2014 Year In Review

Happy new year, everyone! I hope you all find what you want and need in 2015. Let's make this year as awesome as it can be!

2014 was a pretty great year. I try to take each day as it comes, never expecting anything in particular, and never putting one day too high above another. The only exceptions are when it's my turn to take care of my son - those are extra special days :)

There were a lot of things that happened in 2014 that weren't particularly happy. In fact, I cried quite a bit over them. My family's had some hard times this year and it's affected everyone in the family. While I never much care for any tests life might throw our way, I understand they're key to showing you exactly how well knit your family is. I'm so grateful and thankful to be part of this family, and I know I would suffer greatly without every single member.

Amid the upsets of 2014, there were so many great things that happened, I just can't write the year off. Since I always try very hard to have no bad days, that means I deliberately look for all of the good things that happened in a day. Finding passion for even the simplest pleasures can help re-balance you from bad things. Libras are all about balance, so that process seems to work pretty well most of the time!

If I had the chance to do something over, I'd probably make the same mistakes. As long as you take what you've learned and apply it to the future, you should be able to break out of any ruts!

Keeping in tune with the positives-are-OMG-awesome vibe, I'm going to go over all the great stuff from 2014.

The first most awesome thing about 2014 is I feel like I found my writing groove in the Moo Family and Moo School series. I've always loved drawing AND writing, but I don't have the patience for a comic. Children's books never really occurred to me until a friend and co-worker suggested it. I've done art for my nephew's book, but that isn't the same as writing and drawing your own book. I also don't really like the art I put in that book, and have plans to re-do the art someday. Considering most of it was drawn while I was pregnant with my daughter, I don't know if/when that will ever happen. It's on my someday list!

I published six books in 2014, five of which were two different series featuring Moo and her parents, Mama Moo and Daddy Moo. The first book I published this year was ANOTHER suggestion from another good friend of mine, who encouraged me to do SOMETHING with my Personality Rune process. Is it a coincidence that the two girls who encouraged me so much have similar names? I don't think so! Sara and Sarah, thank you both for your encouragement. My family's always so nice to me, I have trouble believing them when they tell me I should do something :P Hearing it from good friends helped solidify everything!

Since I publish all six of these books on Smashwords, Amazon Kindle, Createspace, and Google Play Books, you can find the books in almost all online retailers. They're even published in the UK! I've been blown away by the number of Personality Rune books others have wanted, since I know Runes are a very personal thing. What works for one person might not work for someone else.

The Moo books were written from my heart, with the inspiration for almost every word coming from my own little Moo. My daughter fell in love with a floppy Moo plushie and has grown her Moo plush collection exponentially since then. It was just logical to make a kid's book series for her, right? :)

I started the Moo School series with the idea of teaching my daughter all of those important things children should know before they start Preschool. Shapes, Letters, Numbers, and Colors. I'm half-way done with the series, and hope to complete it this year. Moo needs to learn all of this stuff before school starts, after all!

The Moo Family series is really a compilation of the silly things my baby girl does. Not everything Moo and her friend Moo (TWO MOOS?!?) do are what my daughter has done, but you can bet she's just as sly as Moo's friend Moo. She's always up to something, and trying to hide it from you!

Here are the books that were released in 2014:

Moo School

 

Moo Family

  

Non-Children's Books

You can find these books in all of these places online, although some are search results, so you might find books written by someone else (sorry!).
Jean Hopkins on Amazon - Kindle and Print books
Jean Hopkins on Google Play - eBooks
Jean Hopkins on Barnes & Noble - eBooks and Print books. Not all books in the search results are written by me!
Jean Hopkins on Kobo Books - eBooks. Not all books in the search results are written by me!
Jean Hopkins on Createspace - Print books. Not all books in the search results are written by me!
Jean Hopkins on Smashwords - multiple eBook formats

I hope everyone has a wonderful 2015. Take care!

Say Please and Thank You, Moo!

It's been a bit over a month since its release, but I haven't posted about it. Since the channels Smashwords posts the book to haven't all added it yet, I was hoping to wait until they all have it.

