UPDATE Author Highlights ~ Susie H. Baxter

Susie H. Baxter serves as Creative Nonfiction Editor for Bacopa Literary Review, the annual print journal of the Writers Alliance of Gainesville, and teaches memoir writing at Santa Fe College.

During her career as an acquisitions editor and publisher for a health-science publishing house in St. Louis, Baxter commissioned dozens of successful clinical reference books, authored by world renowned physicians. Recognition for her success included Times Mirror’s coveted Editor-of-the-Year Award.

She is the author of three books: C. G. and Ethel, a Family History; Write Your Memoir, One Story at a Time; and Pumping Sunshine, A Memoir of My Rural Childhood, and a finalist in the Royal Palm Literary Award competition, sponsored by the Florida Writers Association.

Susie H. Baxter Author Page on Amazon         susiehbaxter.com

Q. How would your 10-year-old self react to what you do?

A. She would not be surprised that I am currently renovating an old house—scraping peeling paint and cutting glass to replace broken window panes. But she would be surprised that I had a career in health-science publishing where I recruited physicians to write medical references, and that I have written a book about her childhood.

Q. What is your definition of success? 

A. Success is achieving a goal set by one’s self, no matter how large or small.

Q. What is a dream you have that you’ve yet to achieve? 

A. To consistently be relaxed and organized.

Q. If you see a puddle on the ground, do you walk around it or over it? 

A. At the age of five I stepped into it and ruined new shoes my parents bought on credit. Today I would walk around it. For sure. The punishment for my naivety is still vivid.

Q. What tips do you have for a new writer? 

A. Join a writing group so you can get encouragement and feedback. Trust your gut, but if two or more readers tell you a change is needed, believe it.