Hello! I’m so glad you are here. Thank you. You are a very large part of why I write —why I sit at the intersection of heart and mind and craft that is the writing life. You complete the trajectory that begins at my writing desk and longs to land in your hands as you spend an hour in bed reading in the wee hours, or on your commute, or in a quiet corner on a Sunday afternoon. It’s you who I want to reach, and it’s you who makes my work whole. Writing is a solitary act, and I believe that we write first to bridge to ourselves SO THAT we can bridge to our collective human community. I deeply love that something I write in a small room in Montana can cross oceans, mountains, transcend social groups, age, religion, difference. Heart language is heart language. And I have learned in my thirty years of living the contemplative life that writing is one thing if it is anything: truth. We writers disrupt. We question. We examine. We wonder. And most of all, we hold up the mirror to truth.   

Years ago when I announced that the precarious and often non-lucrative field of writing was my true passion, a friend asked me: “If you could look into your future and see that you’ll never be published, would you still write?” Without batting an eyelash, I said, “Yes.” That’s how I knew I was hooked. I’ve written for myself. I’ve written for literary journals you’ve likely never heard of. I’ve written for newspapers and magazines that you know well.

All along, I’ve made this pact to myself: I give myself permission to be exactly who I am in life…and on the page. I promise to know the woman that I am. And I promise to know the message that runs through everything I write. And with this unshakeable intention, I’ve found the industry people, mentors, and readers who are a match for my work. That’s what writers are looking for: their match. Their emotional, intellectual, and, where applicable, spiritual match.

So please join me on this path of words, wonder, and I hope some wisdom along the way.

yours,

Laura

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Subscribe to get free, full access to my bi-monthly newsletter, which is full of musings about how life…lifes. My musings focus on life in the wilderness of Montana and the wilderness within. The stuff that keeps me up at night. The stuff I promise not to say at a dinner party and yet…out it comes. The stuff we’re maybe not “supposed” to say. And it’s always done with an open, wondering heart and mind. I’m not about pointing fingers. I’m about looking in the mirror, with my finger pointed at myself. Really trying to understand. These pieces are informal— not meant for magazines or newspapers or literary journals. I’m a questions person, much more than an answers person. Join me!

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When you upgrade to a paid subscription, you also get a monthly writing lesson from the archives of my acclaimed writing Haven Writing programs. These are dense lessons with coinciding writing prompts that cover serious craft instruction, writing in wellness, and expert advice from someone who has truly walked the writing life for almost four decades. With over 1,000 students from all over the globe and at every level of their writing path...I have much to teach. I care about writers from a deep place of knowing and understanding, and these sessions will work in you, and keep working in you, with wonderous results. Stay tuned for special upgrade option…

yours,

Laura