Kelly Michelle Baker's Blog

The Waters of Nyra: Volume I is now an AUDIOBOOK! A professional stage actor, Andrew Pond gives a spectacular performance with different voices for over 20 speaking parts, accents and all. Your first download on Audible is FREE. Don’t miss out!! https://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fan...

Kelly Michelle Baker will be signing for her "The Waters of Nyra" series on January 16th from 1-3 PM at Bank of Books, Ventura, CA. More information here: http://www.bankofbooks.com/event/vent...

Promo Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiTfn...

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Not everyone puts stock in the Myers-Briggs test. Though I do, I’m not of the mind that people are black and white. For instance very few are complete introverts or extroverts, but rather along a spectrum. For those who don’t know, the Myers-Briggs test assumes that people fall into one of 16 personality types, delineated by 4 categories with 2 options (best explained on their webpage). I went through each of the four categories for 8 principle characters in The Waters of Nyra: Volume I. As it happened, all of them turned out differently. Some are debatable, like whether or not Thaydra is more Feeling than Thinking, but again, these are along spectrums. Still, I did my best. I chose the traits BEFORE reading the descriptions, and so it was exciting to see how well they lined up to the character, like Opalheart as 'learning best by trying a new skill with other people' or Fuhorn as an ‘inspiring leader,’ just to name a few. All of the descriptions turned out spot-on, I think. Nothing was engineered.

I’m only listing Nyra, Blaze, Thaydra, Fuhorn, Opalheart, Bristone, Oharassie and Darkmoon, simply because they have the most ‘screen time.’ I’ve run the test on other characters, mostly Zealers, but you won’t meet them until Volume II. For now, I preserve my secrets!

Nyra ISTJ
Quiet, serious, earn success by thoroughness and dependability. Practical, matter-of-fact, realistic, and responsible. Decide logically what should be done and work toward it steadily, regardless of distractions. Take pleasure in making everything orderly and organized – their work, their home, their life. Value traditions and loyalty.

Blaze (and Kelly) INFJ
Seek meaning and connection in ideas, relationships, and material possessions. Want to understand what motivates people and are insightful about others. Conscientious and committed to their firm values. Develop a clear vision about how best to serve the common good. Organized and decisive in implementing their vision.

Thaydra ESTJ
Practical, realistic, matter-of-fact. Decisive, quickly move to implement decisions. Organize projects and people to get things done, focus on getting results in the most efficient way possible. Take care of routine details. Have a clear set of logical standards, systematically follow them and want others to also. Forceful in implementing their plans.

Fuhorn ENFJ
Warm, empathetic, responsive, and responsible. Highly attuned to the emotions, needs, and motivations of others. Find potential in everyone, want to help others fulfill their potential. May act as catalysts for individual and group growth. Loyal, responsive to praise and criticism. Sociable, facilitate others in a group, and provide inspiring leadership.

Opalheart ESFP
Outgoing, friendly, and accepting. Exuberant lovers of life, people, and material comforts. Enjoy working with others to make things happen. Bring common sense and a realistic approach to their work, and make work fun. Flexible and spontaneous, adapt readily to new people and environments. Learn best by trying a new skill with other people.

Bristone INTP
Seek to develop logical explanations for everything that interests them. Theoretical and abstract, interested more in ideas than in social interaction. Quiet, contained, flexible, and adaptable. Have unusual ability to focus in depth to solve problems in their area of interest. Skeptical, sometimes critical, always analytical.

Oharassie ENFP
Warmly enthusiastic and imaginative. See life as full of possibilities. Make connections between events and information very quickly, and confidently proceed based on the patterns they see. Want a lot of affirmation from others, and readily give appreciation and support. Spontaneous and flexible, often rely on their ability to improvise and their verbal fluency.

Darkmoon INTJ
Have original minds and great drive for implementing their ideas and achieving their goals. Quickly see patterns in external events and develop long-range explanatory perspectives. When committed, organize a job and carry it through. Skeptical and independent, have high standards of competence and performance – for themselves and others.


All of the descriptive text is taken from the official Myers-Briggs website. With that in mind, take the test! Who are you most like, not just in my story, but in all literature? It’s a fun game to play.

Cheers,
Kelly

Happy Esther Day! (google it)

After a long grammatical bath, my first novel is back and ready to fly. A rumor at Amazon says the ebook will be FREE for 24 hours starting August 4th. The trouble is they didn't indicate the time zone! But "The Waters of Nyra: Volume 1" has returned and is in better shape than ever.

Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/dp/150058732X
Ebook: http://www.amazon.com/Waters-Nyra-I-K...

