After Ben died, Mattie began journaling as a way to process her grief. She studied Creative Writing in college, so it was only natural for her to write about her feelings.
Although she didn’t know it at the time, those journal entries served as the foundation of her first book…Lemons on Friday:
“It was never my intention [to write a book],” she told Yahoo! Life‘s The Unwind. “The way I knew how to process sudden tragedy and grief was to write. It’s a passion of mine anyway, but there was more permission to be more honest on paper than with myself and the people around me.”
As she explained in a post on Instagram, Lemons on Friday “charts [her] pain and struggles,” after Ben’s death.
Mattie teamed up with her dad to write a song that accompanies the book. Alan recorded the song, which is titled “Racing the Dark.” Those who preorder Lemons on Friday can download “Racing the Dark” for free.
Alan and his wife, Denise, also wrote the foreword to Lemons on Friday.