Stories & Horses with Kelly Hopkins

Intro: 0:36

Welcome to Story and Horse, a podcast where we hear stories from creative lives. Meet new people, hear about their challenges and triumphs, and get inspired to move forward with your creativity. Now, here's your host, Hilary Adams.

Hilary Adams: 1:01

Hello, thanks for joining me here on the Story and Horse Podcast. I'm your host, Hilary Adams. I am a coach, theater director and founder of Story and Horse where I work with creative people to get their creativity out into the world. I'm also an equine partner facilitator. So I have horses that work with my clients as co- coaches. Here on the podcast. We meet people living creative lives, we hear their stories and gather inspiration for our own creativeness. Today we are joined by Kelly Hopkins. Kelly is a high school librarian and English teacher. Her best day is when a student comes in and asks for a suggestion. And she gets to share her love of books through common stories and clashes that she's a challenging teacher. But she thinks students appreciate the push at least she hopes out. Kelly also loves horses. So we have a Story and Horse Podcast today. Hey, Kelly, thanks so much for joining me here today on the Story and Horse Podcast.

Kelly Hopkins: 2:02

I'm super excited because I know we're gonna be talking about stories and horses.

Hilary Adams: 2:07

Welcome.

Kelly Hopkins: 2:08

Thank you. I really appreciate you having me here. When I saw your podcast and the name of the podcast, I thought how more perfect could it be? He tell us a little bit about why it's perfect for you and introduce yourself and tell us you know what you're up to. Sure. As Hillary said, my name is Kelly Hopkins, I am an author of young adult fiction, and I am also a high school English teacher and librarian. And I enjoy everything book. I walk in every day into my office, the library and the high school and I'm just surrounded by words and it's the job doesn't get much better than that and to be able to not only be surrounded by it, but also to instill that love for words and for reading into students who are going to go on then, you know, to become readers and writers themselves. I've got a couple of great students right now one just started a master's in creative writing and another one is just graduating with a degree which will basically allow her to go in so many different directions with her writing, so it's really gratifying to do that. On the horse side. I have been a rescuer of horses for almost 20 years now I we bought my first rescue horse when I was in my mid 30s and brought her home and cared for her as long as as long as we could. And since then we've had some standardbred racehorse rescues who were awesome horses and just so sweet. And I still have my I have one left and he's a quarter Appaloosa even though he doesn't have a single spot, but he is a great boy and you know being with this podcast with with your your idea of melding story and love for all things equine. I think it's just a great match.

Hilary Adams: 4:19

Thank you. And I want to say congratulations to you for your students who have gone on to get degrees in writing and related fields. And thank you for the rescue work that you've been doing. What is your horse's name that you have right now?

Kelly Hopkins: 4:37

I my quarter forces official name is Penny's Kokomo but we call him Mo and it fits he you know, just looking at his face you can't imagine call him anything else but mo it's just perfect.

Hilary Adams: 4:49

Do you find with your animals that there's a relationship between the creativity and your writing? You know, inspiration. Can you talk a little bit about how if that is true for you what that is?

Kelly Hopkins: 5:05

Yeah, I I've always felt when I go to the barn. You know, there's a certain level of stress that just peels away when you go down and you're with the horse and just being present in with that animal that is so big and so gentle and just wonderful. And I have found ways to bring horses into my writing. Because my one book high vices, it's a young adult thriller. The kids in the book kind of live in this school for wayward children. And one of the the main things that the most troubled boy does is he goes to the barn, and he deals with the horses. And that's kind of his sanctuary. And I, I'm able to write that because I know what that feels like. For everyday writing, I have a cat that showed up here about two years ago, because we live in a very rural area. And people like to leave cats for us all the time. Mango, and he is either sitting next to me as he is right now passed out asleep, or he is in my lap when I'm writing. So they are really part of everything that I do. And I and I enjoy trying to include animals into my writing, because the relationship between human and animal is just so deep and interesting. And I think that many people can relate to it.

