Ericka Clay is a published novelist and the author of Unkept and Dear Hearts. She graduated from the University of Arkansas creative writing program, has published a book of short stories and poetry and is in the process of writing her fourth novel, White Smoke. Ericka has been awarded a number of times by Writers Digest for various short fiction pieces, she has written four novels (one of which placed as a quarter-finalist in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest) and has had the privilege of sharing her craft, teaching writing classes and holding writers workshops in the South Texas area. She currently lives in Louisville, Kentucky with her husband, daughter, two dogs and an insatiable need to push buttons, both figuratively and literally.