Interview with Louise Draper Colln
Author, Woman of the Land
Mary, Mother of the Christ
Louise is the author of five nationally and internationally published books. Four of them have been reprinted, three in anthologies. She writes both historical and contemporary books. Her poetry and short stories won statewide contests and have been published in national magazines. Louise served as editor for a genealogy magazine in Missouri and for the Middle Tennessee Scottish Society Newsletter. She was secretary to the Council For The Written Word, Middle Tennessee Scottish Society, and the governing board of the Tennessee Writers Alliance.
MJT: Louise, writing a historical novel in the first person of Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ, seems a daunting task. What gave to the inspiration to present your novel in this way?
LDC: I first wrote it in third person, but after years of research and living in her world, I felt so close to Mary and I felt her emotions so much (sometimes painfully) that the first person just seemed right.
MJT: I recognized many of the scenes in Woman of the Land from my Catholic catechism classes and my reading of the Gospels. What were your sources of research?
LDC: A huge stack of books. I used the bible though I didn’t always see it as most people do. Maps were helpful as I have no sense of direction and I often found myself sending my characters in the wrong direction, a problem I have in my own life. I hope I got it right in the final version. Lectures, written and live, conversations, historical and biblical programs, sermons, histories. You know from your own work, Mike, that when you are so intensely into a book it sometimes seems that information is directed to you and you pick bits of knowledge or inspiration from sources that mean little to others.
MJT: Writers frequently have doubts about the quality of their writing or if the story is any good, or even if they should be writing a particular story. Did you ever experience have doubts or question your work while writing this story? How did you overcome them?
LDC: Yes, I did, and sometimes still do. I didn’t overcome them. I just kept writing. I put the manuscript away many times and wrote other books, but I was always drawn back to it.
MJT: At the end of your book you have included a page called Questions for Contemplation. What do you want to reader to take away from this novel?
LDC: I decided to self-publish rather than wait longer for an acceptance after a friend said that perhaps non-Catholics (as I am) can accept Mary as a person. This is how I tried to show her; a woman who believed, doubted, loved, accepted the joy and the pain of her life. Some comments I have received tell me that readers have found in her story incidents that reflect events they have experienced in their own lives, such as the death of Joseph, or the rejection by a child. I hope my readers will hold a memory of her.
MJT: Do you view Woman of the Land as a religious novel or a historical piece?
LDC: Historical, or possibly both. Though I follow incidents in the bible, I haven’t written it from the point of view of any religious organization. I have tried to keep it true to the history of that time, such as the unusual school for girls, which was real but lasted only a short time, or the use of the gift of gold to take the family to Egypt by ship, their life in Egypt, social attitudes, and their daily lives at home.
MJT: How long did it take you to write the book and why did you title it Woman of the Land?
LDC: About thirty years. The Israelites called their beloved home “the Land”.
MJT: Where can readers find a copy of your novels?
LDC: Earlier novels are out of print but can often be found on Amazon. Woman of the Land can be found on Amazon and Kindle, at Published by Westview – click on my name under Authors – in Barnes and Noble and the outlets serviced by Ingram Books, locally in a lovely restaurant in Normandy, Tennessee, in Franklin at Landmark Books and, of course, from me.