Hilary Adams: 6:44

Let's talk about your books for just a moment. And then we'll circle back because I have to ask you about being a high school librarian and celebrating that job. So you you write young adult and adult fiction, and you have three published young adult works, is that correct? Correct. Yes. Yeah, and those three articles of deception, hide vices and buried beneath. And I'll make sure to put links in the show notes, everyone, so you can you can connect with Kelly's books. So can you tell us a little bit about your books, and maybe a little bit about your writing and your writing process?

Kelly Hopkins: 7:21

Sure, Gulf of Deception was the first one that got published. And the story about all these books getting published is just so bizarre, because I had been marketing the books and in the middle of COVID, who would think that I would sell three books in the middle of COVID, when everything in the world stopped golf of deception, and buried beneath sold within a week of each other. And it was almost a surreal experience. And then High Vices was published was picked up by my publisher at Champagne Book Group. Not that far after that. But Gulf of Deception was a lot of fun. For me, I love to go to travel down to the west coast of Florida. It's just a beautiful area, and I fell in love with the Fort Myers area, and the Port Charlotte area. And that's where the book is based. So it's really nice to go down there under the guise of doing research when I really want to just go to Fort Myers. And I just tried to bring the vibe of that just beautiful area into the book. And it is a mystery, it is about a girl seeking justice for the death of someone very, very close to her. And it was a heck of a lot of fun to write. Buried is a little bit different. Buried is a much different book, it deals with mental illness, specifically hoarding disorder, and also a girl that's dealing with some eating disorder issues. It's a it's a much deeper, darker read. But it's also a very hopeful book, I didn't want to write something about someone who's dealing with a mom who is a hoarder and having to live in that situation and just have it so dismal. So I think that even though the subject matter is a little bit dark, it doesn't take over the story. It's still a very hopeful book. And I think that a lot of people who have read it have seen that there is that release at the end of the book that this is this, there's hope here, it's not just all dark, without giving too much away. It's a very different read. And but I think out of it's a very significant book. Because we don't really understand with students and I think of students, I haven't had a student that specifically had this issue, but we don't know what goes on in students lives outside of school. And I was trying to think about, you know, what goes on in people's houses that the world doesn't know. And that's where I came up with this idea. And I think it's important for someone who's dealing with a situation like that, to know that they're not alone or to see themselves in something that they read, and know that there's a possibility. So that's very high vices is a book and I'm going to date myself here tremendously, but I grew up in watching Miami, Vice reruns loved Miami Vice. And for those of you that haven't watched it, you need to go out there and watch it on Netflix or Amazon Prime. So a lot of fun. It's an old 80s television show that deals with all kinds of crime. And I imagined this girl, so kind of getting sucked into a teenage version of Miami Vice. And that's where I came up with the idea for high vices. And it's, it's going to be a series, Book Two is getting close to being done getting ready to be sent to the publisher this summer. So I'm hoping that vices two as I'm calling it right now will be available soon. And golfer deception will also have a sequel as well, that one's probably not going to be ready to go out to the publisher until the fall, but those two books are gonna be series. So that's really exciting to me to keep following those characters.

Hilary Adams: 11:32

is exciting. Congratulations. So you're working, you're working a full time job, and you're writing. So you tell us like, how is your what is your process, because clearly, you're generating a lot of material. And I do want to circle back also to the fact this all happened during COVID. Because before we started recording, you mentioned that a lot of people that you know, and artists are having some creative challenges. So I'm just gonna put a pin in that we'll come back to that in just a moment. But I want to first ask about your process and how you sit down and do all this creative creativity?

