About Lyn

Hello, Lyn here. If you’re reading this, I’m guessing you’re a little like me: curious about Mormons, perhaps an active or questioning Mormon, or an Ex-Mormon. Or maybe you had some experience with another cult-like religion. Or you’re estranged from family members for religious, lifestyle or political reasons. Perhaps, religion and spirituality just fascinate you, as they do me.

Our journeys out of the world we were born into, to enter a new world and awareness, are often similar. The conflicted desires for separation and autonomy, and connection and belonging, the
surprising grief in moving forward, the challenges of letting go of old beliefs and indoctrination, the loneliness in searching for truth.

I’d love to hear about your journey, your experience, learn your story. Maybe there are similarities in our paths and hard choices.

I was raised in Utah in a Mormon family intent on living up to the high standards and expectations of being descendants of the Joseph Smith family. I spent my childhood struggling to be perfect to avoid the wrath of my violent father, the Patriarch, and to protect the family’s high-profile image in The Church and 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 relatives and the beginnings of the
Mormon religion. Disillusioned by what I discover, I left my faith, family, and Utah to establish an identity that was separate from my past and heritage, but with repercussions I didn’t expect.

On the outside, it appeared I was succeeding. I graduated magna cum laude from Utah State University with a double BS in Journalism and Psychology, then earned my MBA from NYU. I  plunged into the high-tech corporate world, but found I couldn’t outrun the tsunami of guilt and the old perfection tapes that played relentlessly in my head. Eventually, I came undone, and I
was forced to reexamine what was true for me, what was true for my family, and find a path through this new reality.

I’ve always kept a journal. I wrote about my sister, my family, and the impact of the Mormon Church on my life and identity as a way of better understanding myself in the context of family and religious dogma. This became the genesis of We Were Smiths.

I was accepted into the Iowa Memoir Writing Workshop and, later, the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, on the basis of initial drafts of my memoir. We Were Smiths is my first book, but I’m currently writing a follow up memoir.

I'm curious about the price we pay for facades, both individually, and as a family. The issues of identity and loyalty, autonomy and connection, surviving or thriving, are also intriguing to me. These are themes I explore in my memoir.

I live in historic Savannah, Georgia, with my husband, Kent, escaping to the mountains of North Carolina during the summer. Our three children have flown the nest, but fortunately, return
often to visit.

Please share your story with me. To be notified when We Were Smiths is released, please CLICK on the button below to leave me your email address.

Love to hear from you!

Lyn