Frontier Florida : About Me

"I hope you are happy and trying to do right. I will write as often as I can."

-- Lucy Mead Parce, Oct. 19, 1878
Source: "The Parce Letters, Voices From the Past"

My idea of a perfect day always includes a book, or three, including one with a happy ending. I write Catholic historical novels and novellas set in the pioneer Florida fictional town of Persimmon Hollow. You can learn more about my novels on a special blog page and in an interview I did on Catholic Faith Network - CFNtv. Click here to watch the video.

I also write non-romance short stories that explore the importance of community, connection, and human dignity. You can read my short stories for free on my website, gerribauer.com.

I was born and raised in New York City, but found a small-town haven in Florida many years ago. I was a homebody even before the pandemic. I love to spend time with my husband, spoil my cats, keeps tabs on my far-flung extended family, and get out into the garden when possible (although the plants question my dedication).

I also share my space-geek husband's enthusiasm for our final frontier. (I'm a fan of both Kirk AND Picard!) That helps me remember I don't live in the 19th century Florida setting of my novels or in the biographies and old diaries and memoirs I love to read.

I'm also a needlework nerd. I quilt, crochet when the arthritis allows, and sew clothing at a pace that qualifies me for the slow-life movement. Among my treasures is my grandmother's 1919 Singer treadle sewing machine. I'm working on my treadling skills but still have a long way to go.

I have a B.A. in English from Stetson University, where, before my retirement, I had a day job in communications and social media. I attended class during lunch hours and after work. I also have an associate's degree in Communications from the Fashion Institute of Technology. There was a 38-year-gap between the awarding of the two degrees.

Way back when, I was a newspaper journalist who always wanted to write about local history instead of local government, controversies or crime. Those days are when I deepened my love for local history. My nonfiction work includes Parce Letters: Voices From the Past, a 2004 collection of primary sources on Florida pioneers, and the article "Piety's Quilts: Stitching Family and Fabric in South Moon Under," published in the 2018 edition of The Journal of Florida Literature. I also write biographies on a contract basis.

As for this blog? I write about what I call pioneer life because I'm fascinated by how people lived in earlier times. In particular, in how they lived day-to-day in the domestic sphere. It's an area so often left out of history books. Or, if it's included, it's often weighed down by whatever rhetoric and narratives were popular at the time of writing.

We can learn so much from the past, both good and not-so-good. The domestic details are interesting and thought-provoking. They often illustrate wrongs that should never be repeated as well as positives worth embracing. They show us how people functioned around and through the obstacles of their era. And they also remind us how much human nature stays the same, no matter what the time or place.

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