Kelly Hopkins: 12:10

Well, it's been tough, it's been really tough, through COVID, to be creative. And once those books sold, my focus completely shifted from creating new material to getting three books ready for publication through the editing process, which is just an enormous undertaking, it took so much time, every moment that I wasn't dealing with school and with my own responsibilities, it took a lot of time. And it was it was pretty exhausting. But now that I am past that, I I am an outliner. And that's one of the things that I do to try and keep me on track. My books don't always follow the outline I create in the beginning. But I try and come up with a process. And I took a James Patterson master class several years ago. And he showed the way that he outlines and ever since then, that's what I've been doing is just chapter by chapter, what's going to be in this chapter, just giving myself a brief snapshot of where I'm going. So that I can follow that as I write. And it's one of the big things is you have to always allow yourself to deviate from the plan. Because you never know what's going to happen when you start writing that book. High vices is a great example of that. When I was writing that book, the characters get to the climactic moment in the book. And a decision has to be made by the character about how to get out of an impossible situation. And I had one thing written down. But then when I put the characters in that situation, I started thinking, well, they could do this, or they could do that. Or is there another possibility and I went with the other possibility because it was something I didn't expect. And because I didn't expect the character to do that, then I knew the reader wasn't going to expect the character to do that the same with very, very, very similar, the character did something that I didn't see coming until I got to the end of the book in that climactic moment. So outlining is huge to keep me on track to keep me going. Even if I look at one bullet point, my outline and say, Okay, I'm going to sit down and this is going to be 1500 words, and I'm gonna pound this out and get it done. It keeps me moving forward. And it that's what really works for me is to try and have that structure so that I know where I'm going.

Hilary Adams: 14:54

Thank you. And I know and circling back to the COVID challenges. I know that before we started recording, you mentioned that there are people, yourself and others who found the time period that we've been in challenging and continue to be challenging. So anything you wish to share about that.

Kelly Hopkins: 15:14

I just have felt and I know talking to some other writers that I am close to. We all have just it's been a very emotionally draining time and emotion is said is a big process, a big part of the writing process. You know, the writer has to feel for the characters has to feel for the story. And the COVID years have really, I think bled everyone dry emotionally. So that's been really tough. In addition to that, for me, teaching through COVID has been incredibly draining as well. So combining those two things, it's been, it's been difficult, but I am starting to see myself come out of that, those doldrums, I guess you could say or come out of that rut. Because I've been excited recently about writing again, and I've been excited about continuing stories, and I've been, you know, working on vices, too, and saying, Okay, this is good, this is going in the direction I want it to, and it's close to getting done. And I think as I see, myself finishing projects that I started during COVID, that normally would not take me as long as they they do, and we're very fast writer. High vices, that book, I drafted that book in 21 days in, in a real big burst of inspiration. And same with burried, that was about six weeks from startup idea to draft. So for me to take this longer to draft is very unusual. And I really blame it on COVID. So but I think we're all starting to come out of that a little bit. And I'm I'm very hopeful for this summer, when I get out of school that I will be able to, to push forward on a lot of these projects that I I feel like have been suffering because of the world the situation.

Hilary Adams: 17:25

Absolutely. So returning back to your to your being a high school librarian and an English teacher. And you said you love the fact that you go in and you're surrounded by words, which is a nice love to hear that. And did that start when you're that love start when you're very young.

Kelly Hopkins: 17:45

It did, I remember being an elementary school and being a library rat. And being in there all the time, the librarian would let me reshelve the books that got brought in. And I remember, we used to have those scholastic book fairs. And I remember her letting me volunteer, and, you know, set up the book fair. And then at the end of the day, whatever books were left, she would let me pick books and take them home. I have been a an avid reader for as long as I can remember, and loved to just read and course books. Oh, you got to be kidding. I had so many horse books when I was growing up. It's just been part of my life. And then writing, I didn't really start to write seriously. Until my son was born. I had another friend who was also trying to write and to look towards publication. And both of us had kids at the same time. And we would talk about it and I thought, well, maybe I can give this a try. But it took many years for me to really learn the craft before I really felt comfortable thinking I could write a novel from start to finish. So I would say in reality, I've probably been writing for the better part of 20 years, but really getting serious, maybe the last five or so that I really started saying hey, maybe I have something and I can I can actually do this. And did you know very early on that, you know, hey, I liked when I grew up, I'd like to be a librarian. Actually, no, I never. I bounced around for a while I went to college for two years for accounting, which I hated. And I dropped out. And I didn't go back to college to get my English degree until many years later. And I went I got my English degree and my teaching degree. And it just so happened that the year I was graduating from college, I went out to a conference in Las Vegas with with the college and in Las Vegas. They had a vendor area and I went over to Mansfield University which is honestly not that far from my house. And they had a table set up that was offering master's degrees in library science. And I thought well that's very interesting. So I talked to them And I got accepted into the program and started the master's program even before I started to teach. And as it would turn out, I got a job at my school district, and the librarian had just retired. So the timing could not have been more perfect and talk about the way that you know the universe works and puts you in the right place at the right time that she was retiring as I was getting my library Master's. And it just all worked, I thought it was going to be an English teacher, full time. And that was all I was going to do. So luckily, she went and I was able to just be a librarian for about four or five years until the senior English teacher retired. And they asked me to pick up Advanced Placement English and the and the senior level English classes. So that's what I do I teach senior English couple of periods a day and the rest of the day, I'm in the high school library. So it's, it's really the best of both worlds. So if you have