As always, I'm charging the minimum amount to make it as affordable as possible. Because it really isn't about the royalties, it's about giving stories back to a world that gave me so many. This one is mine, and I hope it can be yours as well.

Cheers,
Moundfreek
email: kelly@kellymichellebaker.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Moundfreek
Author Page: kellymichellebaker.com

As of this weekend, my dragons and I have a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/kellymichell...

In other news, I've finished editing the text for the second edition. There are a few more snags to smooth, but I expect to release this cleaner version by mid-July. Until then, the first edition and all of its typos are available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Waters-Nyra...

Cheers,
Kelly

It’s been three months since I let the dragon loose. Since then I’ve vanished from the world of writing, furthering only my outlines. They are my seeds, but without the proverbial waters of my time and effort, and so they do not germinate. Where are the waters, then? They boil somewhere beneath a more scholarly ambition, one prudent to reality and a broke student in need of a paycheck. Laymen’s terms: I have a lot of homework and don’t have the focus on writing.

But I’m in an okay place. My classes are nearly over, and as soon as August, I might graduate from CSU Stanislaus’ Ecology and Sustainability Master’s program. There’s uncertainty about my thesis completion date, but I’ll be able to enter the work-force in June, if it will have me. It didn’t back in 2009 when I finished my first degree, at least not for anything permanent with benefits (and as my large intestine can attest, immune-suppressants are a must). But my prospects have greatly improved, even without a completed master’s. I’ve had seven interviews in the last few weeks from both coasts and everywhere in between (as I say on my book jacket) with hopefully more to come. Only two are fulfilling, but the rest may be good stepping stones. I eagerly await follow-up interviews.

As for the dragon, I originally wanted to return to her in the summer. This is pending. I may be moving at that time, on top of scribbling out new mathematics for my thesis (believe it or not, coyote scat analysis calls for many numbers). But neither of these things can last forever. Soon, I think, I’ll be settled, maybe near, maybe far, but settled, and have time for the pen. I’ve received excellent feedback in the last three months. I now know where my typos are (about 30-40) and which sections deserve a rewrite. My friends, and even a few strangers, have offered generous criticism, and better still, shared their love for Nyra. I often read my Amazon reviews when in need of a good blush:

Nikki: The flow just swept me up! Read this in one sitting and just finished! I haven't read something of this sort in quite a long time. I must admit, it is beautifully done. Nyra is coming of age, a difficult thing to capture consistently throughout a story (and one can only wonder of the difficulties when it's happening to a draggling!). There's also some rather tricky concepts covered here, but the story never detracts from its flow or mood. An easy and absorbing read, most enjoyable! Oharassie was probably my favorite. I have a soft spot for old softies. He didn't try to force belief or opinion - he allowed it to happen naturally, on its own terms. I loved this aspect of him. Going to be gifting this book to a few of my family and friends, young and old, who I feel will enjoy it as much as I have. Can't wait for the follow up!

Mel: A Page-Turner --A Must Read! Elegant and poignant, the pains and joys of transitioning from adolescence to adulthood flew from the pages and landed on my heart. The rich language used by the author swept me into another world - Nyra's world. I saw everything, and felt everything along with the brave young protagonist. This wonderful adventure is filled with dangers, perils, and joys that kept me riveted, reading non-stop. I can't wait for Volume 2!

Vee: Emotional and captivating. A beautiful book following the life of a young dragon Nyra when it is all changed for her in a heartbeat. This book reads as if written by a seasoned author and I found it very hard to put down. I read it whilst traveling overseas and I found it difficult to tear myself from the book to enjoy the foreign country. The story pulled at my emotions and took my heart with it on a cliffhanger ending. Highly recommended.


Those are just three snippets, all very musical to me. They rev me up to make a cleaner second edition. At that time, I’ll market and see what comes of it. Maybe nothing, but I’ve never liked anyone else getting the last word. I’ll push the dragon as far as she’ll go, all the while polishing Volume II. My dream is to release by January 2015, but again, the world is unpredictable, even one so tiny as mine.

And so I thank you for your patience, and especially your encouragement. Moving day is May 20th (returning to Colorado Springs for a wedding). Until then, I’m trying to enjoy my last month in California. I’ve not loved the Central Valley, but I’ve loved the people and my education. I’ve been practicing a new exercise where I ask myself “What are you most excited about right now?” Right now, a few things come to mind:

1) Meeting the grad students this afternoon, for class and for dinner.
2) A lovely African Gray coming to visit me this evening. She will stay for a week.
3) Starting a few new books over Spring Break: A Game of Thrones and The Alchemists of Barbal.
4) Speaking of Alchemists of Barbal, looking forward to David Clement-Davies' new Kickstarter project! Will give updates on that starting April 23rd.
5) Finishing my thesis rough draft next week.
6) Making a new video. But it’s a secret!!