I couldn't wait much longer, though, so I'm announcing it now! When the second Moo Family book is available in more stores, I'll post links here.

In the meantime, I am proud to announce the second Moo book in the Moo Family series! My daughter's not as big a fan of this one as the Bedtime Moo book, but she does love the cheese and juice. She calls this one the "Say Cheese book" because of the cover.

Moo learns how to say Please AND Thank You in this book, and even figures out her parents do a lot of stuff for her!

You can get this book in either eBook or Paperback, just like the first Moo Family book:

Digital/eBook Versions:
Google Play Books
Amazon Kindle
Kobo Books - Coming Soon!
Apple iBooks
Nook - Coming Soon!
Scribd
Smashwords - Get 1/2 off the price for purchasing from Smashwords if you use coupon code SY73H. Coupon good until July 7th, 2016.

Paperback:
Amazon
Createspace
Barnes & Noble

You can find me on Goodreads, if you'd like to follow me! I love reading!

The Author's Creed (and ego)

Thou shalt not steal stories from others!

That's one of the creeds every good author lives by. It encompasses story suggestions from friends, fans, and critics. It covers anything you share with the author to proof read or test read.

Don't get me wrong, though. Original thought isn't so much hard to come by, as it is thought of already. I've always imagined a planet (I call mine Planet Laura) filled with everything and everyone ever dreamed about or imagined. Maybe there's a huge solar system filled with these Creator Muses. It'd certainly make sense, since so many people who've never met or conversed come up with the similar ideas all the time.

Some authors might rationalize themselves into believing they came up with something, but to be honest, everything around us feeds our muse. Beautiful artistry, people living out their lives, and people acting way outside of their pigeon holes. I've read books that triggered ideas for completely unrelated stories. It's how our minds work!

My muse changes shape and form all the time. It switches between different modes, depending on my Libra balance at the time. I've gone from drawing everything in my head to voraciously reading for weeks straight. I call these two extremes Creating mode and Consuming mode, respectively. I have it on good authority that many creators do a huge amount of consuming!

The main triggers for flipping between the two modes seems to directly relate to how full the Muse is. The strangest things can feed it, but it always munches whatever passes its way. Nomnom ideas, slurp people stories, crunch on dreams. Music is a great switch flipper for me, but it can make consume mode switch on, too!

In short, there's an oft-written Author's Creed that is mostly made up of three parts:

• Ego will not allow theft. 
• Muse compatibility will not allow theft. 
• Copyright law will not allow theft. 

So... Authors don't know what to do with your ideas, but may be able to help you do something with them!

We love to hear ideas, and are generally glad to lend a hand with your own creative journey. You have a muse, too, so stretch out your creative wings any way you can!

It's Bedtime, Moo! available in paperback now!

My daughter has already made the proof we received of "It's Bedtime, Moo!" quite dog-eared from reading it over and over and over. She has mastered "her" parts, specifically "YAY! DUCKY!" and "BRUSHA BRUSHA BRUSHA."

Considering she was part of the inspiration for the book, that's totally cool with me!

The proof was quickly approved once she let us glance at it long enough to determine that the important bits weren't lopped off. Our copy came out quite well! You can now purchase it on Amazon (as well as Createspace). It should be available online at other bookstores in the coming days.



Pick up your copy on:
Amazon
Createspace
Barnes & Noble

Here's the book in action:

Deia and the first Moo book, 'It's Bedtime, Moo!'

It's Bedtime, Moo! - New Book, New Series!

After a recent round of doodling cows and krakens for my children, two good friends in my life suggested that I write a book for children. Believe it or not, there is an unfinished children's book somewhere on my stove of books-to-finish! Gasp, an unfinished book? Say it isn't so!

Given how long it took me to finish the illustrations for my nephew's book, Daddy is Tired, I was surprised by how much more quickly this one was completed. It helped quite a bit that I had that surgery on my elbow back in 2012, of course! Ever since, I've been relatively pain-free. It still twinges occasionally. Sometimes before weather changes, but usually if I've been over-using it.