Hilary Adams: 21:40

a student who has had perhaps a negative connotation attached to words, be it reading, writing, you know, they've gotten to their senior year, they're not jazzed up by this at all. Are there ways to that you that you connect this inhealth install, with love of words with with them,

Kelly Hopkins: 22:07

I think I tend to be very excited about what I teach. And I try and make sure they know that I mix enthusiastic about the material. I teach British literature, which is a very, you know, strange thing to really, really love. But I love 16th century British literature and fit in 17th century British literature, I get to teach everything from Beowulf, to Frankenstein and 1984. And I get to teach all of this great stuff. And it's a lot of fun. And I think that I have been doing it long enough that I know what makes the kids interested in the pieces and why they get excited about it. And you know, when you're teaching Shakespeare teaching Macbeth and Hamlet, and like, oh, my gosh, I gotta learn Shakespeare. Yeah, but everybody dies in the end, and it's going to, it's really exciting. And you're gonna like it. As long as I stay enthusiastic about it, I can pull them in. And I think that's just years of being around students that I'm able to, to snag them somehow. Granted, you're not going to have every single kid love Shakespeare. But I think that by the time that they leave me, they should at least appreciate it. And understand the impact of these words that we're reading that are hundreds of years old, on who we are today. on popular culture, on the way the world views, certain ideas, I think that by the time they leave, they should at least have respect for it. If not a love of it. I hope they love it. But I know not everyone will. That's okay.

Hilary Adams: 24:04

Yeah. And do you talk to them about? Do you work with them with their own stories?

Kelly Hopkins: 24:09

Yes, I also teach creative writing. And I've had the pleasure of working with some students who have written their own novels. I teach a couple of different levels of creative writing. I've had kids that have, you know, come into the initial class, and then come back for the next year's class where they have to produce a large piece of work, whether it is a draft of a novel or a draft of a screenplay, they have to be able to walk away with something that is a sizable piece of work. And I have had some students write some incredible, absolutely incredible pieces of work. So they have done everything from short pieces to longer pieces. And one of the most important things that I try and teach the kids, whether they're in my academic regular English class, or my creative writing class, is to learn how to become a self editor. I think self editing skills are so important to students to be able to view their own work from a distance and see what they do wrong what they do right to get better all the time. So yeah, I work with them all the time. I even work with some of my students after they graduate, you know, looking at things for their master's degrees or looking at things that they're trying to get published, I constantly read student work and work with them, it's really probably my favorite part of the whole, the whole teaching process.

Hilary Adams: 25:49

It's really wonderful. I have a big smile on my face, I just think about how repeatedly on this podcast and many people that I've spoken with, when they tell me a story about why they do the creativity that they do, it's because of an inspirational teacher from their childhood. You know, many, many, many years later, in some cases, you know, they, they will say it's because of this person. So I'm just thinking about all the students that you've reached. So thank you for that work. Do you have a story that has has a theme of creativity in some way from your life that you have for sharing with us?

