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01/31/2007: "Crofton area educator writes book on youth and self-esteem"

When Baker accepted a position as guidance counselor in the Coleridge school system, she thought more seriously about writing that book and decided it would be a children’s book. During her long drives back and forth to Coleridge and Laurel for school days, she found ideas popping into her head.
Finally an idea for a children’s book surfaced and wouldn’t go away. After about three years of writing and re-writing, just like that it came together and was done. “I Am Different ... But That’s Okay With Me” is the title of Baker’s first endeavor.
“You would get an idea and work on it,” Baker said. “Then you would get busy and put it aside, eventually coming back to it.”
Next, she looked for an illustrator. Everyone was busy and Baker was on a budget. Then her daughter suggested a friend, Kari Wockman, a Crofton High School graduate who lives in Arizona. So the two built an email relationship.

Diane Baker always wanted to write a book. She thought about it for many years.
Baker sent Woockman the book, typed up page by page, how it would look so Woockman would know what the copy was on each page. Woockman, in turn, would send back an illustration of the page and how she saw it. Baker would agree or make changes. The 32-page illustration process took about a year.
During the process, Woockman moved a couple times and she had to stop illustrating because she lost the colored pencils she had started with. She needed that brand of pencils to match the exact color and the process stood still until she found the right ones.
The writing team considered a couple of covers before the right one hit the spot for Baker. By now it had been four years and she felt it was time to get the project done.
Baker’s sister suggested AuthorHouse Publishing Company. Baker needed to pay a page setup fee up-front as well a few other charges along with having the manuscript copied to a CD. The publishing company takes a look at the author’s hard work, finds problem areas and presents their idea of the finished product.
“They would send me a copy of what they thought should be done and I would say, like or don’t like it,” Baker said. So the sparring over the printable version went on for another year before the book was a reality Baker could hold in her hand.
“Originally I had not planned on Kari doing the printing but now I really like the hand-written script,” Baker said.
“It was pretty exciting when Kari called and told me our book was on the Barnes & Noble website,” said Baker. It is also being promoted on Amazon.com by the publishing company as well.
The finished product of the Lewis & Clark Lake area resident is geared toward elementary students up to grade six. It takes a close look at self-acceptance at an age when they are just beginning to find themselves.
The junior/senior high school guidance counselor was hired 12 years ago by the Coleridge school district. Smaller enrollments and smaller state aid packages have forced that district to share teachers with the Laurel-Concord school district, including Baker. She spends a couple days in Laurel and a couple in Coleridge. She monitors class testing, college entrance requirements for seniors, scholarships, a web page for each school and student counseling needs.
Baker’s main drive for the book came as a result of an automobile accident her daughter was in while in high school. A close friend was killed in the same accident the morning after prom and the families had to deal with the tragic turn of events in their lives.
“It was a therapy for me,” Baker said. While the family struggled with the death of her daughter’s friend as well as Emily’s many surgeries, needed as a result of the accident, Baker found herself trying to pass a message along in her book.
Baker purchased 20 copies and passed them to family and friends when the book was hot off the press. The first readers easily picked up the message and exact page Baker placed it on. They admit the book and character resemble Baker’s daughter and the things she went through.
“Kids are under so much pressure to be perfect and do everything right,” Baker said of the personal message to her daughter. “Society puts a lot of pressure on kids to be perfect and they don’t have to be.”
“We need to let them be themselves,” added Baker.
The fall release of the children’s book has paid off already in one small royalty check and Baker hopes for more. She admits as a new author there were a lot of unknown expenses and hopes to break even sometime. Royalty checks are paid quarterly so she is waiting for her second installment.
Another book is waiting in the wings to be written Baker says. She is back to writing her ideas down while driving to work and home.
“The message was most important to me,” said Baker of her first writing success.