Laura Laing

Laura Laing

lauralaing.com

Laura Laing’s work has appeared in Parade, USA Today, Parents, The Advocate, and Baltimore’s City Paper, and she has wirtten for brands including Kellogg’s, Wells Fargo, Ernst & Young, and Southwest Airlines. She is the president of ASJA (American Society of Journalists and Authors). In 2008, her long-form narrative piece, “Raising a Glass,” received an honorable mention in the A.D. Emmart Awards for Maryland journalists. 

The author of three books about math—Math for Grownups (2011), Math for Writers (2014), and Your Daily Math (2016)—Laura has also developed math curriculum for a variety of companies around the country. 

With an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College, her essays have appeared in The Rumpus, Full Grown People, Consequence, and Creative Nonfiction. In 2019, her essay, “Your Leaving,” won the Best Essay Award presented by ASJA. She is currently writing a memoir that blends story with explorations in abstract mathematics.

info Subjects

General

Arts & Culture
Business & Finance
Education
Government & Politics
Science

Specialties

Mathematics
Mathematics Education
LGBTQ+

notepad Skills

  • Annual reports
  • Blog posts
  • Books
  • Brochures
  • Curriculum
  • Donor communications
  • Essays
  • Feature writing
  • Investigative reporting
  • News
  • News releases
  • Op-Ed
  • Scriptwriting
  • Web copy
  • Q&A
  • Articles
  • Fundraising appeals
  • Profiles

notepad Writing Credits

Journalism: American Baby, And Baby, Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore Sun, Chiropractic Economics, Jewish Times, Parade, Parents, Pet Age, Pregnancy, USA Today, Worship Facilities

Content Marketing: AAA, American Pool Enterprises, Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD), Ernst & Young, Kellogg’s, Kennedy Krieger, Pace Communications, University of Baltimore, Wells Fargo

Curriculum: 360 Learning, Amplify Learning, Apex Learning, Brown Publishing, Six Red Marbles

notepad Book Credits

Math for Grownups (Adams Media, 2011) started it all. A sometimes funny, always accessible book about the math grownups need to be, well, grown up, each chapter focuses on a particular area of life when math is helpful. From gardening to vacationing to shopping, the problems are crafted in a narrative that keeps readers interested and even learning.

Laura wrote Math for Writers: Tell a Better Story, Get Published and Make More Money (Limitless Press, 2014) when she realized that her colleagues were having difficulty with statistical analysis and finding percent change. The three sections are devoted to math in reporting, the math of getting published and the math of managing a freelance writing career.

Her latest math book is Your Daily Math: 366 Number Puzzles and Problems to Keep You Sharp (Barnes and Nobel, 2016), a year’s worth of daily exercises designed to get readers thinking about math in different ways.

star Awards, Honors, Appointments

A.D. Emmart Awards for Maryland journalists, honorable mention, “Raising a Glass,” Baltimore City Paper, 2008.

ASJA, Best Essay Award, “Your Leaving,” Consequence, 2019. 

Selected Work

As author, unless indicated otherwise.

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Open Seascon

Essays, The CommonAugust 2021

Wythe County, VA, 1985

The rifle is heavy and hard in my arms, the butt jammed up into my right shoulder, just like Lee showed me. Peering down the nose of the gun, I can see the line of targets—coffee cans, plastic milk jugs, and Coke cans—lined up like birds on a fence. The air is cool and wild, and a breeze comes across the hollow carrying the sweet smell of hay and manure. Except for the herd of grazing Holstein cattle, little black-and-white smudges against the browning pastures, Lee and I are the only living creatures visible. Me and him and the gun with real bullets.

Read

Your Leaving

Article, ConsequenceMarch 2018

I don’t remember your leaving.

I remember your coming home—the argument I had with your parents, the bubble I felt around myself while among joyful families, the Shoney’s breakfast we shared before coming home to have sex on the kitchen floor. I remember the jubilant look on your face, your blue eyes glowing, like lasers, over cheeks burned by the African sun. I remember the eight-inch knife you slid under the driver’s seat of your car. I remember the night sweats and bad dreams and that you were losing hearing in your left ear.

Read

Clean Slates

Article, Full Grown PeopleMay 2017

Once a year or so, I drive my 2006 Prius out to the county to have it detailed. It’s a ridiculous amount of money to spend on washing a car, especially this one. The back passenger door panel is a slightly different color than the rest, and rust spots are beginning to speckle the roof. The floor mats are wearing through, and the silver paint is beginning to chip away from the steering wheel controls. We bought the car used, and I intend to drive it until it dies.

Read

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