My training is in field ecology, the study of the natural communities that make Earth a living planet. I once spent weeks in wild places studying grizzly bear habitat, wildfire patterns and sagebrush communities. I turned to writing when I realized I loved telling the stories behind the data more than collecting those data.I'm the author of twelve books that explore the interrelationships that form what Aldo Leopold called the "community of the land." My work has appeared in magazines and newspapers from Audubon and Popular Mechanics to High Country News and the Los Angeles Times - and has been heard on the Martha Stewart Living Radio Network. I've taught workshops at colleges, universities, and writing festivals from University of California-Riverside and Miami University of Ohio to Wofford College in South Carolina, as well as at home and online. Audiences as diverse as the International Xeriscape Conference, Collegiate Peaks Forum, Monte Vista Crane Festival, and the Walking Words Writing Festival have called my talks "inspiring" and "insightful." I coach individual writers, review manuscripts for university presses, and contribute to "City Creatures" at Humans & Nature, Story Circle Network's "HerStories" as well as my own blog (http://susanjtweit.com). My current teaching and speaking schedule is also on my blog/web site.I'm a Quaker, a step-mother, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a mentor & mentee, and a friend. I belong to an informal network of writers and artists who speak for the land, and to Story Circle Network, Women Writing the West, ASLE, and Colorado Author's League. I'm a passionate gardener: I grow my own vegetables, fruits and herbs, and also enjoy the challenge of native plant restoration and "wildscape" design. My designs have been featured in the Rocky Mountain News, Zone 4, and on garden blogs. I live in a small house heated by the sun--the sun generates my electricity, too!--on a reclaimed industrial parcel in a high-desert valley tucked in the shadow of the tallest stretch of the Rocky Mountains.