Susie Baxter is a fifth-generation Floridian, who writes about the Florida she knew before air-conditioning and before anyone dreamed of the Florida Turnpike or the Magic Kingdom.

Her most recent book is a coming-of-age memoir, entitled I, Susanette…

For most of her career with Mosby, a health-science publishing house in St. Louis (now an imprint of Elsevier), Susie served as an acquisitions editor, writing proposals for clinical reference books, and recruiting and contracting with physicians to serve as authors. 

While working as an editor, Susie says she never considered writing a book herself. But upon losing her favorite grandmother, she began to think of preserving her own memories and those of family members. In retirement, she set out to do that.

Her first book, C.G. & Ethel, A Family History, 2008, focuses on the hardscrabble lives of her parents, who struggled to make a living on their small farm, a half-mile from the Suwannee River. “Although Mama and Daddy didn’t live to see the book in print,” Susie said, “they enjoyed providing anecdotes.”

Her second book, Write Your Memoir,  One Story at a Time grew out of the classes she teaches in the Community Education program at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, Florida. The book is for beginning memoirists as well as for those who need a nudge.

Her third book, Pumping Sunshine, which won the Royal Palm Literary Award (RPLA), focuses on her rural childhood,  growing up on a small North Florida farm. This award is sponsored by the Florida Writers Association (FWA). FWA’s Arielle Haughee’s interview with Susie was posted on FWA’s website on Jan 11, 2018.  As mentioned above, her fourth book is a coming-of-age memoir, a sequel to Pumping Sunshine, but it also stands alone.

To improve her craft, Susie attends writing conferences as often as possible. Here, she poses beside her writer friend Bev after a day at the  Cape Cod Writers Conference. “Every writer,” Susie said, “should have a friend like Bev who offers encouragement.”

After winning the RPLA for Pumping Sunshine, Susie was invited to serve as a judge in the annual competition and accepted the challenge.

She is also one of about twenty volunteers who hold positions of leadership in the Writers Alliance of Gainesville (WAG), an organization designed to promote, encourage and support aspiring and experienced regional writers. She served as president for two years. She also served for four years as Creative Nonfiction Editor for Bacopa Literary Review, a print journal published annually by WAG

“One of the benefits of WAG,” she said, “is that members may join pods, small groups that get together regularly to critique one another’s work. We meet in restaurants, coffee shops, or in members’ homes. Regular deadlines keep us focused.”

Upon request, Susie gives talks on preserving one’s memories. Check out her Speaker page, and contact her if your organization needs a speaker.

Click Writers Alliance of Gainesville to watch a video about the benefits of this organization.