Then I’m off to an unknown adventure.

Keep reading. Keep creating.

~Kelly

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A good yarn needs your help: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...

Here’s why:

When I was fourteen, I read a life-changing book. It wasn’t the first, nor the last. But it changed me.

Literature was a different beast back then. It was beautiful, bottomless, and demanded the undivided investment of the reader. These were the days when Brian Jacques topped the best-seller lists, where words were lush, inviting. Just before cell phones found every young hand in America, just before texting became an expectation for call plans. I’ve not been alive long enough to recognize a Golden Age in literature, nor taken the time to be as well-read as I’d like. But in my little snippet of walking the earth, that was THE age of words.

The words have changed. They always change. Victor Hugo wielded a pen quite unlike Willa Cather, though they both brandished the elegance of masterful storytelling. JK Rowling was not yet born when Wilson Rawls came into popularity, but together they linked in stepping stones, one novel to the next like sentences in an evolving rhetoric. Today, the stones weave along new rivers, as expected, but on paths I’m not sure will bring promise.

As a newly-published writer, I’m a constituent of the new era. And I'm not sure I like it. I want a time machine, for I was inspired by 90’s writers and a few of the early 2000’s, just before attention spans became clipped and novels terse. Perhaps I’m seeing a pattern where it doesn’t exist, but as a frequent reader of eclectic taste, I remain stubborn in that my fears are well founded. With that in mind, The Waters of Nyra belongs in a different time.

You may think I write this due to poor sales. Not so. True, I can count my earnings on my fingers and toes. But I’m VERY flattered and grateful for the response I've received thus far. And I'm not finished. Not even close. I’ve yet to edit, and I’ve yet to market. My biggest priorities now lie in grad school and jump-starting my career. Once I’m settled, I'll peruse the red ink my friends have so generously provided. Sometime this fall I will release a much cleaner second edition and try to get the word out. Whether or not marketing will be successful remains unseen (though I can assure you my definition of success is modest). What prompted this blog was the time machine, where I recently dreamed back and back to the birth of my favorite books. My beloved muses. And it was David Clement-Davies who switched on the flux-capacitor, by revealing a new dream and a new project.

His was my life-changing book. At fourteen, where I was plagued by puberty, a new school, and chronic disease all at once, I found The Sight. At face-value, it’s a book about a wolf family, which appealed to my inner ecologist. At heart, it’s a story of perseverance, sacrifice, and every sort of love imaginable. It spoke to all the life stages I’d then inhabited, and put me far into the future. It showed me how “the greatest courage of all is to live.”

I wasn’t alone. The Sight, along with its predecessor, sequel, and a few other followers, enjoyed great international success. Then it went sour. The details of the descent are unknown to me, only that it was convoluted in bad politics. And maybe a little because of the time, in this switch of popularity? The late Brian Jacques set down his pen for the last time just as I started noticing the budding vogue of young adult literature. For this, I’m partially grateful. He passed before beautiful writing developed a stigma, a sting so poisonous it has nearly purged the shelves of what was once called ‘the epic.’ Mr. Clement-Davies is not so fortunate, in that he must endure the sting (not that death makes anyone particularly lucky…… and he’s far too young to leave us!).

In the acknowledgements of The Waters of Nyra, you’ll find his name, along with other authors I read anywhere between 1987 and 2013. But his is last. It belonged last (in the good way, of course). Not necessarily because he triumphed over the rest. All the authors spoke to me. Yet he was the first to tap a deeper echelon of thinking, one I never knew I had, at least in high school. He inspired artwork, rejuvenated my love of wolves, and twelve years later, I keep a copy of The Sight on my small bookshelf in California (with two other copies in Colorado… I’m never without!).

As a reader and a writer, I owe much to Mr. Clement-Davies. I wish him the greatest success, and that the world of words will soon divert back to bygone days, for his sake, and maybe a little for mine. There, his work will flourish, and we’ll all be blessed and bettered by it.

To read more about David Clement-Davies (or better yet, check out his wonderful books), please visit him at http://phoenixarkpress.com/


Fire Bringer
Fell
The Telling Pool

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It’s a rough go being an ecologist. After four-plus years of exams, loans, and groans, you enter the workforce. And it doesn’t want you. Most entry level jobs are temporary and pay little, if anything at all. Furthermore they don’t want your education; they want your skills. Suddenly that 4.0 you so laboriously fought for is surmounted by another’s field experience. For every 50 applications you submit, you may hear back from two. If you are unprecedentedly lucky, you’ll get an interview. If the stars aligned, you’ll be hired.

