Interview With Author Susan Hopkins
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve made so many wrong choices in my life, made so many stupid mistakes – haven’t we all. I would give anything if I could press ‘rewind’ and ‘do over’. I realize, as I sit here looking at the dust on the skeletons in my closet, that my life story is not a pretty picture. I know I can’t turn the pages of a ‘choose your own adventure’ book, go back and make a different choice and see where I would be today. So, all I can do is embrace ‘me,’ the good, the bad and the ugly and turn it over to God, my heavenly Father, my higher power, so He can take ‘my ugly’ and turn it into something beautiful for someone else. Maybe you too can learn from my mistakes and make a choice to walk down a different road. I hope so.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I am a senior citizen and I am living my dream. I have always wanted to write and now I have two published titles on Amazon, and three journals. In 2021, I published my first book entitled: SPIRITUAL HEALING: When there are no known medical solutions, dare to believe that all things are possible for the Great Physician. I overcame perfectionism by just getting it out there, but I knew it wasn’t all I wanted it to be. After having it professionally critiqued, I revised the cover, the title, and added about 80 more pages of more detailed and personal information. I am well pleased with this book and have since republished it as a revised version.
I have lived a life and then some. I have an intimate relationship with my heavenly Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit and in simple faith asked Holy Spirit to teach me about healing of the mind, soul, body and spirit and so He did. The book is full of stories of healings and miracles that have become an everyday occurrence in my life. I want my reader to know that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. So many churches teach that healing is not for today and I want them to know the truth.
MY JOURNEY TO FREEDOM from abuse, codependency, faulty beliefs about Christianity to a personal encounter with the UNCONDITIONAL LOVE OF GOD, [Book One], focuses on the time period from April 1970, one month before my sixteenth birthday, to April 1980, one month before my twenty-sixth birthday. On April 18, 1970, I walked down the aisle at a Faith at Work Conference, invited Jesus into my heart and gave my life to God. On April 25, 1980, I renounced Christianity as I knew it, had a personal encounter where I received an invitation to become a disciple of Jesus, was baptized in the Holy Spirit, and introduced to my heavenly Father.
If I knew then what I know now is the name of my website, and I use this term many times during the introduction as I attempt to teach my reader the difference between religion and true Christianity. During my encounter, my heavenly Father told me that all He had ever wanted me to be was ‘myself’ and so I left the church that day with the intention to do just that. It’s been an interesting journey!
MY JOURNEY TO FREEDOM from guilt, shame and trying to be ‘good enough,’ to living and resting in the UNCONDITIONAL LOVE OF GOD [Book Two] will focus on lessons learned as a new creature in Christ, a baby Christian learning to walk as one led by the Holy Spirit, as a born-again, spirit-filled daughter of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Immediately after my encounter, my husband and I, with three children under the age of four, moved into an unfinished home, in an unorganized township, where we had no running water, plumbing, telephone, electricity and very little money.
When we drove in the lane God told me that He was taking me into a concentration camp experience. I was not impressed and asked if I was going to lose my faith. He answered, “Did Corrie Ten Boom lose her faith in the concentration camps?” I replied, “No, her faith grew stronger.” “Exactly,” He responded and that was that. I have many a story to share about the years we spent living on this property, farming the old-fashioned way with wood heat, Naptha gas lights, propane fridge and stove, chickens in my living room, stooking sheaves, antiquated equipment and a thrashing mill. It was a walk of faith to be sure. It is my hope this book will be released in 2022 and I can’t wait to get it finished.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
My Journey to Freedom [Book One] is written hand-in-hand with Holy Spirit …
When I started to put pen to paper, I felt strongly that my part was to write my story, and the Holy Spirit’s role would be to teach both you and me. Believe me, I have been more surprised than anyone with some of the truths He has taught me as I wrote this book. When He gave me the title headings, my mind would be filled with ideas and scriptures that I thought should be in the chapter. I would be ‘chomping at the bit’ to write and Holy Spirit would ask me not to because there was too much of ‘me’ that would influence the direction of the chapter … and so I waited.
I had to learn how to write as directed by Holy Spirit. First, He instructed me to just sit and write my thoughts according to the title given to me for the first chapter. At the end of this exercise, I expressed my disgust and discouragement confiding in Holy Spirit that I felt what I wrote was lifeless and boring and that no one would want to read what I had written. He said to me, “That’s okay, now I will take what you have written, and I will turn it into something that not only will people want to read, but the words within these pages will transform their hearts and minds.”
