Just Lori ~ A Memoir of an Ordinary Gal
It's HERE!
You never quite know the direction in which your life will turn. The people you meet, the challenges you face, the successes you achieve, and the extraordinary experiences throughout a lifetime make the everyday ups and downs meaningful. Just Lori is more than a memoir. It’s a diary that includes some inventive strategies for learning patience, understanding loss, living vivaciously, building faith, promoting positivity, and loving people—even when they might not love you in return.
You never quite know the direction in which your life will turn. The people you meet, the challenges you face, the successes you achieve, and the extraordinary experiences throughout a lifetime make the everyday ups and downs meaningful. Just Lori is more than a memoir. It’s a diary that includes some inventive strategies for learning patience, understanding loss, living vivaciously, building faith, promoting positivity, and loving people—even when they might not love you in return.
I Like! I Like! I Like!
I Like!, I Like!, I Like! is the third book in the Be Just Me series. This one emphasizes the importance of maintaining a high frequency by creating an optimistic perspective, noting the importance of liking most things but reserving the emotion of love for people of the most special kind. 💛
The Power of Positive Thinking
The Power of Positive Music is a children's book dedicated to Lori's brother, Craig, a proficient guitarist who created his own beautiful riffs upon which all their original songs were built. He was diagnosed with leukemia in March 1996 and after undergoing a bone marrow transplant lost his battle on September 9, 1996 at 26 years of age. Craig loved music and the words to this book were created as a theme to The Power of Positive Music workshop, facilitated in several local elementary schools. Music inspires others to create, play and sing! What do you get when you combine an author, an illustrator, and one beautiful reflection of a child enamored by a sound, a rhythm, a beat, and a lyric? The POWER OF POSITIVE MUSIC! Create it. Share it. Sin it. & BRING IT!
I Want to Be Just Me
I Want to Be Just Me is a children’s book inspired by author Lori Franke-Hopkins’ three daughters, each of whom is very different. However…I Want to Be Just Me is also a philosophy…a mindset…for leading an authentic everyday life.
I Want to Be Just Me illustrates the importance of being proud of who you are, what you bring, and what you share with others.
When you read I Want to Be Just Me, you’ll experience a world of make-believe that allows your mind to wander through potential and possibilities that might seem otherwise unimaginable.
You start to realize that dreaming big is really something we all should do. Making decisions and pursuing goals while being true to ourselves all along the way, helps to make our great big world better and brighter. It is possible to be the change the world needs, positively and powerfully, but only by being your very best you, every day and in every way. And by dreaming deeply, by imagining a world where impossible becomes truly possible, you can build the courage to pursue the big, to become exactly who you want to be.
I Want to Be Just Me is intended for every little girl and boy, but also for every “big” girl and boy, throughout our entire great big world.
I Want to Be Just Me illustrates the importance of being proud of who you are, what you bring, and what you share with others.
When you read I Want to Be Just Me, you’ll experience a world of make-believe that allows your mind to wander through potential and possibilities that might seem otherwise unimaginable.
You start to realize that dreaming big is really something we all should do. Making decisions and pursuing goals while being true to ourselves all along the way, helps to make our great big world better and brighter. It is possible to be the change the world needs, positively and powerfully, but only by being your very best you, every day and in every way. And by dreaming deeply, by imagining a world where impossible becomes truly possible, you can build the courage to pursue the big, to become exactly who you want to be.
I Want to Be Just Me is intended for every little girl and boy, but also for every “big” girl and boy, throughout our entire great big world.
FROM THE AUTHOR: LORI FRANKE-HOPKINS
I Want to Be Just Me is a philosophy, a mindset. It is also the title of a personal growth/mindfulness book that I began working on about 26 years ago when my oldest daughter, Shayelle, was just five years old. Like most mothers looking out for their children, I stressed to her continuously that she had the power to be whatever she wanted to be in this great big world by using her imagination and dreaming big.
After several years and two more daughters in my world (Delani and Korrie), I found myself between jobs, so I decided to publish I Want to Be Just Me with my own illustrations. I will note that those illustrations were not all that good, but it didn’t matter to me at that time, because I just wanted to inspire my daughters and young girls everywhere to take chances no matter what you believe others might think.
I wanted to give girls everywhere a sense of courage and inspiration to dream, to imagine the unimaginable, to believe that seemingly unachievable life goals were actually achievable. I wanted them to realize that they could make a great big difference in this great big world.
It wasn’t until I was asked to share my book at a school that I realized the importance of including boys in its story. They too need the same powerful inspiration, encouraging them to dream, to take chances, and believe in themselves. By simply being themselves, they too could change the world positively and powerfully.
So, I created a boy version of I Want to Be Just Me, giving it my best when illustrating the characters and their actions. And while it wasn’t the most professionally and artistically created “work of art,” all the little ones to whom I presented the book thought my illustrations were “just perfect!”
Recently, I met Danielle Seago through a professional venue. Danielle sensed my vision, took in my previous work and created its new life through her magic. She made I Want to Be Just Me into a beautiful and inspirational book for ALL – boys and girls, men and women.
Each illustration in this newest version of I Want to Be Just Me captures the idea of dreaming about being what is possible as a great place to start. That with every thought that becomes an action, achieving a goal is right around the corner. That we all have an opportunity to add positive and powerful meaning to our world.
Sometimes a boost of confidence given to each other about what we bring to the world simply by being ourselves is the answer.
This message is what’s inside the storyline of I Want to Be Just Me.
I Want to Be Just Me is a philosophy, a mindset. It is also the title of a personal growth/mindfulness book that I began working on about 26 years ago when my oldest daughter, Shayelle, was just five years old. Like most mothers looking out for their children, I stressed to her continuously that she had the power to be whatever she wanted to be in this great big world by using her imagination and dreaming big.
After several years and two more daughters in my world (Delani and Korrie), I found myself between jobs, so I decided to publish I Want to Be Just Me with my own illustrations. I will note that those illustrations were not all that good, but it didn’t matter to me at that time, because I just wanted to inspire my daughters and young girls everywhere to take chances no matter what you believe others might think.
I wanted to give girls everywhere a sense of courage and inspiration to dream, to imagine the unimaginable, to believe that seemingly unachievable life goals were actually achievable. I wanted them to realize that they could make a great big difference in this great big world.
It wasn’t until I was asked to share my book at a school that I realized the importance of including boys in its story. They too need the same powerful inspiration, encouraging them to dream, to take chances, and believe in themselves. By simply being themselves, they too could change the world positively and powerfully.
So, I created a boy version of I Want to Be Just Me, giving it my best when illustrating the characters and their actions. And while it wasn’t the most professionally and artistically created “work of art,” all the little ones to whom I presented the book thought my illustrations were “just perfect!”
Recently, I met Danielle Seago through a professional venue. Danielle sensed my vision, took in my previous work and created its new life through her magic. She made I Want to Be Just Me into a beautiful and inspirational book for ALL – boys and girls, men and women.
Each illustration in this newest version of I Want to Be Just Me captures the idea of dreaming about being what is possible as a great place to start. That with every thought that becomes an action, achieving a goal is right around the corner. That we all have an opportunity to add positive and powerful meaning to our world.
Sometimes a boost of confidence given to each other about what we bring to the world simply by being ourselves is the answer.
This message is what’s inside the storyline of I Want to Be Just Me.