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Charlie Hudson

Goodreads Author

Born

in Pinebluff, Arkansas, The United States

Website

http://charliehudson.net

Twitter

chudsonwrites

Genre

Fiction, Nonfiction

Member Since

January 2014

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Set aside the fact that I was going to be a French teacher, which wasn’t a bad idea. That, by the way, can be clearly traced to my affection for the original movie of "Sabrina". Although my intent was strengthened by spending my senior year of high school in France on a scholarship, my grandfather’s influence took over when I returned. I decided to follow in his footsteps, go to law school, and enter the small family law firm in a very small Louisiana town. Since we lived in Natchitoches, Louisiana, the home of Northwestern State University, going to college in town was the economically feasible choice. Paying for law school was going to be another matter. It’s a bit difficult to believe now, but at that time, women were not allowed to go t Set aside the fact that I was going to be a French teacher, which wasn’t a bad idea. That, by the way, can be clearly traced to my affection for the original movie of "Sabrina". Although my intent was strengthened by spending my senior year of high school in France on a scholarship, my grandfather’s influence took over when I returned. I decided to follow in his footsteps, go to law school, and enter the small family law firm in a very small Louisiana town. Since we lived in Natchitoches, Louisiana, the home of Northwestern State University, going to college in town was the economically feasible choice. Paying for law school was going to be another matter. It’s a bit difficult to believe now, but at that time, women were not allowed to go through ROTC or the military academies, and so they had special programs to bring women into the military directly from college. The special program paid for my senior year of college, would require me to only serve for two years, and then I would have the GI bill that I could use for law school. Voila!, problem solved.

Except that one thing led to another and it was actually 22 years before I left the Army. (Not to worry, two of my cousins went to law school and upheld the family name.) During the process of my first career, I became somewhat of an inadvertent pioneer, holding several jobs that had been traditionally held only by men. It really was a matter of timing; not a grand scheme. For those who have not yet had two decades-plus slip by you, it’s amazing when you look back. Those 22 years saw my career with assignments overseas and in the U.S., my first marriage, an unexpected pregnancy, the birth of our son Dustin, and the tragic accident that left me as a widow with a four-month old son. Then it was seven years of single parenting, and a night at the Officers’ Club (on a Friday the 13th no less), when I met the man who was to become my second husband. The next part of my career saw more time overseas including both of us serving in Desert Storm, then Italy, then Hawaii, and my participation in Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti in 1995. And yes, it was in Hawaii where my husband introduced me to the wonders of scuba diving and the fascinating underwater world.

I was coming up on retirement in the summer of 1995 when my husband strongly urged me to take some time and work on that novel that I had been putting off. We were on our way to Washington, D.C., for my husband's assignment to the Pentagon. In the “write what you know” vein, my first novel, Orchids in the Snow, centered around a military wife. When it became evident that my venture into publishing was not going to launch me onto a best seller list, I took a position with a small services and Information Technology firm, as do many retired military.

I balanced book and short-story writing with my “day job” as well as fulfilled my military wife duties, and adjusted to having a high schooler. It was also in this stage of our lives when we modified our plans for my husband’s retirement so that we would actually move away from the corporate world and focus on fun second careers. That led us to South Florida where my husband teaches scuba and I write.

Do join me on my web site of http://charliehudson.net where the first chapter of all my books are posted.
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Charlie Hudson’s books

Average rating: 3.98 · 242 ratings · 46 reviews · 36 distinct works • Similar authors

	False Front 4.77 avg rating — 22 ratings — published 2013 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Small Town Lies 3.44 avg rating — 27 ratings — published 2013 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Shades of Murder 3.43 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 2002 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Small Town Haven 4.06 avg rating — 17 ratings — published 2013 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Small Town Quilting Blues 3.77 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 2015 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Shades of Truth 3.46 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 2005 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Your Room at the End: Thoughts About Aging We'd Rather Avoid 4.22 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Shades of Gold 3.78 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 2007 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Deadly Doubloons 3.56 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Orchids in the Snow 3.80 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 1998	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Dec 21, 2023 04:14PM

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Two Bare Arms (Dead Cold Mystery, #2)

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The Things I Know

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Oct 22, 2023 04:51AM

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Charlie Hudson made a comment on their review of False Front " False Front grabbed me from page one — the shift from the vibrant, sun-drenched reefs of Belize to the gritty underbelly of Houston made for a powerfu ...more "
Nov 28, 2025 04:21AM · see review
Charlie Hudson rated a book it was amazing False Front by Charlie Hudson (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nailed it!!!!
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Charlie Hudson rated a book really liked it Painting the Lake by Jody Wenner (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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