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# Why I Released 10 Books: Mike Baker HQ Human First Story
- URL: https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/why-i-released-10-books-at-once/
- Published: 2026-07-07T09:12:38.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-12T07:03:38.000Z
- Description: Ten books at once sounds like a lot because it is a lot. Here is why they arrived together, and what each one was trying to answer for someone.
- Author: Mike Baker
- Tags: Podcast, Books and Writing, #Import 2026-08-01 07:39

I know how it looks from the outside.

Ten books at once sounds like a lot because it is a lot. The books move through endometriosis, menopause, grief, Alzheimer’s, ADHD, AI, faith transition after Mormonism, men showing up better, women leading, hope, leadership, and staying connected in a world that keeps pulling us apart.

That can look scattered if you only see the titles.

From the inside, these books feel connected because they came from the same life. They came from my family, my marriage, my kids, my mom, my faith change, my ADHD, my work, my music, and the people I keep meeting who are carrying things they do not always know how to explain.

I wrote these books because I kept running into moments where the available language felt too thin. A dad wants to understand his daughter’s pain, but fear gets in the way. A husband wants to love his wife through menopause, but he keeps centering his own confusion. A person watches a parent change through Alzheimer’s and does not know what to do with grief that arrives before death. Someone leaves a faith tradition and worries that losing certainty means losing goodness. Someone with ADHD has spent a lifetime feeling like their mind was too much. Someone looks at AI and the future and wonders whether human beings still matter.

Those are the people I was writing for.

These books are different doors into the same house. You do not need to understand the whole Mike Baker HQ universe before you start. You only need to find the book that meets what you are carrying right now.

Find the full catalog on Amazon: [https://amazon.com/author/mikebakerhq](https://amazon.com/author/mikebakerhq?ref=mikebakerhq.com)

Watch the episode on YouTube: [https://youtu.be/WmlyL4ot\_fo](https://youtu.be/WmlyL4ot%5Ffo?ref=mikebakerhq.com)

Listen to the episode on Spotify: [https://open.spotify.com/episode/5BY6tkqW3lIMDhJauCvlOW?si=0U4vzGBFQ0CYIERQcSFONg](https://open.spotify.com/episode/5BY6tkqW3lIMDhJauCvlOW?si=0U4vzGBFQ0CYIERQcSFONg&ref=mikebakerhq.com)

## **What Mike Baker HQ Is Becoming**

Mike Baker HQ is becoming the home for my books, music, podcast conversations, AI-assisted art, advocacy, and Human First work.

The simplest way I can say it is this: books, songs, podcast conversations, and art for people still here and still trying.

That phrase matters because it points to the real center of the work. I write for people carrying real life. People trying to love better, grieve honestly, stay connected, understand their own mind, support someone in pain, rebuild after faith change, or face the future without giving up on humanity.

Some people find me through EndoDad and the endometriosis advocacy work. Some find the music first. Some find the *Still Here, Still Trying* podcast. Some find a book on Amazon. Some find Infinite Canvas AI or a piece of visual art. Some know me through leadership, healthcare, or community work.

Those doors all matter. Mike Baker HQ is where those doors connect.

The site is still growing, but the framework is there. The goal is to make it easier for you to choose a path: read the books, listen to the music, watch or listen to the podcast, explore the art, or connect with the Human First work.

Explore the broader work here: [https://www.mikebakerhq.com](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/)

## **The Human First Thread**

The center of this whole release is what I call Human First.

Human First asks a question I keep returning to in different parts of life: how do we stay human when life gets heavy?

That question shows up in marriage, parenting, grief, health, faith, technology, leadership, and creativity. It shows up when someone is in pain and needs to be believed. It shows up when a family is trying to love someone through memory loss. It shows up when a man has to face the gap between who he thinks he is and how the women around him experience him. It shows up when AI starts moving faster than our wisdom. It shows up when a person leaves a belief system and still wants to love their people.

The books are not all about the same subject. They are all about people trying to stay honest, connected, responsible, and whole while life changes around them.

That is the work.