In any case, Moo and Friends is one of my favorite set of characters I've ever drawn. My Mom still loves the "Fruity Friends" I drew ages ago (Mango Man, Nataline Nectarine...I was such a goober when I was a kid!), but I haven't really thought much about them in over a decade. I only remember them when Mom mentions them :P

What I call "Original Moo" is a representation of my daughter, who loves cows. The Moo featured in "It's Bedtime, Moo!" is actually my daughter's favorite stuffed animal, who also happens to be named Moo. I know, it's so confusing! Moo wasn't her first word, but she's been using it extensively for over half of her life. She'll be three in September, to give you an idea of how much she loves the word. Her collection of plushie Moos has grown exponentially over the past two years, starting around her first birthday when she met the first Moo (who is the Moo featured in this book). She gave Moo the biggest hug of her life, and they've been inseparable ever since. We did have to buy her first...

I hope you enjoy this first book in a planned series of Moo books! The ideal age-range to enjoy this book is 5 and under, although you may enjoy it even if you're 90!
You can find your own copy at these stores (print version coming soon!):

Digital/eBook Versions:
Google Play Books
Amazon Kindle
Kobo Books
Apple iBooks
Nook
Scribd
Smashwords

Print Versions:
Amazon
Createspace
Barnes & Noble

I Have A New Book - Personality Runes!

Personality Runes Cover

I have so many other books to finish, but this one kept calling to me. The ideas behind Personality Runes were ones I've used myself over the past several years. I never thought to share it beyond some hastily-scribbled random words, posted on a digital flashcard site.

As I delved deeper into each Rune to flesh out my thoughts more, I felt more in tune with the Runes on a whole. Strangely enough, the Runes I'd so carefully crafted (and wrote about in this book) were lost when we moved last year. I remember carefully packing them so I could get to them as soon as we unpacked, but I still haven't been able to locate them. Along with the Runes were a beautiful set of Goddess Tarot cards, and a growing collection of semi-precious stones. I'm sure they'll be found at some point in the future. Who knows, perhaps they're meant to be handed down to one of my kiddos!

In any case, I relied heavily on my artistic/creative side to connect with each shape and symbol in the Runes. It's something I enjoy quite thoroughly on many levels. I love to find out about all the different sorts of people there are in the world. To get into their minds, figure out what drives them, and possibly turn them into a character for one of my stories. Isn't it interesting how everything always comes back to stories?

This book is available on Amazon as a regular book (gasp - not just an eBook?). It's available through several different places as an eBook, too!

If you'd like to get your hands on a copy, check out these resources:

Print copy
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Createspace

Ebook copy
Amazon
Smashwords
Google Play Books
Nook (Smashwords Edition)
iBooks (Smashwords Edition)
Kobo Books (Smashwords Edition)
Scribd (Read it for free with a Scribd subscription!)


Smashwords distributes to many other channels, too, so check your favorite eBook stores in the coming days!

Website Move and Update

In case you haven't noticed, we moved to Blogger! Wordpress is a great product, but Blogger has a lot of features built-in and doesn't require constant updating to the latest version. Apparently if there's an update, it happens automatically. That's pretty cool!

By my calculations, it's been almost a YEAR since I last posted an update! In that time, I've turned 30, my oldest finished first grade, and my youngest started on her Terrible Twos. I've changed jobs, too!

The books I've been working on are still being written, I promise! The time-table's definitely changed, though. I've started a few other creative projects (and even finished some), so I haven't completely abandoned creativity :)

I've been working on some children's books for my daughter using my "Real" name. It's not that I think I can write a better children's book or anything, but I really want to teach her certain concepts my way. The hubby thinks my story ideas are a bit out there, but he thinks I'm an Odd Duck. I don't even quack! I think of myself as more of a kitty, you know? Apparently that is part of what makes me an Odd Duck. Sigh!

I do plan to finish Meryl's story by the end of this year, so look for the Smashwords' link in the future! :D