So, we began to put this book together. The chapters are my stories in somewhat chronological order with scriptures and/or other quoted material to support the text. Sometimes I would find myself stepping into His role – making a statement that would cement the lesson I had learned so my reader would understand. Almost immediately, I would find myself unable to write. It’s as if someone had turned off the tap and my thoughts simply stopped flowing. Then I would remove the sentence where I had over-stepped, and the thoughts would start flowing again.
I know that since I am an organized person with a basic ability to write that I could have drafted a table of contents and written this book, but without Holy Spirit it would have been of ‘me,’ or what is commonly referred to in the Bible as ‘works of the flesh,’ which would not benefit anyone. For this reason, I encourage my reader to ask God for discernment and wisdom as they read because I am human and like anyone else can make mistakes. In addition, because we cannot grasp spiritual truths with our natural mind, I trust that my reader will prayerfully seek God’s help to understand the truths I have shared.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
At the beginning of every chapter, in My Journey to Freedom [Book One], there is an introduction. I have never seen a book written this way. However, it seemed important to Holy Spirit that certain spiritual truths be introduced to prepare the heart and mind of the reader to absorb the content of the actual chapter. I find these truths connect each chapter in a way I never dreamt possible.
At the end of every chapter there is a section called ‘meaningful reflection’ where Holy Spirit gives me liberty to step out of the time frame of the story and share life experiences and/or other information to support the topic addressed in the chapter. Thought-provoking questions make up a good portion of this section.
In addition, I recommend books, movies, YouTube videos, and/or a variety of online resources which I have come to trust because I know these will help the reader to better understand the spiritual truths being taught. If any material was quoted during the text, then the endnotes finish off the chapter.
With both the Spiritual Healing book, and this one, I indent scripture references, use bold chapter headings frequently throughout the text of each chapter, and bold words within the text to highlight certain truths. I also choose to add space between each line and use larger font. I had no idea how all of this would impact my readers who are seniors who struggle to read books when the font is too small.
In addition, several friends who struggle with severe ADHD have raved about the fact that the style of writing described above, and the content itself, helps them to be able to read when they simply cannot maintain attention on a page with too many words. They tell me once they start reading they can’t put the book down, because their brain is constantly stimulated and keeps them engaged, so that excites me.
I have spent the majority of my Christian life ministering to those who are outside of the walls of organized religion. I have been called a “normie who cares” by many in addictions and recovery. That means I am a normal person – I have never smoked, gotten drunk, taken illicit drugs, and I love them unconditionally where most of the time they feel judged and put down by church-goers and religious people. I will do whatever I can to give these precious individuals a voice because they have lived lives that you and I could never imagine and they deserve to be recognized for all they have accomplished. Most have never known the love and support from family and association with others until they found their way into twelve-step recovery groups and treatment centers. The lessons they have taught me are plentiful. I will do what I can to give back. They are the people who have inspired me to love as God loves.
What are you working on now?
Right now I am focused on learning how to market what I have written. I have created an effective website, designed a business Pinterest page, and will soon be producing a series videos for my YouTube channel. I have been attending seminars, webinars and summits for years and it’s time to start implementing what I have been learning. Believe me it was more interesting to sit and listen, than to tackle the technical issues I am facing every day since I made that decision. However, I am always thrilled when I am able to master the challenge of the day. I am almost 70 and wish there were more hours in a day because I simply cannot do as much as I could in my earlier days.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I was going to invest in Amazon Ads but decided not to. Using promotional sites like Awesome Gang (I think this one is the best yet and I am not just saying that for brownie points), Bargain Booksy, The Fussy Librarian, BookLuver.com (a close second) are so much less expensive and are helping me to reach a very targeted audience.
My Journey to Freedom books are written for women who have and are still walking a similar journey to mine – abuse, codependency, and faulty beliefs about submission and expectations of women who keep them in prisons without bars. Not everyone wants to read a book supported by scripture references. So these venues give me a better way to find the right kind of reader for my style of writing.
I have spoken with the executive director of a local women’s shelter. She has purchased my book, first for herself, and then to see how she can promote me as a speaker. In my current promotion, I am donating all profits from the sale of the sale of the paperback book to a charity in Pakistan for women. I am encouraging people to buy a book, even if they don’t want to read it, to support them, and then donate it to a local women’s shelter. I have produced a companion journal and an ebook and these will be priced at 99 cents during the promotional period.