## **Books About Endometriosis, Menopause, Women’s Pain, and Men Showing Up Better**

A major part of this release comes from women’s pain, women’s leadership, and the work men need to do.

*Believe Her the First Time: A Man’s Guide to Endometriosis* is one of the most personal books I have written. It came from being a dad and a husband in a family shaped by endometriosis. My wife lives with it. My daughter lives with it. I have seen what happens when pain has to wait for belief.

That book is for dads, husbands, partners, sons, brothers, and men who love someone living with endometriosis or chronic pelvic pain. It is also for anyone who wants to understand why women should not have to prove pain that should have been believed sooner.

*Man vs. Menopause: A Husband’s Guide to Perimenopause and How Not to Mess This Up* came from a related place. Menopause and perimenopause affect sleep, mood, identity, energy, intimacy, memory, work, and the daily rhythm of a relationship. Too many men enter that stage with jokes, silence, fear, defensiveness, or a need to fix what they do not understand. That book gives husbands better language and a better starting point.

*Get Out of the Way: A Man’s Case for Women Leading What Comes Next* and *The Better Man Field Guide* are about men becoming more honest, responsible, and useful. They are about women leading, men listening, and growth that changes how people experience us at home, at work, and in relationships.

This part of the work is direct because it needs to be. Women should not have to carry men’s immaturity on top of everything else they already carry.

## **Books About Grief, Alzheimer’s, and the Work of Continuing**

Another part of this release comes from grief, caregiving, and the tired but still trying places.

*Still Here, Still Trying: Honest Stories for People Who Are Tired but Not Done* is the book most connected to this podcast. It is for people who are tired but still moving through the day. That phrase has stayed with me because it makes room for real life. Some days, continuing looks like answering the text, making dinner, going to work, checking on someone you love, making the appointment, or getting through the day without letting the hard thing make you hard.

A lot of life is held together by people doing ordinary things while carrying extraordinary weight.

*Still My Mom: Alzheimer’s, Love, Loss, and the Work We Do Before Goodbye* comes from a more specific grief. My mom’s Alzheimer’s changed how I understand love and loss. Alzheimer’s teaches you that goodbye does not always happen all at once. You lose pieces. A conversation changes. A name slips. A look feels different. The person you love is still there, and parts of them are harder to reach.

Families need language for that before the funeral. They need permission to feel tired, sad, angry, grateful, tender, and confused while they are still inside the slow goodbye.

## **A Memoir About Leaving Mormonism and Staying Whole**

*Still Good: After All We Could Do* is my memoir about leaving Mormonism and trying to stay whole.

Faith transition is hard to explain to people who have never lived inside a faith community that shaped your childhood, your family, your sense of worth, your calendar, your belonging, your guilt, and your hope. When that changes, it affects more than belief. It affects relationships, memory, identity, and the way you understand yourself.

I wrote *Still Good* with care because I did not want to attack the people I love or flatten my past into something simple. My story includes gratitude and pain. It includes love and loss. It includes certainty changing and goodness remaining.

That book is for people trying to be honest without becoming cruel. It is for people changing and still trying to love well. It is for anyone who needs to say, “I am changing, and I am still me.”

## **A Book About ADHD, Creativity, AI, and Building with the Brain You Have**

*Beautifully Unfocused* is about ADHD, creativity, leadership, AI tools, and learning how to build with the brain you actually have.

I have spent a lot of my life feeling like my mind was too much. Too fast. Too full. Too emotional. Too interested in too many directions. ADHD has real consequences. It affects time, follow-through, work, relationships, emotion, money, self-trust, and the way a person talks to themselves after falling short again.

Shame has never helped me become more whole.

This book is about building structure around the person who is already there. It is about creativity without pretending chaos is harmless. It is about tools that help ideas become real. That is where AI enters the conversation for me.

I use AI as a tool. It helps me catch and organize what moves too fast inside my mind. It does not replace my voice. It does not know my family, my grief, my daughter’s pain, my faith story, or the feeling behind a song. It helps shape the work, but the work still comes from lived life.

