Tim Smith
Fault Line
Executive assistant, award-winning photographer, and author of the debut memoir Fault Line: Still Standing
Los Angeles, CA
BOOK COVER
BOOK DETAILS
Pub Date: April 2026
Genre: Memoir
Page Count: 219
Format/13-digit ISBN/Price: Hardcover / 979-8995150015 / $26.99 Paperback / 979-8995150008 / $18.99
ABOUT THE BOOK
A powerful and deeply personal memoir of survival, resilience, and self-reclamation.
Through a series of intimate, chronological vignettes, Tim Smith recounts a childhood shaped by abuse, addiction, and emotional abandonment—beginning with his mother’s instability and the absence of a father who never truly showed up. Raised in an environment where safety was unpredictable and trust was fragile, Smith learned early how to endure.
But this memoir is not only a story of survival—it is about what comes after. The takeaway is that the past may shape us, but it does not have to define us. Life is not just about what happened to you but about what you choose to become anyway.
Fault Line follows Tim’s long, uneven path toward healing, identity, and personal truth. With a voice that is direct, reflective, and at times unexpectedly humorous, he explores resilience and what it means to build a life after survival—and the quiet realization that you can carry your past without letting it define you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in Pensacola, Florida, Tim Smith grew up in the rural South in an environment shaped by addiction, instability, and neglect—experiences that would later form the emotional backbone of his writing.
Before becoming an author, Smith worked a wide range of jobs that reflected both necessity and curiosity about the world: from short-order cook to labor in a Navy shipyard, eventually building a career in the financial sector as an executive assistant. Along the way he also developed a passion for photography, earning recognition and awards for his work behind the camera.
Smith lives in Los Angeles with his husband and their three rescue dogs. His life now stands in stark contrast to the chaos of his childhood—a testament to the central idea at the heart of his memoir: that the past may shape us, but it does not have to define us. Through his writing, photography, and creative work, Smith continues to explore themes of identity, resilience, and what it means to build a life after survival.
TIMELY TIE-INS
July
- Global Forgiveness Day – 7
- Share a Hug Day – 30
August
- National Wellness Month
September
- National Recovery Month (addiction)
October
- Family History Month
- National Substance Use Prevention Month
- Evaluate Your Life Day: 19
- Conflict Resolution Day: 20
November
- National Homeless Youth Awareness Month
- National Life Writing Month
- National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week: 12-20
- Pursuit of Happiness Week: 13-21
December
- Narcissistic Abuse Awareness Month
January
- Self-Love Month
- I’m Not Going to Take It Anymore Day – 7
- International We Are Not Broken Day – 17
PRAISE
“Smith’s sharpness, self-awareness and humor surfaces like sunlight through storm clouds…. This is a memoir for anyone who has felt unseen, for those raised by people who should not have been parents and for every reader who believes that the act of telling the truth is an act of courage. Fault Line: Still Standing is not an easy read, but it is an essential one.”
—BookTrib
“Reading this book felt like being trusted with something sacred. It is raw, unfiltered, and deeply human…. The vulnerability in this story is powerful, and it takes incredible courage to share it so openly. This isn’t just a story about struggle; it’s about survival, resilience, and the quiet, steady fight to be seen and accepted…. I would recommend this book to anyone. It offers a window into experiences that are often misunderstood or unseen, and it does so with honesty and heart. More than anything, it reminds us that everyone deserves to be loved fully and without condition. This book doesn’t just tell a story—it invites empathy, understanding, and compassion, and it will stay with me forever.”
—Amazon reviewer
“An incredibly well and honestly written memoir of a beautiful soul who was born into a chaos and only looking for love…. The book is like a new season of your favorite show and reading each chapter ignites an impatient urgency to read the next one and binge read it all…. The rawest part is that this is literal reality and not some fantasy story. So proud of the author to come forward and share his story waking up others who have experienced similar things and letting them know that they are not alone.”
—Amazon reviewer
SAMPLE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
- Writing a memoir can be a vulnerable act. Why did you feel compelled to share your story?
- Neglect, indifference and disdain are forms of abuse we don’t talk enough about. But they can be as impactful as physical violence, and sometimes more so. Can you elaborate?
- Do you consider high achievement to be a trauma response and coping mechanism?
- How did your sense of self recover? Was self-expression and self-realization delayed, and what helped you grow in this area?
- How does being a member of the LGBTQ+ community—which, sadly, continues to experience discrimination and denigration—intermix with the journey you’ve taken from an unsafe, unstable childhood?
- Throughout Fault Line, there are moments of profound hardship but also moments of hope. What ultimately helped you move from surviving to truly living?
- Writing often requires revisiting painful memories. Were there parts of Fault Line that were particularly difficult to put on the page, and how did you work through them?
- If readers remember only one message after finishing your memoir, what do you hope that message is?
- Looking back now, what would you say to the young boy at the center of this book?
- Many readers carry shame about experiences they had no control over. What would you say to someone who is still struggling to separate their worth from their past?
BOOK DETAILS
Pub Date: May 17, 2022
Genre: Memoir / Christian Inspirational
Publisher: She Writes Press
Page Count: 304
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1647429003
Price: $15.99