About Lyn
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, 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 professors and ideas that countered everything I’d been taught and believed, particularly the history of my famous relatives and the development 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 legacy, but with repercussions I didn’t expect.
I graduated magna cum laude from Utah State University with a double BS in Journalism and Psychology, then earned my MBA from NYU in Information Systems. I spent the next twenty years in the high-tech corporate world, eventually leaving to have more time with my children and pursue my interest in writing.
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: Falling From Grace is my first book, but I have begun work on a second memoir.
I'm curious about the price we pay for facades, both individually, and as a family. The issues of identity and loyalty, surviving or thriving, are also intriguing to me. These are themes I explore in my memoir.
I split my time between historic Savannah, Georgia, and the mountains of North Carolina with my husband, Kent. Our three children have flown the nest, but fortunately, return often to visit.