Awesome to see you smudging, but I'd rather you use shorter strokes and a whole lot more of them. Don't go in the same direction with every stroke, go in multiple directions but as long as your general tendency is toward one direction or one general pattern, it'll look fine. Also, especially if you're going to be using multiple layers, you'll want to switch up your general pattern or direction just enough that the lines overlap a little but not too much - that way you have more freedom, a more dynamic interaction between the different layers, and you can play around with them to make neat effects.
Right now the only problem with your smudge tag is that there's no real focal in the smudging, and it all looks very repetitive and straightforward. If you can mix that up a bit (use the techniques I described above, change your smudge settings, etc.) and really consider where you want the viewer's eye to stop, you'll get a lot better, a lot faster.
=)