## **Books About Human First Leadership, AI, Hope, and the Future**

*Human First: How to Stay Connected in a World That Keeps Pulling Us Apart* and *The Future Still Needs Us* hold the larger question behind this release.

How do we stay connected in a world that keeps rewarding division? How do we use technology without losing our humanity? How do leaders keep people at the center when everything around them pushes speed, scale, outrage, and performance?

I care about AI. I use AI. I believe better tools can help people create, learn, organize, and build. I also believe we need better questions. We need to ask what kind of future we are building, who it helps, who it harms, and whether people remain at the center of the systems we create.

*Human First* is about connection, disagreement, leadership, community, and choosing humanity when the world keeps pulling people apart. *The Future Still Needs Us* is about AI, creativity, responsibility, and why the future still needs human judgment, care, and imagination.

## **Why the Books, Music, Podcast, and Art Belong Together**

The books are only one part of the work.

The songs often come from the same emotional place as the books. Sometimes a song finds the feeling before I know how to write the chapter. The *Still Here, Still Trying* podcast gives me room to keep the conversation alive after the books are finished. Infinite Canvas AI and the visual work give form to ideas, feelings, and stories that do not always start as prose.

That is why Mike Baker HQ matters. The work is wide, but it has a center. It is all trying to help people tell the truth, stay human, and feel less alone while carrying real life.

I want people to buy the books, listen to the music, follow the podcast, subscribe on YouTube, save songs on Spotify, and share the work with someone who needs it. I care about growth because reach helps the work find the person it was written for.

But the person matters more than the number. A book sale is someone taking a chance on the work. A review is someone giving time back. A stream is someone listening. A share is someone thinking of a friend, a daughter, a spouse, a parent, or a coworker. A podcast listen is someone letting the conversation ride along in the car, the kitchen, the walk, or the late-night quiet.

That is the reason to build this with care.

## **Where to Start with Mike Baker’s Books**

Start with the book that fits what you are carrying.

If someone you love lives with endometriosis or chronic pelvic pain, start with *Believe Her the First Time*. If perimenopause or menopause is changing your marriage, start with *Man vs. Menopause*. If you are a man trying to grow in a deeper way, start with *The Better Man Field Guide* or *Get Out of the Way*. If you are tired but still trying, start with *Still Here, Still Trying*. If Alzheimer’s has entered your family, start with *Still My Mom*. If your faith has changed, start with *Still Good*. If ADHD, creativity, and AI are part of your life, start with *Beautifully Unfocused*. If you are trying to think about leadership, connection, AI, hope, and the future, start with *Human First* or *The Future Still Needs Us*.

The simplest place to find all of the books is my Amazon author page: https://amazon.com/author/mikebakerhq

If a book helps you, leave an honest review. Reviews matter while the books are new because they help other readers trust the work enough to begin.

And if you want the broader world this all belongs to, visit: https://www.mikebakerhq.com

The site is still growing, but the framework is there. Books, music, podcast conversations, art, advocacy, and Human First work are all coming from the same place.

## **Watch or Listen to the Podcast Episode**

This post connects to Season 2, Episode 11 of *Still Here, Still Trying*: **Why I Released 10 Books at Once: The Human First Story Behind Mike Baker HQ**.

In the episode, I talk more personally about the release, the heart behind the books, and why this whole body of work matters to me right now.

Watch on YouTube: [https://youtu.be/WmlyL4ot\_fo](https://youtu.be/WmlyL4ot%5Ffo?ref=mikebakerhq.com)

Listen on Spotify: [https://open.spotify.com/episode/5BY6tkqW3lIMDhJauCvlOW?si=0U4vzGBFQ0CYIERQcSFONg](https://open.spotify.com/episode/5BY6tkqW3lIMDhJauCvlOW?si=0U4vzGBFQ0CYIERQcSFONg&ref=mikebakerhq.com)

Find the books on Amazon: [https://amazon.com/author/mikebakerhq](https://amazon.com/author/mikebakerhq?ref=mikebakerhq.com)

Explore Mike Baker HQ: [https://www.mikebakerhq.com](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/)