Kelly Hopkins: 26:35

Yeah, I think I would, um, one of the biggest inspirations for me for writing is my grandfather. And he passed away when he was only 12 years old. But I remember going to visit him, he lived in New Jersey, and then finally came up and moved to Pennsylvania nearby us later, later on. But I remember as a child going to New Jersey, and he wrote poetry. And a lot of it was a very, very religious in nature. He was also an immigrant from Northern Ireland, he came to United States from Belfast when he was in his mid teens. And he would write poetry about Ireland, and he would write religious poetry. And every time I came to his house, the first thing he'd want to do is take me into his room and show me what he wrote and read to me what he wrote, I still have his books. And when he passed away, my grandmother gave me all of his notebooks with all of his poetry in it. And every once in a while, even when, you know, when I'm having a tough time, with my own writing, I pull out those books, and just read a couple of my favorite poems that he wrote. Because he was a very simple man, a very hardworking man. And to see him this gentle side of him when he wrote this beautiful poetry. I always think of him when I am struggling to write that he want he would be so happy to read what I wrote, no matter what it was, whether it was good, or it was bad, he would have been there behind me this entire time. So he's a great inspiration. And, you know, hopefully someday I get to say, thank you, Grandpa in person for, for giving me this idea that I should be able to do this. He said to me, I remember one time, you should put your your words in a book someday. And when I got my first copy of my first book, it was kind of an emotional moment, actually, and a little, little choked up right now thinking about it. It was an emotional moment thinking, grandpa, this is it. This is these are the words, this is what you told me to do. And here they are.

Hilary Adams: 29:03

Wow. That's a powerful story. Would would you mind sharing his name?

Kelly Hopkins: 29:10

Yeah, his name was Thomas Riley. And as I said, he was from Northern Ireland and left everything over there. He came to the US to live with an aunt. And, you know, raised his family here. And he's he's been gone a long time. But I sometimes I still feel like he's standing right next to me.

Hilary Adams: 29:32

Right behind you there. Yeah. Yeah. That's so beautiful, that he told you to put your words into a book and then you then you had it. People have said how powerful that is, when you fold your book in your hands for the first time, the physical book and it sounds like that was a moment for you like that.

Kelly Hopkins: 29:53

It was I mean, opening up the box for the first time and seeing your name on a cover. And, you know, when you work in isolation as the writer for so long, with the hope that your words will be published one day and then you get to hold that in your hand and experience it. It's there really aren't a lot of words to describe what that feels like. But each book that has been published since then the the feeling comes back every time you open the box

Hilary Adams: 30:28

I love opening boxes. I'm just thinking, how exciting that is. And you get sequels coming, which I'm thrilled. I'm so excited. Oh, thank you for sharing that story about your grandpa.

Kelly Hopkins: 30:42

Sure.

Hilary Adams: 30:43

Mr. Riley, who joined us. I love. I love meeting people who are no longer with us through the stories that we carry.

Kelly Hopkins: 30:51

Yeah, it's a great image a great, it's a, it's nice to think that they still share in your success.

Hilary Adams: 31:00

Absolutely. So for people who are listening, who might sometimes be stuck. Before start recording I talked about you said, as you'll panic, when they look at that blank page, or the blank screen, or whatever art or creativity or expressiveness that they wish to bring forward into this world, you know, we get stuck in various places along that process. You have a suggestion or thoughts for people? Who might be feeling that way?

Kelly Hopkins: 31:28

Yeah, we've all been there. We've all gotten to a point where we think, Oh, what am I going to do now. And one of the things that I have allowed myself to do with my writing is not think that I have to go from the first word to the last word straight through, it doesn't always work that way. And sometimes when I sit down to write, or start a new project, the most vivid vivid image for me may not be the beginning of the book, I may have a scene in my mind, that is midway through the book. And I've given myself permission to write out an order. And I think that's been one of the more freeing things for me, is to not say I have to start here, and I have to end here, if I had this one scene, this emotional scene that I can see in my mind, I could put that down now, and put it over on the side, and it's there, it's not going anywhere, and then work backwards or work in front of that, it doesn't matter. With art. Where you enter into the process, I think is is what I'm trying to say, you don't have to enter into your art at the beginning, whether it is a piece of artwork that you're painting, or it is a piece of writing that you were working on, it doesn't have to start at the beginning, it starts at the motion at the point where you have the most emotional connection to it. And once you're able to allow yourself to do that, it helps to break that block. And that's always worked for me, I don't know if it'll work for everybody else. But allowing yourself to get off script sometimes is the best thing you can do.

