A few months ago, local author, Lauri Matisse joined Russ on The Coffee Break to talk about her life story and about her gallery here in Scottsbluff. While she was here, she gave us three of her books: Eve’s Memoirs, No More Dark Days, and The Passion of Jesus. So, I was wondering: How do I make this post unique? It’s a rare occasion to write a blog about books from a local author. So I called Lauri Matisse, went to her gallery, and talked to her about being a writer and what inspired her to write these three books. Please enjoy!
Q: What made you want to be a writer?
A: So, when I was a kid I had a vision that I was going to be an author and write books about God. I was here in Scottsbluff, and I was just in the alfalfa field up the hill where my sister and I used to play. And we were playing out there, and I had this, I call it now, kind of maybe an open vision. All of a sudden, I just saw thousands of people and they were reading my books about God. And so I told my sister, "I think I'm going to be writing books about God." I did a lot of writing. I wrote diaries and journals and poems. I was constantly writing, so it was just something I did naturally.
My Comment: That's awesome! That’s really inspiring. I love stuff about authors and writing.
Her Response: Yeah, it's really weird, because people say, "oh, I want to write a book,” and, “I wish I could write a book." But writers, they just write. We have to write. Some authors out there get scared, or it is hard to put your work out there. It was hard to put my first book out there, because it was very personal. But I really felt like, if I couldn't expose my personal journey, then how would it reach people? But I think people get afraid that it has to be perfect. Or, "I can't publish a book until it's just right." But I think it's better to just do it. Just get it done. But I think people who aren't natural writers, I kind of feel like they're probably not authors. They're probably not writers, because writers that I know, all of us are just like, "we just write, because we have to write."
Q: You are an artist, an architect, and a songwriter along with being a writer. Have you always wanted to pursue the arts as much as you do now?
A: Yeah. I think I wanted to be a playwright. So writing was kind of my main thing, but my dad was like, "you’ve got to be a professional." I'm was like, "what's that?" And he told me, "you know, medical, accounting or whatever." So I started out in theater, art, and writing. And then practicality wise, I looked for something that maybe had arts in it, but was still professional. So that kind of pushed me into architecture. The art was…I think I always loved doing art. I really loved art in high school and middle school, but I think the architecture was great because we would have to go out and draw stuff. So I think that got me to be more of an artist too. But then when my kids were born, I was a stay-at-home mom for a while. So I got the chance to go to art classes, and then I got really passionate about all kinds of art. I have to learn every kind of art, and that's what I did. I know I'm super prolific, meaning I have to learn it. I study it and then I do it. I practically put it out. I can design a bunch of houses, or a bunch of paintings or write a bunch of books. And some people are like, "you need to focus." And I'm like, "that is focusing for me." It is prolifically producing something that I've learned. And I wrote a musical. The musical has 28 songs. It's just natural for me to do that.
My Comment: That is so awesome and inspiring.
Her Response: Yeah, some people's eyes just blaze over that. When they come, they think, "well, you can't really do all those things and do them well." But I have.
Eve’s Memoirs - Eve’s wit and wisdom from the 100th year of the dawn: It is here I met Eve. Yes, Eve of Genesis, Eve of the Garden of Eden. She came alive to me from the Garden where there were no religious walls, no racial separations, no caste systems, no language barriers, no pain in childbirth…Just Eve. With her perfect Adam and God in the Garden…and the talking animals, of course! The answers I needed to know as a woman, I found back in the Garden.
Q: Where did you get the idea for Eve’s Memoirs?
A: So, as a woman, I had a lot of frustrations with the Bible being written by men. And so, it really was so hard for me. And I'm also, I'm a woman that teaches the Bible, so I had a lot of questions with God about women in general: "why did we kind of have to be second to the men in history. And why is Jesus a man? And the Bible is written by mostly men. There was just a lot of stuff. So then, I'm also trying to guide young women on how to navigate their career, marriage, and kids. But then one day, I was just sitting there writing, because I wrote all the time at this place called The Novel Café, where all these famous writers write. It's really fun and really cool.
My Comment: Awesome!
Her Response: Yeah, it's like a two story coffee shop with little tiny tables, and little stairs you can go up and they don't mind if you sit all day and it's just the coolest place.
My Comment: That sounds so amazing!
