About Lyn

Hello, I'm Lyn, and I'm delighted that you've taken an interest in my story. Perhaps you're curious about Mormons, or you've had experience with other high-demand, high-control, or cult-like religions. Maybe you're estranged from family members for non-religious reasons, or you're simply fascinated by religion and spirituality, as I am. Whatever the reason, I'm glad you're here.

I was raised in Utah in a Mormon family, related to the founder and first prophet, Joseph Smith. I spent my childhood struggling to be devout, to be perfect to avoid my violent father's wrath, to be worthy according to the Church’s impossible standards, and to protect the family's high-profile image in The Church and my community.

When I left for college at seventeen, I was exposed to ideas that countered everything I'd been taught and believed, particularly the history of my famous relative, Joseph Smith, and the beginnings of the Mormon religion. Shattered by what I discovered, I left my faith, family, and Utah to establish an identity separate from my past and heritage, but that escape had repercussions I didn't expect.

Outwardly, I was succeeding, having graduated magna cum laude from Utah State University and earned my MBA from NYU. Still, I found myself unable to escape the relentless tsunami of my religious guilt, worthiness, and perfection indoctrination, tapes that played constantly in my head. Eventually, I came undone and was forced to reexamine what was true for me, my family, and find a path through this new reality to experience freedom.

However, it still took a recent crisis to prompt me to write about my experience of leaving and the repercussions it had on my family. I needed to better understand myself and my family in the context of a family tragedy and re-examine what I thought I knew and understood to be true. Writing this deeply personal and revealing memoir was my way of doing so. I polished my manuscript at The Iowa Memoir Writers’ Workshop and Breadloaf’s Writers Conference.

I'm currently writing a follow-up memoir while seeking to publish We Were Smiths, which explores themes such as the price we pay for facades, both individually and as a family, as well as issues of trauma, identity, loyalty, autonomy, connection, and the choices that lead to mere survival or thriving.

I live in historic Savannah, Georgia, with my husband, Kent. We have three children who have now flown the nest.

I'm excited to hear your story and learn about your experiences. Join me on my path to publication and be among the first to know when We Were Smiths finds a home with a publisher. Please click the button below to provide your email address for notification by signing up for my newsletter, Heretic Survivor: From Mormon To Me.

Thank you for your interest. I’d love to hear from you and learn your story.

Lyn