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Recognitions

Joan McNulty Pulver

Welcome to Recognitions, a column dedicated to proclaim the writing successes of Writers' Village University members!

Billie A Williams's new mystery/suspense novel, Fire at Thunder Ridge, published by Wings ePress, Inc. will be out in February 2004. She is the author of several stories, novels, and articles. Her short story, Tung Umolomo, a South African adventure, will be published in Publish America's fall edition this year.

"I won several writing contests. My short stories were published in Sisters In Crime, a Mystery Times, Murder She Wrote, and She Did and a book review contest for Patricia Lewin, and a book review on two writing books written by Stephen King (Secret Windows, and On Writing)." Writing Wide, Exercises in Creative Writing, published by Filbert Publishing, will hit the shelves September 15, 2003. Billie is most thrilled with this publication. "Because it is about writing, it seems to validate that I am a writer, if I needed more than my name on the bottom line of a contract or the cover of a book to tell me that I am indeed a writer, and I seem to."

When Billie first found out she would be published she was shocked, ecstatic, scared. "I wasn't sure I deserved to be published. I was afraid no one would like it, my relatives would hate it, and everyone would laugh at me. It's an amazing thing. There is nothing quite like having a book published."

Billie joined Writers' Village University about three months ago. She has not had the time to join a study group yet because she has been busy editing and promoting her new releases. There are so many courses she wants to take. "I do know that feedback and networking are important parts of writing however, so I will make the effort to come to chats. I enjoy writing. I enjoy sharing whenever I can with others, and I am so glad to be taking classes at WVU.

"I live with my husband, Thomas, in a small northern Wisconsin community called Amberg, where the winters are long and cold but the people are warm and friendly." Between them they have three children and six grandchildren. "I have a website where you are welcome to drop by and read some of my ongoing works, sit a spell and then tell me what you think. I am open to suggestions, ideas and contributions."

Julie Jennings said she was pleased as sunshine to hear that a group of published authors had selected two of her stories, For the Sake of Love and The Giants View and two poems United in Despair—about September 11, and The Ocean to be in the anthology Dream Makers--Stories That Won't Put You To Sleep. Of course she had to call all her friends and relatives, too. Dream Makers is compiled by Val Drummond and written by authors of the Writers Roundtable at Muddy Puddle Press.

Starting out in F2K (WVU's free writing class) as a student six years ago, Julie was later asked to mentor the lessons. After three or four years of mentoring, she now facilitates the romance class at WVU. She belongs to a very active study group, Freestylers, a close family. Meet Mara, one of her characters, at http://villamanchezcharacterscrapbook.usclargo.com/custom2.html.

Julie said, "WVU is a warm and friendly place to be. I enjoy the people and have learned by leaps and bounds about critiquing in positive ways but still helping the writer do even better. I learned how to put together lessons so that others could benefit from my knowledge. I also facilitate a small group of writers who challenge each other in writing short stories. We call this little get-together Friday Specials."

Julie's current works in progress are Villa Manchez, a mystery romance, and Sirena, a romantic western mystery and a historical romance following the Oregon Trail. She is a NAWW member and a member of and the marketer of the Writers Roundtable. The Roundtable has also published The Sun Never Rises, A Rainthology in which she has a short story and several poems. "This experience added to my knowledge by attending readings and book signings for our book. We are making the rounds of book signings and author talks in Washington State."

Julie lives in Tacoma, Washington with her three children; her youngest, Peter, is also a writer. This is his first publication with his poem. "I love animals, and spend a lot of time with my granddaughter who is two," Julie says.

In high school Julie wrote short stories, poems, and started a novella. During her young married years Julie joined a writing group to enhance her writing. When members were given The Torn Blue Shirt assignment, (to write a short story about a torn blue shirt) most of the group, many much older than she, wrote about mending the shirt. Not Julie, she challenged the story with a mystery involving a bloody torn shirt swept down from the river.

"The one bit of advice I'd give writers is to keep learning the craft, and never ever give up on your hopes and dreams. They might be just around the corner. Writing is the pearl of creativity that lies inside our hearts waiting for the luster of our muse on paper. To dream is the climb of inspiration. To write is to have reached heaven. I'm glad that I'm part of the writing world."

Congratulations, Billie and Julie. We wish you continued success in all your writing endeavors.

We look forward to reading about your writing accomplishments in this column. If you or someone you know received recognition for writing, please send the information to recognitions@wvu.org.  Let us know!