A Smoky Valentine

Since it is Valentine’s week, I want to give a shout out to some of my favorite fellow VHP authors whom I feel privileged to have met and grown to love.  They don’t know I’m doing this…it’s my secret surprise Valentine to each of them.  Up first, is Smoky Trudeau (Zeidel).  Smoky has written several books, but one of my favorites so far is On the Choptank Shores.  If you haven’t read it you’re missing out on a great novel.

Smoky Trudeau (Zeidel) is the author of novels, short stories, and two nonfiction books especially for writers: Front-Word, Back-Word, Insight Out: Lessons on Writing the Novel Lurking Inside You From Start to Finish; and Left Brained, Write Brained: 366 Writing Prompts and Exercises to Free Your Creative Spirit, Awaken Your Muse, And Challenge Your Skills Every Day of the Year, all from Vanilla Heart Publishing. She has published short stories and poetry in literary journals such as CALYX and online e-zines such as The Foundling Review, and was a 2003 Pushcart Prize nominee.

An ardent outdoorswoman with a deep reverence for nature, Smoky’s  Observations of an Earth Mage is a collection of prose and poetry celebrating the fragile beauty of our planet. She was the lead editor for Vanilla Heart Publishing’s 2010 Nature’s Gifts anthology.

Finally succumbing to her bohemian spirit and need to live near the mountains and the ocean, Smoky moved to Southern California in 2008, where she lives with her husband and daughter in a ramshackle cottage in the woods overlooking the San Gabriel Valley and the San Gabriel Mountains beyond. When she isn’t writing, she spends her time hiking in the mountains, camping in the Sierras, splashing in tide pools, and fighting the urge to speak in haiku.

To learn more about Smoky, visit her at http://SmokyZeidel.wordpress.com

Happy Valentine's Day Smoky!