Hilary Adams: 33:27

Thank you. And when you work with your outlines, did you just start and like kind of in the middle of your outline and build it? You know, in whatever direction it goes?

Kelly Hopkins: 33:37

Sometimes, yeah, because, for instance, with high vices, I had an image of a piece of the story that I will say is probably six or seven chapters in, that's where I entered the story that was the the spark of the idea. And so if I put that down, and I may think sometimes you you come up with the first idea, and it's not the beginning of the book, and you put that idea down and say okay, well what happened to this character to get her to this point? And you can go backwards that way? Or what happens with this character? Once this event occurs? How does that change her? So I had this image and and it just, you know, sometimes you go in both directions, because it just is a very organic process. And it doesn't always follow timelines or linear lines or anything like that. It just happens organically.

Hilary Adams: 34:49

That's really helpful. And I think that it might be helpful for people to hear that because I think sometimes when people think about outlines, and that kind of word, there might be inherent in the definition. The idea of the idea of structure equals linear, which of course it doesn't. But it's sort of that feeling of like why don't want to write an outline, because then there has to be, you know, beginning middle end, as opposed to jumping in where you feel that emotional connection or where you have a spark of inspiration and then building from there in both directions if it works,

Kelly Hopkins: 35:23

yeah, I'm a very visual writer. I often say that I type out the movie that I see going on in my mind. Not everyone is that way, but I tend to see what I'm writing as I write it. So going back and forth with the outline, it's very helpful because I don't always see connections until later on. Okay, so I have to ask when, when an idea first comes to you, how does it arise? Well buried was an interesting one, it was different to then I think the other two, the other two, I had a vivid image of a scene that was intriguing to me. And I built the story from there, varied was a little bit different. I was on Twitter, and I was following a couple of literary agents. And they were having this conversation back and forth about their manuscript wish lists. And one of them said, I'd like a book about hoarding for middle grade students, so middle school kids. And the other one said, Yeah, this would be really, really great. And I, the idea was interesting to me, but I didn't start, you know, oh, I have to go write this book. I think it kind of percolated for a while in the back of my mind. And it was probably two months later, when the idea for the book, honestly started to coalesce into something that I thought, hey, this could be something and I remember writing, that was a book that I wrote the first chapter because I heard my character's voice. And it is really written from her. And the first chapter came out pretty quickly. And by the time I was done with the first chapter, I was like, I've got something here. There's something here. And I just went straight through it. And that book took me about six weeks to draft. And I don't know where it came from. But it it just all just kind of flowed out once I had that first chapter down and felt that girl's voice and I felt her pain. And I felt what she was going through. And I couldn't get her out of my head until I had the story down. So that's the first person do you write in third person? Yes, I do. Um, I do see myself as a librarian. I see kids engaging more with first person texts. There are several third person texts out there that they they like, but when I see kids going for books, they tend to gravitate towards the first person, because they can connect more with the first person. I like to write in first person I, my adult book that I'm working on right now is written in third person. I don't know if I will write a young adult in third person or not. I'm not really sure about that. Because I generally feel a deep connection to my characters when I write them. So I don't know if I want to lose that.

Hilary Adams: 38:52

Yeah, that makes sense. Hmm. That was interesting when people talked about hearing their characters, voices and our character surprising them and things like that. And you were saying that your character wouldn't leave you alone until the story was out? All right?

Kelly Hopkins: 39:06

No, she nagged me nag, nag mad, and I had to get it down big, because she just wouldn't leave me alone.

