Interview with debut women’s fiction author Jude Hopkins

Today’s special guest author is Jude Hopkins to chat about her debut women’s fiction, Babe in the Woods.

During her virtual book tour, Jude will be giving away a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:
Jude Hopkins has published essays in The Los Angeles Times, Medium, the belladonna—and poetry in various journals including Gyroscope Review, Timber Creek Review and California Quarterly. She is currently working on her first novel, Babe in the Woods.

It has always been her desire to write. She was featured in Dickinson College’s literary magazine when she was an undergraduate. One poem in particular, “Mixed Metaphors,” contrasted two viewpoints in a lakeside scene: one of a romantic young woman who thought the wind was blowing through her hair like an Aeolian harp; the other, that of her suitor who believed the water looked as cold as hell. Ah, love’s different sensibilities! What she lost in that relationship, she gained from her sojourn at Dickinson, earning her Phi Beta Kappa key while there, as well as a desire to continue her education.

Then it was on to graduate school at Arizona State University where studying for her master’s degree in English and grading essays as a teaching assistant took most of her time (and partying — it was ASU, for Pete’s sake). However, she did have a germ of an idea for a self-help book that she began outlining, fueled by many a Thermos bottle of Dunkin’ coffee.

It wasn’t until she moved to L.A. that she thought about writing a proposal for that self-help book. She got some bites from agents. Top agents. But working three jobs took precedence. (One of those jobs was at a Hollywood record company where she met a Beatle, among other artists.)

When she finally moved back to Pennsylvania, she began seriously writing again, squeezing in time to pen some poems between endless essay grading at one of the University of Pittsburgh’s branch campuses. As an adjunct English instructor, Jude was uncompromising on what she expected from her students, knowing they were capable of achieving great things when challenged, but she tried to balance the hard work with humor. Nevertheless, she knew that discipline and knowledge could turn even the most reluctant student into a pretty good writer. To achieve that end, the cellphones had to be put away, and attention had to be paid. The result? Some model research papers and essays from memorable students (she taught English in Pennsylvania, New York state, California and Arizona).

The need to write something besides comments on student essays gnawed at her. One day, she took out her old self-help book manuscript from a cobwebby drawer and began the process of turning it into a novel. That novel became Babe in the Woods, traditionally published by Wild Rose Press. She blogs about that novel, so, readers, please follow her blogs as she updates everyone on the book’s progress. Please also check out her essays and poems, also featured herein.

Welcome, Jude. Please tell us about your current release.
I’ll give you the elevator pitch: Thirty-five-year-old Hadley returns to her rural hometown in western New York state, fresh from heartbreak in L.A., to write a play about a woman’s last moment of innocence, but when a hot, young rock-star wannabe she uses as fodder outsmarts her, she needs to decide if innocence is more important than believing in herself.

What inspired you to write this book?
My experiences growing up in a small, rural town and moving to Los Angeles (after a stint in Phoenix, Arizona).

Excerpt from Babe in the Woods:
Walking back to her car, Hadley mulled over her all-consuming desire to write this play. She wanted, first of all, to figure out why she—and many other girls and women—were attracted to the same type of guy over and over, the ones who always seemed to break her heart. Sure, she understood the initial attraction, but why stay when they proved to be veritable will-o’-the-wisps in terms of faithfulness? Why did women cede their romantic innocence to these heartbreakers? Weren’t there clues they should watch for? Once figured out, she could educate the female sex in her play, including that decisive moment when girls unwittingly stepped into the muck with their kitten heels only to find them irretrievably stuck. She would break the code. And it would be there in black and white, to be read, re-read and acted out on stage. That would be Hadley’s mission.

What exciting project are you working on next?
I’m exploring an idea I touch upon in the last chapter of Babe (although it is not a continuation of my first novel). The idea I’m exploring is why some people realize their potential while others do not. What fuels some people toward accomplishing their goals and what constraints keep others from doing so. I’m fascinated by that idea.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I suppose I always did, as soon as I could read and write. I used to create books as a child, writing and drawing in crayon, then fastening the pages together somehow.

Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
Unfortunately, I don’t write full time, given the fact I have other things to do. But I make time, which is the key. A lot of people who would like to write use a litany of excuses, but if you truly want to write, you will carve out the time. You can’t wait for the perfect conditions.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
Wow, good question. I suppose, having taught English for years, it’s always being conscious of language. I try to use different sentence styles to engage readers, something I always told my students to do. And I include popular references along with academic references—for example, I mention Yeats and Aristotle and Shakespeare in my book, along with many references to popular culture.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A teacher. And I became a teacher. Linked with that was a writer. So I became both.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I’d like to thank those readers who bought my book and read it. I hope it made them think somehow about relationships and what women, especially, go through in seeking love. I also hope it makes them think about expressing themselves in ways that don’t always involve relationships or children. It’s important women do something for themselves in a creative way, whether that’s writing or photography or painting. Something for themselves.

Links:
Website | Twitter | Amazon

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