I really like GoDaddy for my Website. It is affordable, easy to build and navigate, provides protection and security, supports an email marketing campaign with analytics, and I am able to add PayPal as a method of payment on my site. My monthly cost is in the neighborhood of $75 a month and that’s an amazing cost when you think of what websites can charge. I am using Google classroom for a course I created and this is also available for less than $10 a month.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
I will answer this question in a round about way, but basically I would encourage new authors to self-publish using Amazon to get started. The support staff have been amazing, have answered every question I have asked and I could upload and upload and upload until I had perfected the manuscript or the cover to meet their requirements.
I have created a course called Let’s Write Your Testimony. I had a guinea pig student who wanted to take the course while I was creating it and I was thrilled to have her feedback. She tells me it was so beneficial to her that she paid me even though I wasn’t asking for payment. Since then she has been inspired to start writing her own book and has three chapters done. One piece of advice I found invaluable that I passed on to her, is not to edit while you are writing. One must simply allow the free flow of ideas and deal with editing later.
For those who enroll in my four-week course, I will produce an anthology called Stories of Hope so they can have an opportunity to build a writing portfolio. I would suggest to any writer that submitting their work to an anthology is a great way to get started, to get recognition, and all of the contributing authors will shares in the marketing so again that is a great way to build an email list and a following.
I asked a friend of mine to write the preface for My Journey to Freedom [Book Two] because he has an amazing story of recovery. He was so excited about being asked to do this, that once he started putting pen to paper he has kept writing and intends to write his own full length book.
So now that I have mastered how to do my own book covers, how to create an ePUB file to produce an ebook for Amazon KDP, and how to produce a PDF using Word to meet the requirements of producing a paperback book, I can’t wait to help others get published too. I have acquired every tool I need and will be glad to share what I have learned and help those who want to self-publish. In addition, soon I will be able to pass on the pros and cons I have learned while promoting my books.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I woke from a dream the other day so I began to journal what I believe will be the last chapter of My Journey to Freedom [Book Two]. The most important lesson I have learned during my lifetime, is to take life one day at a time, often one step at a time. I seldom know the destination, but as I take one step in the direction I want to go in, the next step will unfold before me. If I choose not to take that step, the next step remains hidden and elusive. I also feel it is necessary to prepare one to expect setbacks and difficulties because this journey of life requires patience and perseverance and I wouldn’t want to see them quit before reaching their goal.
I was taught how to play an online solitaire game called Eight Off. The person who taught me always dealt another hand if the aces or smaller cards were at the top of the pile because he knew he would not be able to beat the game. I have learned how to beat that particular game regardless of how difficult the cards appear to be. It is reinforced learning whenever I need to remind myself that if I just play the next combination of cards in front of me, even if it doesn’t make any sense to the end result, I almost always beat the game. The principle really works!!
What are you reading now?
My mind never stops, although I have quiet times when I sit and pray. I will start watching a Christian program and my mind starts downloading information for another chapter in a variety of books that are on my mind to write. I try to shut down my thoughts and watch a movie after 9 p.m. and the movies I choose are a treasure chest of information that will probably find their way into a meaningful reflection for the next book. I read and listen to other writers and learn from their writing and publishing experiences. I read countless pages of information about every book promotion I am interested in investing in. I journal extensively and take notes when I am listening to others sharing their stories. I collect books like someone else collects candy and will never have enough time to read them all. I love my life – it is full and abundant.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I recently moved to be close to my aging mother when her partner died. I have chosen to get rid of most of my material possessions and am living in a room in a large home with four college students. We are an all girl house and the girls are studious and respectful and we are amazed that we all get along so well. I do what I can to nurture them, provide rides when necessary, keep the house tidy, but otherwise make sure I mind my own business. Their parents are very happy to have a responsible adult in the home.
So I spend the majority of my time in my room focused on writing and publishing and marketing. I want to write a book to teach churches how to give a hand up versus a hand out which would revamp the way they handle their food banks.
I have a six month program to help Christian leaders bridge the gap between those inside and those outside the walls of the church and keep everyone safe in the process. This will become a course or a book or both because it seems the best way to market each module.
I can’t wait to create my own audiobooks because I am missing an entire group of people by not having this option for them.
In addition, after My Journey to Freedom [Book Two], I am going to start writing in a workbook fashion so my readers do not become dependent on me but rather learn how to hear the voice of God for themselves and find their own unique journey rather than trying to emulate mine.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Gosh, I would so miss the internet! I would have to bring a Bible and a concordance to help me find scripture references. Then I would bring pen and paper so I could make use of that quiet, undistracted time to write my own books.
Author Websites and Profiles
Susan Hopkins Website
Susan Hopkins Amazon Profile
Susan Hopkins Author Profile on Smashwords
Susan Hopkins’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account