Her Response: I know! I started writing there in the eighties, and I'd be sitting there and I'd be hearing people writing a really famous movie or writing books and talking about stuff. It was so fun. So I was writing there one day, and I got my little tea (or coffee) and sat there, and I started writing Eve's diary. And I thought, "oh my gosh! I'm writing Eve's diary." So really, Eve's voice just found me. And then once I started writing her diary I realized, "oh my gosh! That's the perfect voice for women." So that was really inspiring. And I was also trying to find a way to share with women in Islam and women in harsh cultures. I thought, "how do I tell women God loves them in a culture like that?" I personally know women from those cultures, and I've helped a lot of them. So I was like, "well, how do you tell them, "Jesus loves you." So, when I started writing Eve's Diary, I realized, "oh, it's all about going back to the garden." And then that enabled me to have a voice to give to those women too. So it was a really powerful voice, I think, to write Eve.
Q: Was it difficult to put together since all we know of Eve in the Bible spans from Genesis 2:18 to the beginning of Genesis Ch. 4?
A: Yeah, I think I took a lot of artistic license, obviously, and I tried to really get into her character. I really tried to think, "wow, what would it be like?" And then of course, we don't know, because it's all these years later. But I really, really tried to get into Eve and just be kind of Eve/me. And the chapters really came naturally. I wrote the first five diary entries easily, and then I embellished on them later. So that kind of gave me the groundwork. And I started a lot of different books, a lot of different projects, and I have all kinds of stages that they're in. So I went through my projects and I was like, "which ones would be the most viable to actually get out there and that people would like?" So Eve was one that, I had written those five chapters, and I thought, "I think people would like this." And then for that one, I got two editors. I had a developmental editor, who was a Jewish believer. I just wanted her thoughts. I asked her, "Do you think I'm keeping this on track?" I think her notes really helped me. And then I got a really good editor called, The Wordsmith, and I had a guy's point of view, which was kind of interesting. He really helped me hone in on phrases and wording, which really helped me a lot.
Q: So, how did you come to the decision to have animals talking? I know that some folks say that they probably did because that's how the serpent talked, but then that's also just a theory that I've heard. So how did you come to that decision?
A: I think, probably because of the serpent. I'm always thinking, "well, why would she listen to a serpent?" She'd think that was weird if all the animals weren't talking.
My Comment: That's fair.
Her Response: So, that's kind of probably just what a lot of people might think. I know that, and I wish I would've had more in the book. I had more of them talking in the musical. The animal characters are full-on characters in the musical. So I've got Lola the Lamb, and I've got this lion, and they do a duet. It's so cute.
My Comment: Okay. Well, that answer was so much better than I expected. So I do have a couple of questions about No more Dark Days.
No More Dark Days - Complete freedom from eating disorders, depression, and other compulsive behaviors. No More Dark Days is a gut-level heart-gripping and inspirational journey through eating disorders and depression…Experience a sigh of relief and a spark of hope. My journey from darkness to light, to bring light to your journey…Lauri Matisse is an award winning architect, author, artist, singer/songwriter and mother of four beautiful souls.
Q: What made you want to write a book about your journey?
A: When I had eating disorders, there were other people who had it, but nobody talked about it. It was very hush-hush. There was a stigma that it was bad. So I knew other girls that had eating disorders when I was in college. But if you told anybody, then it was like, "well, stop it. Just eat or stop throwing up." And it was just like, nobody really understood it. And then the books that were out on it were just clinical, and they made no sense, because nobody really knew what was happening. I was in London going through my last year of college, and Karen Carpenter died. She was a very famous musician. So, when Karen Carpenter died from eating disorders, everybody was like, "oh wow, we need to pay more attention to eating disorders." So the whole journey, I felt really alone. I couldn't talk to anyone about it, and psychiatrists didn't understand. They just wanted to give you pills, which didn't have anything to do with anything. So, feeling really alone made me want to publish the book. I had heard stories about its impact. For example, a lot of teenage girls read the prayers and sleep with the book under their pillow. Just stuff like that. It really was just…there was a hole in the market. There was nothing like it at all. And we didn't have social media back then, so you couldn't look up something on people knowing how they felt. And it was a hard book. I felt the Lord really wanted me to put it out. I remember thinking, "I don't want to put this book out. Everyone's going to know my story, and it's so vulnerable." But I really felt like the Lord was like, "if you just put it out, I'm going to be glad you did."
