We recently connected with Annette Czech and have shared our conversation below.
Annette, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?
The idea for the Miso Mice in a way, was actually born many, many years ago as I was growing up, although I may not have fully realized it until recently. As a child, I wrote and produced plays with my neighborhood elementary school friends using garages as theaters and charging 5 cents for admission (popcorn was free). Although the play and story writing continued, productions were halted as the producer and actors were lax in putting away everything they had lugged out of houses and into garages! My love of making up stories, starting when I was about 10 years old, continued throughout my life, ultimately shared with my 2 sons as they created the Miso Mice eons ago when they were very young. We often spoke together about the Miso Mice – a group of mice that went on interstellar adventures experiencing wonderful things, learning about themselves, and sharing what they learned with others. Those mice of course had superpowers (as doesn’t everyone want a superpower?) and the mice, their friends, and foes were to be pictured on trading cards (similar to the Pokémon trading cards which were very popular at that time) and if time permitted, a game was to be created associated with the trading cards. I have been walking the path to chronicle the 🐭 Adventures of the Miso Mice my whole life!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Actually, I didn’t realize that the Miso Mice had chosen me to chronicle their adventures until recently. ”Coincidence – something happened – maybe small, maybe big, or even a dream, but it made you take notice. It was significant to you and held a feeling of timelessness. Stop and catch that feeling outside of time.” Very similar to a fortune written on a slip of paper within a cookie, my purpose began to become clear to me through a series of coincidences that started with this answer when I asked “What am I supposed to be doing?”…..
I didn’t realize that the Miso Mice had chosen me to chronicle their adventures until my 4 sisters and I began zooming in 2020, sharing priceless information with each other that totally transformed my life. I wanted to share this information with others – that you can create your own future self, if you want – as it has brought me great joy, but many of the concepts we discussed were very academic (and to my mind boring) in nature, although I knew that they were important, as they changed my life. Who wants lectures, and isn’t the whole “self-help, life changing, reinvention, healthy lifestyle, metaphysical, etc.” concept overdone? Wouldn’t it be great if I could share this information via a story – no lecturing, no homework, no “don’t do this”? My mind began to whirl with the idea of a fun, happy story with wit and sparkle that included whimsical characters, galactic adventures, time travel, energy tools, experiential exercises and much more that would help “those who are interested” in doing what I did – creating their own future selves?! I needed to write a story about our zooming sessions which we called IdleChatter5 and our “Self-Project” discussions – but how? And then I remembered the Miso Mice! Voila – enter the fantasy world in the 🐭 Adventures of the Miso Mice series via the playful, whimsical stories of five very curious fantastical Miso Mice as they embark on their exciting galactic quests, travelling the Universe and learning how to create their own future selves! Although the themes are adult in nature, they are presented in a fun, fantastical manner with language and pictures that can be understood on many levels by all ages. The following 6 books are published: 🐭 Adventures of the Miso Mice; 💫The Quantum Entanglement Party; 🌈Misos on a Mission ; 👼Observatory of the Infinite; 🎇Cracks in the Black Hole and 💫 Higher Selves . Book 7 is written but not yet published. (I am actually seeking representation at this time😊.) And the Miso Mice are already adventuring in Egypt!
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
There is a very specific and simple goal in regard to the 🐭 Adventures of the Miso Mice and that is to share the information that I learned with “those who are interested” in a simple, clearly understood, whimsical, fun and entertaining manner. This is what I was born to do. And what is that information? To quote from the book: “Rumor has it that it all started up in the Universe, but that’s not a rumor at all – it’s actually true!…..Choices are constantly being made by every THING. That’s Universe Rule #1: every THING always gets to choose…..The choices being made are creating all kinds of wonderful and amazing things. Some of those things that are being created are sparks of light energy that the Universe has nicknamed “sprites” and they are moving around the Universe all the time, as one of of the Universe’s favorite pastimes is creating sprites, and experiencing the sprites’ creations. You are one of those sprites!” You are timeless energy with the ability to think, choose and create yourself. You too can “choose’ndo”. You are your own Self-Project.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
🐭 Adventures of the Miso Mice have been chronicled to share with those who are interested in how to create your own future self – the “Self Project”. I had no desire to publish the adventures until my husband, Gregory Kopp suggested that in order to share the information, people have to know about it. You see, Gregory Kopp is the amazing author of the historical fiction Kopp Chronicles series of Amazon & Goodreads 5-Star acclaimed novels which have been nominated for Reader’s Choice Awards, Goodreads Choice Awards and numerous “Cover of the Month” & “Book of the Day” Honors. (And of course I am not biased!!) The novels have also received a glowing review and featured “First Lines” in “BookLife Publishers Weekly”, an international news website of book publishing and book selling; and “Reader’s Favorite” (the fastest growing book review and award contest site on the internet respected by renowned publishers such as Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, and Harper Collins).
This sweeping saga intermingled with romance, mystery, and action-packed thrilling elements is based on Greg’s own immigrant American ancestors’ historical life experiences. I have always thought that this is a fun and engaging way to document his family tree! His ancestors’ experiences spanned multiple continents, revolutionary upheavals, tragedy and ultimately resulted in a triumph of the human spirit! The series of novels are now available in 5 different languages in major chain bookstores and independent bookshops worldwide. Greg realized that the same events faced by him and his readers in their daily lives, also shaped our ancestors and the many historical royal and political figures throughout history. He incorporates some of these uncannily similar historical events into each of his stories and he is currently working on his 12th novel in the series.
I am thrilled to write, that because of Greg, the 🐭 Adventures of the Miso Mice have been very warmly received. Some of the honors the books have received: Amazon and Goodreads 5-star reviews; a featured “Book of the Day”; nominated for AllAuthor’s “Cover of the Month”; Booklife’s “First Lines”; cover of The Reader Zeen; author interview in Books and Bevies; and book excerpt in Lit eZine.
And I can’t believe that the published books are in libraries across the world!!!! Patrons of California public library systems including Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Riverside County, San Bernardino County and many more libraries can request 🐭 Adventures of the Miso Mice books via Hoopla digital or Overdrive/Libby in English, French, and Spanish. All books are also available in digital and/or paperback versions from bookstores including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Hudson Booksellers, Books-A-Million, LA’s The Last Bookstore, and many more independent bookstores through Bookshop.org; and all books are available on Apple Audio Books
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kopp-company.com/Adventures-of-the-Miso-Mice/
- Twitter: @annette_koppco
- Other: Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16152705.Annette_Czech_Kopp
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0BN6XCSQK/about
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/series?id=ecIvGwAAABBX2M
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/adventures-of-the-miso-mice-annette-czech-kopp/1142770709