Hilary Adams: 39:13

Two questions very well start with one of them, which is just the thought of, you know, digital books, audio books, digital books, and versus printed books. And I know you're working with teens. So I'm curious about about that. And your thoughts about the difference between holding a physical book if there is any, between a physical book and a digital sort of that conversation? Do you have thoughts about that?

Kelly Hopkins: 39:38

I do. And it's very interesting, because as a teacher, in COVID, we've went to an almost universal digital format for everything to minimize contact with materials and things. And now two years in, you know, I was reading with my my seniors Pride and Prejudice, and they all wanted they wanted a hardcopy book. They don't want to read on the computer anymore. And, you know, I don't offer ebooks in my library. It is a it's a fully physical book library. And the kids say they want to hold the book in their hands and that I think COVID has changed that I think we've become so over do Dealing with print on screen, that I think there's a shift going towards the physical copies, at least that's what I see with my kids. They don't want to read on the computer anymore. They've had it. So I think that's good for the print market. Glad to see it.

Hilary Adams: 40:45

I'm glad to see it too, I do have a prejudice toward physical copies, because that's what I of course grew up with. But there's just something I don't know, there's the experience of the book, which is a very different thing to me. Because I mean, you can open it up and, and physically interact with it in ways that digitally you cannot. So

Kelly Hopkins: 41:05

I agree, I think it's a tangible, you know, the story becomes more real, because it's in your hand. And I, I'm so glad that that's shifting with the kids that they would rather have the book,

Hilary Adams: 41:18

before we wrap up, is there anything else that you'd like to share with us, Kelly,

Kelly Hopkins: 41:23

I just wanted to say that, you know, for everyone that that is listening, that loves stories, and loves their horses, and we always I think especially girls have found ourselves in, in books and stories about horses, you know, growing up reading black beauty, and the Black Stallion and all these other, these other books that allowed us to not only share our love for words, but also for the animals, I think is, is so important. And I'd like to someday write a book that paid homage to those writers that gave me so much joy as a as a kid growing up, Walter Farley, and, you know, all these these different people that, you know, gave us those love of animals early on. So someday, I hope to see my name on a book that that does just that. I haven't found the story yet. But it's early, I'll find one and hopefully get that story out to share my love for animals. So everyone.

Hilary Adams: 42:39

Yeah, I look forward to reading it. That's really wonderful. Thank you, Kelly. And for people who'd like to reach you can you tell us your you know, website and social media?

Kelly Hopkins: 42:50

Yes, I am on Twitter and Instagram at at Kelly Hopkins writes. And I also have a website where I not only have my books, but also some information about I do some editing services. And I really like to work with new authors who are are just starting out to kind of try and pay things forward for all the help that I got when I was starting out and that is Kay Hopkins writer at.wordpress.com. So I look forward to hearing from you know, anyone out there that wants to connect. So hope to see on social media,

Hilary Adams: 43:30

that's a beautiful offer. So if people are listening who are new writers, because I know we have some Kelly is a great resource and inspiration can connect with her to get some editing done, which kind of can be quite daunting. At first looking through that process.

Kelly Hopkins: 43:46

It is and I am very grateful for those authors out there who have helped me over the years and, you know, anything I can do to inspire the next. The next round of new authors is great.

Hilary Adams: 43:57

That's wonderful. Kelly, thank you so much for joining me here today. I really appreciate it. Please hug mango and Moe and I think you have a dog. Also we heard briefly back there. What's your dog's name?

Kelly Hopkins: 44:10

Auggie and he is 115 pounds of just love. And he's a great dog.

Hilary Adams: 44:20

Doggy a whole bunch of love for me also involves listening. Thank you, Kelly so much and for everybody listening, please make sure that you check out Kelly's books by going to our website and again if you're a new author who's looking for sort of a mentor editor so that you can help inspire Kelly is available, so please reach out to her. And if you'd like to connect with Story and Horse you can find me and Story and Horse at story and horse.com and a Facebook and Instagram at Story and Horse. Kelly, thank you so much for joining me here today. I'm so appreciative. Thank you.

Kelly Hopkins: 44:56

Thank you. I had great time.

Outro: 44:57

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