Q: How did you feel to have Princess Diana read your book?
A: I was married to a really oppressive guy who was older than me, and she was married to a really oppressive guy who was older than her—even though he was the king. My heart just went out to her; I knew she had eating disorders. So I sent No More Dark Days, but nothing happened. And I was like, "I bet she didn't get the book." And I got a scripture, there's a proverb that says, "my long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and the soft tongue breaks the bone." So I thought, "I'm going to send her a book again. I bet she didn't get it. I really feel like she was supposed to read the book." And that's when I got the letter back from her lady-in-waiting that said later on that she got the book and that she liked the book.
The Passion of Jesus - An inspirational journey with Jesus from Gethsemane to Calvary. “The full moon lit up the long ridge paralleling the eastern part of Jerusalem, in the Garden of Gethsemane as I knelt beside a rock, all alone, praying and thinking of you…” In The Passion of Jesus, Lauri Matisse knits together historical facts with imaginative insight regarding Jesus’ thoughts of devotion for those He loves as He journeys from Gethsemane to Golgotha.
Q: After making a memoir for yourself and one for Eve, what ultimately inspired you to write one about Jesus?
A: So I went to do a radio show, and I was getting interviewed about Eve's Memoir and No More Dark Days. I wanted to do some dramatic readings for the radio show, and then I started writing The Passion of Jesus. But that came really naturally too. Just like Eve's Diary, I was excited to find, "oh my gosh! I'm writing Jesus’ diary." And I did 12 chapters and then 12 shows. People loved the shows. I got letters all the way from India and China.
My Comment: Oh, cool!
Her Response: It was very cool. All the letters said things like, "you just brought me into this personal place with Jesus." And it was just so cool. And so then I got letters that also said, "you should write the whole thing through to the cross." And I was like, "no, I can't. Nobody can write that." I guess they did with The Passion of Christ. But I thought, "I can't write that." That just seemed like something that I could never write. But the Lord really wanted me to write it. I also went through a lot of suffering, and so I was able to go through it, and I just kept asking him every time I sat down to write, "what is your heart? What do you want to say?" Just, kind of being an open vessel. And then, of course, using my artistic license cause, I'm me. But it was tough to write. It took me 17 years.
My Comment: Wow! 17 years?
Her Response: Seventeen years, yeah. From the beginning to the end. I even lost it. My computer got stolen at one point, and I had the book on there. I ended up losing a lot of it. And then I was able to retrieve it off of the radio shows.
My Comment: That's amazing! I guess it was just meant to be written.
Her Response: Yeah. And I think it has touched a lot of people. The guy that did the audio book, he broke down in the middle of the book. And you can hear it, he completely broke down and had a personal experience with Jesus. So, his voice actually changes in the middle of the audio book. I just love how God works.
Q: How did you grow in your faith through the writing process of The Passion of Jesus?
A: Oh, that's a really good question. I really grew a lot. I think the most profound part of the book is when I'm trying to figure out, "how does he stay on the cross?" Because he didn't have to stay on the cross. He could have just been God. And I had gone through a lot of things that Jesus went through, like betrayal and a lot of physical suffering. People turned against me. And I'm like, I deserve to suffer. I mean, we're just sinners. So how did God do that? How did he do it? But it was really love. I have a part where it's the love that kept him there. But that really profoundly impacted me. That he loved us so much that he just went through that, and it made me just have a deeper faith as well.
My Thoughts: From the moment I walked through the front door of Lauri Matisse’s gallery, I was welcomed by all sorts of gorgeous art. Before we even started the interview, Lauri took the time to show me all of her paintings from the past 20 years. Lauri had clearly poured her heart and soul into each and every beautiful piece of art. She specifically noted larger than life pieces, which she named, “The Tears of God,” “The Heart of God,” and “Jesus Carrying the World.” So, when we finally sat down for the interview, I should not have been surprised to discover that she has put the same amount of passion and heart into her books as well. As an aspiring author myself, her journey from where she started to where she is today, really inspired me. So, go check out the MOO Gallery in Scottsbluff. Or come on into the Cross Reference Library and check out these three inspiring stories.