I am not much of a baker. Mostly it's because I'm too stubborn to follow directions (I know, my loss.) I like to riff on recipes, and that can work beautifully on the stove-top, but not so much when it comes to measuring out ingredients that make things rise and lift and puff. So this time of year, I do...
Life List
I was speaking recently to a well-known writer about success. "It's all about the work," she said. She then proceeded to list all her accomplishments. Short of a National Book Award or a Pulitzer, she'd pretty much achieved "it all." Multiple published novels and memoirs. Rave review in the New York Times. Stories in the New Yorker, Atlantic,...
A Nest in the Hand…
Every year we go to this Christmas tree farm and cut down a Frasier fir. We make a day out of it. We listen to Bing Crosby and Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra singing old Christmas tunes in the car on the way there. We laugh. The adults act like children and the children act like smaller children. We bring hot cider in a thermos and peppermint...
