Curtis L. (Curt) Mattson studied to be a minister* and currently serves his local church as deacon and teacher. He has worked in the business world for more than 40 years, having been employed in printing, graphic design, communications, editorial management, and most recently web content management.
“I’ve been married to the same woman for more than 40 years and have three grown and married children. I’m also now a grandparent.
“Although I’ve come to creative writing late in my career, I’ve written, edited, designed, printed, and posted the written word for more than thirty years.”
Fiction Writing …
“The goal of my fiction and religious writing is to present characters who wrestle with their faith and the realities of the world. I try to portray honest struggle, temptation, fear, confusion, conflict, frustration, and doubt.
“Most of all, I want the Christian faith to be shown and known as real, practical, and able to stand against a fallen world.
… For Women and Men
“I try to write for both genders. I know Christian publishing has traditionally been oriented toward women, but I deliberately (or—I suppose—inevitably) style my writing to involve and appeal to a male audience as well.
“I don’t do this by writing about great sports or military figures (sorry, guys), but about men who take their business and family obligations seriously, who love and respect the women in their lives, and work to be good fathers and role models, who try to see that their work is a calling and calls for their best. And, most of all, who strive to live Christianly in an admittedly nonChristian world.
Bible Studies
“The goal of my explicitly religious writing is to present a discussion of biblical texts and context in a man-on-the-street style, modeling an approach to the scriptures that is hopefully fresh, unique, and helps to tie scriptures together, showing—as the Westminster Confession of Faith puts it—“… the consent of all the parts, [and] the scope of the whole, which is to give all glory to God.”
“The Bible itself is a ‘grainy’ book, that is, it shows the rough underbelly of its characters. My work likewise tries not to sugarcoat anything about living life in this fallen world.
“Just as I believe being an ‘artist who is a Christian’ has more impact than being a ‘Christian artist,’ I’d rather be a ‘writer who is a Christian’ than a ‘Christian writer.’
Life and Background
Curt Mattson was born and raised on the East Coast but has spent most of his adult life in the Midwest. He is always re-energized by being outdoors and especially by being near the water or the mountains. But he enjoys high-tech gadgets and computer programs too.
He studied Art and Philosophy at the university level and Bible and Theology at the graduate level.
He is a Calvinist (and yes, a Presbyterian), but knows that John Calvin also taught man’s responsibility to improve and do the ‘work of the kingdom.’
When it comes to his own personal reading, among the classics his two favorite books are—not surprisingly—Melville’s Moby Dick and Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea. Observant readers will surely notice shades of Old Man in his upcoming Tears of the Tree Man. In fact, he was tempted to entitle it, “Old Man and the Tree” but thought better of it.
Childhood vacation trips to the New England coast, the Rockies and the Smokies, and the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico have influenced his writing, and he is trying his best to develop an appreciation of the great plains. One reason he favors oceans, forests, and mountains is their ‘bigness’. He says they give him (and mankind) a proper sense of proportion.
He sometimes thinks his life could be characterized as a series of unfulfilled dreams:
- Born near the ocean … Lives among the cornfields.
- Studied for full-time ministry … Does website-editing full time.
- Dreamed of traveling the world … Well, he’s been to Epcot Center!
But writing books has given him a whole new avenue of both introspection and adventure.
Books Underway
Speaking of books, Curt Mattson has more than half a dozen manuscripts underway. Samples of each can be (or soon will be) found on the Egrapsa.com website. Subscribe to hear more about any or all of them with the convenient sign-up forms on each page.
My Goals for Myself — My Pledge to my Readers
- Write with artistic beauty and literary skill
- Write with theological accuracy
- Write to be entertaining and interesting
- Write to be real-life relevant and encouraging
*Curtis Mattson holds a Bachelors degree in Philosophy and Bible from Wheaton College and a Master of Divinity degree from Covenant Theological Seminary.
