A story of survival. A medical thriller. A legal thriller. All of these could describe Susan Mattern's memoir, Out of the Lion's Den: A Little Girl's Mountain Lion Attack, A Mother's Search for Answers. But at its heart, the book is a story of one woman's journey of losing her faith.
And while that's not a typical faith-journey story, for Mattern, a former nun who left the convent after six years, it's the hard-fought truth of her experience. An experience that began on March 23, 1986-the day her 5-year-old daughter Laura was attacked by a mountain lion at Caspers Wilderness Park in Orange County, Calif. but lasted for years as Laura underwent countless surgeries and her parents fought extensive legal battles to get the county to admit they could've done more to warn park guests about the known danger.
Through all that, Mattern's faith was tested and eventually provided the basis for the book. Mattern told WD, "When this trauma happened, we just tried to live through it. And then when I lost my faith, it was just such an unusual thing, because most people do come back to God.... I didn't want to write a book just about the trauma of what Laura had gone through, because there's a lot of stories that are about that, and I didn't think that was really anything that unusual or that memorable. But then the whole faith thing, that was kind of unusual. And I thought, Well, I'd like to write about that, because so many people have such a negative attitude about people who are atheists and I wanted to somehow get out the idea that atheists have morals too."
Denne historien er fra May - June 2023-utgaven av Writer’s Digest.
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Denne historien er fra May - June 2023-utgaven av Writer’s Digest.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Writing for a Warming World - Imagining the overwhelming, the ubiquitous, the world-shattering.
Climate change is one of those topics that can throw novelists—and everyone else—into a fearful and cowering silence. When the earth is losing its familiar shapes and consolations, changing drastically and in unpredictable ways beneath our feet, how can we summon our creative resources to engage in the imaginative world-building required to write a novel that takes on these threats in compelling ways? And how to avoid writing fiction that addresses irreversible climate change without letting our prose get too preachy, overly prescriptive, saturated with despair?
Kids' Author Meg Medina Inspires Readers
WD chats with the National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature.
The Horrors of Grief
Whether hot off the presses or on the shelves for years, a good book is worth talking about.
The Mystery of Growing Up
New York Times-bestselling author Jasmine Warga tackles a new genre with her signature blend of empathy for her readers, agency for her characters, and the belief that art is the great connector.
Education
Even if it's not your thing, you're probably familiar with the term dark academia.
A Do-Over Romance
Karin Patton, the first-place winner of the 24th Annual Writer's Digest Short Short Story Awards, shares a funny story about secondchance love and a brief Q&A.
Everyday Wonder
How to mine awe from the mundane
From Ordinary to Extraordinary
Unveil the hidden beauty in the facts and transform your nonfiction with the power of wonder.
Childhood: Our Touchstone for Wonder
How to get in touch with Little You and create big new work for today.
Agent Roundup
22 agents share details, about what kind of writing will pique their interest and offer tips for querying writers...
