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Recognitions

Joan McNulty Pulver

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

Cheryl Pereira’s two novels, A Recipe For Love and A Kiss So True, published by Wings ePress, are slated for publication next year. Coming to cyber space in April 2005 is her first contemporary romance, A Recipe For Love. Her paranormal romance novel, A Kiss So True, will be out in November of 2005.

“When I got the news that I was being published, I felt absolute disbelief! I could not believe my eyes. My first attempt at writing a romance novel—something I began to fill my time to see if I could actually write a complete novel—had been contracted. I jumped and hugged myself because I was alone in the office when I received the contract in the mail. I couldn't wait to tell my family and friends. Eventually, of course, I did, and for days later I felt like I ran a marathon. I didn't feel the ground I walked on—with my head firmly stuck inside in the clouds. The second contract was in many ways sweeter than the first, for two reasons. It gave me confidence and quieted down the voices inside me that made me wonder if the first book wasn't a fluke—beginner's luck—and because the romance was written in a different genre [Suspense – Paranormal].”

Cheryl hadn’t read a paranormal until recently, so she didn't have a point of reference as to what would work and what wouldn't. The suspense elements within the book allowed her to experiment since she’d never written suspense before. She was overjoyed that the end result was a contract.

Writing as a vocation was never a goal of Cheryl’s. As a child she loved to write, and her English teachers encouraged and helped her hone what they referred to as her talent. In 2000 she moved to England with her husband. When she started missing her friends and family, whom she loves dearly, her husband bought her An Idiot’s Guide to Writing Romance and encouraged her to write again while she was pregnant. When her baby turned about four months old, she started writing in earnest.

“My writing friends were sure that Wings ePress would contract it—but we writers are such an insecure bunch that it was difficult to for me to believe it till it actually happened. It motivated me to write and write and write some more. Rejection can plumb you to the depths of despair—believe me, I've received my share of form rejection letters and mails, but a contract lifts you just as quickly, and you feel invincible until the doubts come flooding back.”

“I read. It's the best way to learn how to write for me. Reading various genres teaches me pacing techniques and word usage. I read for pleasure, but the author and editor in me pick up the nuances within the scenes that hold my interest. I then analyze it to bits. For example, when I wrote the suspenseful parts in A Kiss So True, all the techniques to raise tension, and keep the pacing tight, wasn't too much of a struggle because I’d read tons of thrillers, crime stories, courtroom dramas and medical suspense novels. I had an idea how I could tweak the scenes to increase the tension but a lot of work went into actually writing it in. Like I mentioned before—I'm the sink or swim type. I just throw myself into things, and if I didn't, then I’d analyze it to death. I'd second-guess myself, and it would never be good enough for me.”

Cheryl reads a fairly wide range of authors, anything from chic lit, romance, thriller, medical suspense, courtroom dramas, suspense, etc. She adores Historical Romances—Stephanie Laurens and Kate MacAllister are the two she enjoys reading most.

About six months into writing A Recipe For Love, Cheryl joined WVU and became a member of the Romance Roundtable study group, which she says, “will always hold a fond place in my heart.”

“I found WVU on the Internet while trawling through trying to search for writing sites to improve my technique. It was the best thing I ever did. I took the Romance Writing course where I learned tons of useful things about writing a romance. For a brief time I belonged to the Hole In the Wall Gang, Writers Prose and Word Slingers study groups. WVU taught me the basics of writing a romance. It helped me polish my so-called talent and, more than anything, it introduced me to many people who traveled the same road I did. Two of my closest friends I met at WVU began as writing buddies and grew to be much more. Maria Desrosiers and Lori Libby stood by me, encouraged me and pushed me whenever doubts flew in and I thought I couldn't write a decent sentence.”

Cheryl met her husband at a movie, being set up by a friend. About a week later they accidentally met at a mutual friend’s birthday party. He asked her out and, presto, three months later, he proposed—the magic of love touched her life. She now has a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter.

