"We have nighthawks and mud daubers. We have small desert bats and scowling great horned owls. But on this visit, we had my favorite: barn owls."
Read MoreLisa Laughlin
Writing from the Inland Northwest
Managing Editor | Copy Writer
M.F.A. in Creative Nonfiction
My work
Literary Essays
I write about the West. My essays have been published in Orion's "Place Where You Live" section, River Teeth, Flyway, High Desert Journal, The Forge Literary Magazine, Hippocampus Magazine, Sweet: A Literary Confection, and elsewhere.
Magazine Articles
I've written over 80 articles for Out There Outdoors magazine, an Inland Northwest outdoor recreation magazine. I have been the Managing Editor here since 2023. https://issuu.com/snyderzzz
Copy Writing
I work with DOMA Coffee Roasting Company's marketing team and artists to tell stories around coffee that end up on coffee bags, newsletters, blog posts, social media and more. https://www.domacoffee.com/
ABOUT
I'm a writer, editor and mother, and pour my heart into each of those roles. I've interviewed a lot of cool people, driven a wheat truck in a dryland harvest, and whitewater rafted in the name of journalism.
My writing ranges from outdoor recreation and environmental issues to feature stories, profiles and reviews. When I'm not mothering and writing for magazines, I write literary nonfiction.
I love the creative & outdoors communities I'm a part of in the Spokane region. I'm an eastern WA girl and think cosmic crisp apples > honeycrisp apples. I also believe any day is made better by putting your feet in the river, smelling pine sap, or getting dirt on your running shoes.
Photo by Mitch Walker
My writing ranges from outdoor recreation and environmental issues to feature stories, profiles and reviews. When I'm not mothering and writing for magazines, I write literary nonfiction.
I love the creative & outdoors communities I'm a part of in the Spokane region. I'm an eastern WA girl and think cosmic crisp apples > honeycrisp apples. I also believe any day is made better by putting your feet in the river, smelling pine sap, or getting dirt on your running shoes.
Photo by Mitch Walker
Featured Articles & Essays
I was invited to answer this question alongside other western writers. // Published by High Desert Journal
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A look at conservation issues of the Spokane River, weaving research, interviews and my first time whitewater rafting. // Published in Out There Outdoors magazine
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A lyric flash essay on motherhood, capacity, and the fins falling off the damn fish. // Published in The Forge Literary Magazine
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An excerpt from my print collection, "Kindling," this flash essay examines the ways we try to claim a place // Published by Sweet Publications
Read MoreBOOKS
I won the Sweet Flash Nonfiction Contest in 2017 and had a limited run of hand-stitched chapbooks made. The title essay, "Kindling," was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
https://sweetlit.com/issue-10-1/essay-lisa-laughlin/
From the foreward:
"Laughlin's work in these essays covers ground related to loss, to the beauty and bare truth of it, and to how our sense of place accomodates that beauty and bare truth. All three of these selections reflect on the dryland wheat farm of Laughlin's youth, its austerity and dangers, and her own desire to hold it, to keep this home close, while acknowledging that impossibility. With language as stark as the land itself, and in the presence of a writer who meditates and reflects and discovers, we get an opening — a consciousness — that invites us to meditate and reflect and discover alongside, that sketches this place in the small, meaningful strokes of the short form." —K.C. Wolfe, Co-Founding Editor
https://sweetlit.com/issue-10-1/essay-lisa-laughlin/
From the foreward:
"Laughlin's work in these essays covers ground related to loss, to the beauty and bare truth of it, and to how our sense of place accomodates that beauty and bare truth. All three of these selections reflect on the dryland wheat farm of Laughlin's youth, its austerity and dangers, and her own desire to hold it, to keep this home close, while acknowledging that impossibility. With language as stark as the land itself, and in the presence of a writer who meditates and reflects and discovers, we get an opening — a consciousness — that invites us to meditate and reflect and discover alongside, that sketches this place in the small, meaningful strokes of the short form." —K.C. Wolfe, Co-Founding Editor