So why do we do it? Simply put: someone has to. The planet is warming. Natural resources are vanishing. Whether or not you are in the habit of hugging trees, ecology affects you, and whatever your profession, it’s your job to protect it. As a wise bear once said “Only you can prevent forest fires,” (although last minute scrub oak thinning didn’t save my house from 2012’s Waldo Canyon fire… luckily CO Springs firefighters were more capable). Somewhere out there is a cause, and we’ve the power to fight it, so long as BuzzFeed brings it to the forefront of our clipped attention spans.

I sound vitriolic. I am. The battle for a green earth is just that: a fight. For every winter night my roommate and I trade indoor heating for a sweater, our neighbor is basking in their own personal furnace. For every day we abstain from animal products, or at least try to buy organically and sustainably, someone is buying a Big Mac (in the sense such a thing is enjoyable, if you can pardon my snobbery). With overexploitation and overpopulation, it’s an uphill climb.

Those are the little steps. What are the big ones? After facing two years of scarce employment, I made the decision to go back to grad school. Though my intentions were self serving, and still are to the extent I need a paycheck, my advocacy has sharpened. This stands to reason; I’m among my people, each with their own passion, their own issue. I adopt their interests, they adopt mine. That’s the glory of education—finding your calling, and running headfirst into that better tomorrow.

So what am I doing? How am I becoming a better ecologist? This was the big question I asked myself upon entering grad school. I took it very seriously. In inquiring after seasoned faculty members and the Fish and Wildlife Service, I found my answer:

I was going to collect coyote poop.

Laugh. No really, laugh! Poop is inherently funny. The fact that I am ensconced in it is even funnier. As a person with ulcerative colitis, I’ve made a life of fecal examination. My friends and family know this, respectfully and with humor. It’s kismet that the girl with such digestive fixation would at last examine the scat of another omnivorous animal.

But why is collecting scat so important? It’s not obvious. Having presented my study at a competition last night, I once again had to defend this strange research. In earning two first place ribbons this academic year (if I may be so conceited), I’ve been affirmed the validity of this smelly, self appointed task. Here are my justifications:

1) Coyotes affect everything in the food chain, probably more than you think. The best way to find out what they eat is to look at what they leave behind. Although coyotes have an evolutionary aptitude for a predator diet, they’ll eat anything from wild grapes to crickets. Here in the Central Valley we have a lot of crops. In the Fall, coyotes are eating tomatoes. Quite a few of them. Almonds too. This may hinder or help agriculture. Whether they are eating enough crops to cause any substantial damage is beyond the scope of my study. BUT we can know with certainty that coyotes prevent crop damages by indirect consumption, which bring me to item 2.

2) Coyotes eat microherbivores. Voles, rabbits, mice, rats, etc. This is a big deal. Though we have a few bobcats and birds of prey, coyotes put a big dint in what would otherwise be explosive populations. This is good for ecosystems, as proliferation of any one species may exacerbate disease, encourage invasive species dispersal, etc. But this also has anthropogenic effects. Coyotes eat crops, but mice eat MUCH more. About 8% of crop damages per acre come from birds and herbivores, most of which are prime snacks for coyotes. Without predators, this statistic would skyrocket. Given my findings so far, specifically the massive number of voles coyotes eat in every season at every refuge, I believe the tomatoes eaten by coyotes are worth the trade-off.

3) Coyotes have intrinsic value. Some might say this is wishy-washy. But most nature-buffs can appreciate the beauty of charismatic predators. Coyotes are natives, instilled in both human and ecological cultures.

4) Knowing what coyotes eat will lend itself to future research. For instance, if we know coyote are eating mule deer (which can transmit disease to livestock), there could be a study on how bovine-tuberculosis fluctuates in the presence and absence of predators. We could also study seed dispersal, and how coyotes are spreading both wild and agricultural seed. These are just two examples in a hundred possibilities, dozens of which I probably couldn’t dream up without furthering my education.

What is my point, other than to aggrandize poo-collecting? I suppose I have many. Fight your battles. Take baby steps and stick with them. But at the heart of it all, stay educated. Everyone is striving for something, and even if ridiculous on the surface, try to find the internal merit. It may not always be evident. Thusly, keep learning. Stay educated, even if it means playing Devil’s Advocate (as a friend reminded me last night before I took the podium to defend my research). Be informed in your personal interest, and then go further. The world is big, and there’s much to fix. Get out your tools. Borrow from others, and share.

With that, I’m off to Bakersfield to process the last of my coyote scats.

Cheers,

Kelly