By Judy Carmack Bross
Best-selling author Laura Munson, center, at her Haven, her Montana writer’s retreat, with some of her 1000 students who have studied with her there
“At the heart of it all is wonder. What is wonder anyway? Wonder is what even cynics feel and think when they see a rainbow: curiosity mixed with awe. And because the experience is universal, wonder drives empathy,” author Laura Munson, who will speak April 16 in Winnetka about her newly published The Wild Why: Stories and Teachings to Uncover Your Wonder.
Laura Munson, who grew up in Lake Forest and now runs Haven, the country’s number one writer’s retreat at her Montana ranch, celebrated this week the publishing of her latest book The Wild Why: Stories and Teachings to Uncover Your Wonder while on a two-month book tour across the country. She anticipates visits with family and friends whom she explored the ravines of Lake Forest with on bikes as children, recapturing that time of wonder as well as being in conversation at the Winnetka Chapel April 16th with her friend and author Val Haller. Valslist and the Book Stall will be co-presenting the 7:00 p.m. interview which is open to the public.
We recently spoke with Munson as she packed for the book tour and remembered the fun of speaking with her when she wrote Willa’s Grove, a novel about friendships and second acts which she published in 2020. A writer since 1988, she has three other books coming out soon.
“I began the Wild Why nine years ago but now more than ever this worried world is looking for messages of hope,” she said.
Her first book, a memoir, This is Not the Story You Think it Is, went to number one on the New York Times best seller list and was published in eight countries. “It was 2010 and I was catapulted into the world of women’s empowerment. Often there would be 2000 people in a ballroom when I spoke, but there would still be those nagging messages that I wasn’t creative or I didn’t have a voice.”
She found herself going back to her beginning as a girl who was hurt and shamed by adults into believing that she asked too many questions, talked too much, laughed too loud, cried too easily, was too sensitive, and felt bad about all of it, Laura shares her journey to reclaiming her wonder—and the freedom and power that come with it. She invites readers to join her and embark on their own wonder-filled journeys of discovery, offering reassurance and guidance to everyone who has ever said, “I don’t have a voice” or “I’m not creative”. “We get in the way of our own self-expression,” she said recently.
Munson with writing students at her Montana ranch
A deeply personal memoir and richly insightful, empowering guide which interweaves stories, awakenings, and lessons with teachings, exercises of exploration, Munson calls on her reader to find their own wild why.
Early in The Wild Why, Munson addresses that feeling when you wake up at 4:00 a.m. filled with worry. “Do you lie there creating movies in your mind of doom and dread,” she asks. “Why not let your wonder lead you,” she suggests. “Ask what you want from you, never mind the world. Are you even capable of separating yourself out of the life you’ve let run you? Of course you are.”
“Everything we do is an act of creativity. We are stereotyped at a very early age by people who say ‘you are artsy or you are a jock’. One day when I was walking around in my woods in Montana as I often do. I sat down on a stump and began thinking what’s behind wonder? Definitely, curiosity and awe with a heavy dose of curiosity. We might look at a rainbow and think what makes a rainbow? Then someone might go to their phone to see what exactly is a rainbow, but really what they are connecting with is awe.
“When we were little and playing in the sand box we would be looking at our shovels, talking about what we are doing, loving exploring. But at a certain point society asks us to abandon curiosity, but we really never lose it. We might have asked a question and have gotten a ‘daddy’s busy, go ask mommy’. And we finally stop asking.
“Wondering is a life force behind self-expression, then when wonder comes and you get empathy.”
Students with Munson, in center in black, beside Haven lake near Whitefish, Montana.
Munson founded the Haven Writing Retreats in 2012 and since then over 1000 aspiring writers have attended her retreats representing six different countries. She has featured or published in The New York Times, The Oprah Magazine, Vanity Fair, Elle, Time and Newsweek and many other publications. She has appeared on Good Morning America, The Early Show, NPR, and on global media outlets in London, Australia and more.
“We are often our own inner critics—we can be really scared and then mean to ourselves. You can definitely change if you can be willing to tell your stories, willing to push past your fear of exposure.”
In The Wild Why Munson ends each section with a message, often writing prompts. “I really put myself out there. And I deeply believe that you can return to something you already know. As we get older we should all want to share our stories and get into what we are truly feeling and thinking.”
Here’s a prompt Munson suggests:
“Find a friend with whom you feel safe in the realm of self-expression. Pick a topic that you need to parse but that scares you. Ask your trusted friend if they would be willing to sit with you for a stretch of time and look at it from many angles, not necessarily looking for answers. If you find answers, that’s a bonus. This is an opportunity to roll around in wonder with someone you trust. See what you find. Write about it.”
Visit lauramunson.com to learn more.
