Bonnie Smith has been a writer all her life but had to earn a living for her family instead of writing the sentences that rattled around in her head nearly every day and night. She still has many short stories and essays that were never published due to time restraints.Several years ago, she wrote and published a nonfiction book entitled Our Rank, Our Freedom, Our Power, plus she has written numerous newspaper articles, as well as editorials, and feature stories. Smith published Black-Eyed peas and Turnip Greens about eight years ago to test the market. Her real estate business required too much time to followthrough to expand, re-edit and finalize it into a marketable book until after retirement. It is her first book to be published at ninety-two years old. Everyone who read the book urged her to publish it. A literary professor was extremely excited about it, describing it another To Kill a Mockingbird. Smith's talents include a part-time career as a professional artist in watercolor, oil, and pastels, and computer graphic arts. The author is a lifetime nature worshiper who loves fishing, gardening, photography, and painting. She also is political 'news junky' who is fascinated by history and politics.