More of Lisa's Writing
Selected Literary Works
"Fish Fins in the Kitchen Sink" | Forthcoming from Under the Gum Tree
"How to Mother When the Flowers Are Too Early" | Willow Springs | Forthcoming Fall 2026
"Mother Mouth" | The Forge Literary Magazine | June 2026 https://forgelitmag.com/2026/06/15/mother-mouth/
"A Science and an Art" | Flyway Journal of Writing and Environment | contest finalist | Spring 2018 https://flywayjournal.org/non-fiction/a-science-and-an-art/
"Ephrata, WA" | Orion Magazine's "Place Where You Live" Section | May 2015 https://orionmagazine.org/article/ephrata-washington/
"Kindling" | Sweet Literary Magazine | Nominated for a Pushcart Prize | Sept. 2017 https://sweetlit.com/issue-10-1/essay-lisa-laughlin/
"Body and Field" | High Desert Journal | Oct. 2017 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eba1f61b311ac0566822d5c/t/5f98fe83a7b60175a59e363f/1603862149755/Lisa+Laughlin%2C+Body+and+Field+_+highdesertjournal.pdf
"A Sort of Trespass" | Sweet: A Literary Confection | Issue 9.1 https://sweetlit.com/issue-9-1/essay-lisa-laughlin/
"Listen to the Silence" | Belmont Story Review | Issue No. 1 https://issuu.com/belmontstoryreview/docs/bsrtext/2?ff&experiment=previewReaderTestMode,new-bff-links-purchased,new-bff-overlay
"An Absence of Yellow" | River Teeth's Beautiful Things | a micro essay | Nov. 2016 https://riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-things/an-absence-of-yellow/
"Ice Breaker" | Hippocampus Magazine | Mar. 2016 https://hippocampusmagazine.com/2016/03/ice-breaker-by-lisa-laughlin/
Selected Editor's Letters for Out There Outdoors
"Curiosity First" | Fall 2026 https://outthereoutdoors.com/curiosity-first-bull-snake-encounter/
"A Search for Buoyancy" | Summer 2026 https://outthereoutdoors.com/search-for-buoyancy-paddleboarding-spokane-lakes-summer/
"Learning to Race for Good" | Spring 2026 https://outthereoutdoors.com/learning-to-race-for-good/
"The Five-Second Trail Wave" | Summer 2025 https://outthereoutdoors.com/the-five-second-trail-wave/
"Find Your Flow" | Nov/Dec 2025 https://outthereoutdoors.com/find-your-flow/
"Learning the Lexicon of the Places We Love" | July/Aug 2024 https://outthereoutdoors.com/learning-the-lexicon-of-the-places-we-love/
"An Enlightening Backcountry Encounter" | May/June 2024 https://outthereoutdoors.com/an-enlightening-backcountry-encounter/
"Jumping into Summer" | May/ June 2023 https://outthereoutdoors.com/jumping-in-to-summer/
"Illumination for the Long Run" | March/Apr 2023 https://outthereoutdoors.com/illumination-for-the-long-run/
Selected Out There Outdoors Articles
"PFAS Chemicals Discovered in the Spokane River" | Fall 2025 https://outthereoutdoors.com/pfas-contamination-in-the-spokane-river/
"Reflections on a River" | May 2024 https://outthereoutdoors.com/reflections-on-a-river/
"Backcountry Biking for All" | An experience of north Idaho's Hiawatha Trail | Aug/Sept 2023 https://outthereoutdoors.com/backcountry-biking-for-all/
"On Walking a Toddler on the Trail" | Jan/Feb 2022 https://outthereoutdoors.com/on-walking-a-toddler-in-the-woods/
"Easy Summer Hiking at Slavin Conservation Area" | July 2021 https://outthereoutdoors.com/easy-summer-hiking-at-slavin-conservation-area/
"Benefits of Companion Gardening" | June 2021 https://outthereoutdoors.com/benefits-of-companion-gardening/
"Exploring the Hanford Reach National Monument" | Sept/Oct 2020 https://outthereoutdoors.com/exploring-the-hanford-reach-national-monument/
"Spokane's Trolley Trail Preserves a Piece of Local History" | June 2019 https://outthereoutdoors.com/spokanes-trolley-trail-preserves-a-piece-of-local-history/
"5 Hikes in Washington Wine Country" | Nov 2018 https://outthereoutdoors.com/5-hikes-in-washington-wine-country/
"Inland NW Trail Runs Worth Traveling For" | June 2018 https://outthereoutdoors.com/trail-runs-worth-traveling-for/
"Proof of Life: From Brain Tumor to 50k" | Based on an interview with a trail runner | Jan/Feb 2018 https://outthereoutdoors.com/proof-of-life-from-brain-tumor-to-50k/
