{"id":26880,"date":"2017-02-09T05:27:58","date_gmt":"2017-02-09T10:27:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=26880"},"modified":"2018-10-01T13:12:41","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T17:12:41","slug":"magic-words-meet-deb-baker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/magic-words-meet-deb-baker\/","title":{"rendered":"The magic of words: Meet Deb Baker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every week, I will be profiling an extraordinary human being who lives in our community. If you know someone who is doing something interesting with their life, I want to hear about it. Send me an email at <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>laura.maclean@doppleronline.ca<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Muskoka is the perfect place for magic to exist.<\/p>\n

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And so when Deb Baker sat down one cold, miserable January day 10 years ago to write her first book, it wasn’t a coincidence that the setting was loosely based on the town she lived in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a lot of energy healers and workers in this area because of the lakes and the trees,\u201d says Deb, a former chiropractor who has a Master’s degree in nutrition and biochemistry and has also studied natural medicine and homeopathy for 40 years. \u201cMy son forages in the forests for herbs for his own tinctures. It’s all here. Magic is just another energy. It’s not that mystical in my opinion. Really, it’s all about focus and intent. It’s just another energy and we all have that access. Here, with the landscape and the fact that we’re not polluted with factories, Muskoka is a natural haven for magic to exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

She’s always been one of those people who loves to get lost in a book, and says she lived at the library as soon as she was old enough to walk there. She would read anything she could get her hands on, but mysteries and magic books truly fascinated her. Fantasy novels also had major appeal. She just loved being able to lose herself in a different time. She was moved by tales about witches, dragons and characters who possessed magical powers.<\/p>\n

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Deb’s son Jamie was also featured as an extraordinary person on Huntsville Doppler back in September last year. She shares a special relationship with both of her kids.<\/p><\/div>\n

Not only is Deb a self-proclaimed book worm, but she also loves to write. It’s become more than a hobby to her, and over the years she honed her craft as a budding writer. She’s spent countless hours researching and studying methods on what exactly makes a book good. She took part in a special online course hosted by James Patterson, one of her favourite authors, who gave her advice on how to write a real page-turner. (She’s currently toying with the idea to enter a competition the famous author is holding for the chance to co-author a book with him.) To be able to put something out there that’s wonderfully exciting and people can’t put down means a lot to Deb as a writer.<\/p>\n

I had an idea for a book perking in my mind for a while. I had a file folder full of notes. It was quiet at the house and it was a cold and miserable January day. I thought what if I just start? What if I just put the lead character in a situation where she’s in trouble and explain how she bails out of that and learns of her destiny for this quest.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And so the writing began. The story focuses on Persephane Pendrake (Persy, as she prefers to be referred to), a young woman from the 17th<\/sup> century who was brought into the modern world for protection. She grew up in Rock Manor, a place that shares uncanny similarities to Huntsville. (Think forests and lakes and a town tucked away in the Cambrian Shield.) Persy has a great destiny to compete for the acquisition of nine magical objects. Her partner is Thaddeus, a young wizard and there’s also an evil sorcerer vying for the nine objects. The winner controls magic over the planet, via white or black depending on who wins.<\/p>\n\n\t\t