"Barefooting the Spokane: The Short-Lived, Spokane River Water Ski Craze" | July 2018 https://outthereoutdoors.com/barefooting-the-spokane-the-short-lived-spokane-river-water-ski-craze/
Find the full collection of my articles here: https://outthereoutdoors.com/?s=lisa+laughlin
Selected Reviews
Book Review: "The Book of Birds" by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris | Forthcoming fall 2026
Book Review: "Raised by Ferns" by Maya Jewell Zeller | March 2026 at North American Review https://northamericanreview.org/open-space/2026/lisa-laughlin/review-raised-ferns-maya-jewell-zeller
Gear Review: SaltStick Electrolyte Tabs | Winter 2025 https://outthereoutdoors.com/saltstick-electrolyte-tabs/
Gear Shop Review: Solnix, Spokane Wash. | Winter 2025 https://outthereoutdoors.com/solnix-spokane-outdoor-gear-shop-community/
Book Review: "Glacier National Park" Guide Book by Jean Arthur | Summer 2025 https://outthereoutdoors.com/glacier-national-park-by-jean-arthur/
Gear Review: Tailwind Chocolate Recovery Mix | Spring 2024 https://outthereoutdoors.com/tailwind-chocolate-recovery-mix/
Book Review: "World of Wonders" by Aimee Nezhukumatathil | Mar/April 2024 https://outthereoutdoors.com/world-of-wonders-by-aimee-nezhukumatathil/
Profiles and Other Articles
Profile on Ceramicist Maya Melissa Rumsey: Forthcoming from DOMA Coffee
Profile on Paraclimber Mason Keough: https://www.domacoffee.com/blogs/blog/hitting-a-wall-then-climbing-it
Profile on Local Women Skiing the Andes: https://outthereoutdoors.com/skiing-in-the-andes-portillo-patagonia/
Profile on Artist Vanessa Swenson: https://outthereoutdoors.com/vanessa-swenson-art-motherhood-state-of-awe-washington-watercolor-nature/
Start with Coffee: Seaweed Farmer: https://www.domacoffee.com/pages/seaweed-farmer
Start With Coffee: Therapeutic Sailing: https://www.domacoffee.com/pages/dogsmile-adventures
Start With Coffee: Fly Fisher Guide: https://www.domacoffee.com/pages/fly-fishing-guide
Limited Oxygen Coffee Processing: https://www.domacoffee.com/blogs/blog/limited-oxygen-processing
The Dukunde Kawa Cooperative: https://www.domacoffee.com/pages/dukunde-kawa-co-op
Recent Appearances and Readings
Lion Rock Visiting Writer Series, virtual speaker at Central Washington University re: from Writer to Editor — October 2026
GetLit! Festival April 2026, Spokane — "Parents Who Write: Making it Up As We Go," panel with Joe Wilkins, Ren Cedar Fuller, Uma Kukathas, and Beth Alvarado.
Guest Speaker for Editor's Panel on "Life after the MFA" for Western Colorado University's nature writing program, February 2026
Campfire Stories "Tales from Our Public Lands" — November 2025, Spokane
Student Reading at the Orion Environmental Writer's Workshop, Omega, Rhinebeck, NY, June 2025
Current Projects
I am work on a literary memoir based in the Columbia Basin of central Washington State, in dryland wheat country. This book is a portrait of a place, of growing up a woman in that (agri)culture, and about the art and craftsmanship of blue collar work. It's about water in the desert, healing lakes, and irrigation. It's about wildfires and climate change, big farm chemicals and organic foods. About rural flight, dying family farms in America, loving and losing places, and increasingly tense rural-urban lines. It's an ode, an ache, a love song, a praise. It's full of nighthawks and coyotes, dust devils and isolation. It explores how we shape the land, and how land shapes us. It examines the cultural myths and generational stresses we carry. It's a story as big as the sky. But I'm getting it down on the page.
Follow here or on my Substack as I pin this one down.
Follow here or on my Substack as I pin this one down.
SUBSTACK
"The fact that we planted a garden in the fire strip said a lot about our relationship to the threat of fire: it was the new normal in the west."
Read More"I feel the ever-present tension of loving and leaving places, of trying to straddle two worlds: nature and concrete, republicans and democrats, agriculture and academic culture."
Read More"Right now, cutthroat trout are wavering with the water, the glimmer-scales of them threading the shadows beneath a log.'"
Read MoreContact
- Spokane, Washington, United States
I'm interested in freelance writing and editing projects, or just chatting about writing and good books. Get in touch!