“I've lived a great life and traveled quite a bit. Kenya and Bali are the two favorite places I ever lived in. I've seen the ups and downs of life from a fairly young age. I'm Indian and I'm married to a Britisher but we're amazingly connected and I wouldn't exchange him for the world. I work in the hectic environment of a news channel, try to be a mother and wife, and at the same time do justice to my writing.”

Shanna Lewis, a WVU member since 2001 and a member of the Middle Earth and Natural World study groups, started working as a reporter last summer for the Wet Mountain Tribune, a weekly newspaper in Westcliffe, CO. She earned the position of staff photographer later in the year.

“I stopped by to inquire about the possibility of work and met the editor and chatted about my writing background. He said, ‘There's nothing now but leave us a resume; we'll keep it on file.’ I brought them my resume and then I dropped by every week just to say hi. Finally they let me cover the school board meetings (which no one else wanted to do) and asked me to be the substitute photographer. It was the foot in the door I needed and now I'm on the masthead as both the staff photographer and one of the reporters.”

She didn’t plan to be a newspaper reporter, and becoming a photographer wasn’t something Shanna ever expected to do, but she loves it. She has learned how to distill out the important information from long meetings and interviews, as well as how to make an interesting story out of disjointed notes from boring meetings.

“I've also learned a lot about not editorializing. It’s given me experience in working on a deadline, and it’s incredibly gratifying to see my writing and photography in print every week.”

Shanna gives this advice to budding journalists: “Starting small by just having to write one or two stories a month was the best thing that could have happened for me. It allowed me to feel confident about my work before taking on more numerous and difficult assignments. Accepting the work no one else wanted to do was a good way to get started, and the folks at the school board love the fact that they have "their own reporter" now.

Shanna is especially proud of an interview she conducted with David McDonnall’s parents. David was one of the missionaries killed in Iraq on March 15. She felt honored that they shared their story with her.

”They chose to only tell their story to our newspaper because they appreciated the fact that we respected their privacy during the first two weeks after David's death.”

Along with her newspaper work, Shanna continues to pursue her freelance work in creative writing of all types fiction, non-fiction, poetry and plays as well as photography. She recently had two of her photographs published in other papers: the Denver Post in the travel section and on the front page of the National Post, a large Canadian newspaper.

Julia MacDonnell’s short story, Hand of Destiny, appears in the book, The Simple Touch of Fate, published by iUniverse. Her previous credits include a short story in Whim’s Place and a book review at WritelinkPro.

She started work on a novel originally in the WVU course, Mythic Structure, in 2002; the subject of the course was The Hero's Journey. She will always be grateful for that course as it helped her get started on her first published work.

“I posted the novel again in Historicals and received helpful suggestions from excellent group members. At this point, a kindly former tutor, Mr. D. R. Gordon, of the Long Ridge Writers Group, revised it for me, and I submitted it to an agent. Late last year I joined another delightful and lively group, Word Slingers. I've been too busy lately with a third "final" revision to contribute anything to that group but hope to get back to them soon, since my book, with a new chapter added, is now being revised by another kindly editor, whose name I shall withhold until the time comes. If I possess any virtue, it's persistence.”

When Julia received the news from Arlene Uslander that her story would be published in the collection edited by her and a partner, Brenda Warneka, she gave a whoop of joy.

Most writers are also readers. Julia says she read the King James Bible (standard version) before she turned 13, followed by all of Dickens, most of Shakespeare, her brothers' adventure books and, at l6, all of Bernard Shaw. She bought all she could of poetry collections. Julia love non-fiction and owns many non-fiction books: archaeology, dictionaries, quotations, alternative medicine, organic gardening, spiritual guidance, and poetry. She went through an Agatha Christie stage, a science fiction stage, followed by Tolkien, and at present, John Grisham, Ken Follett, and Susan Howatch. Being Brazilian born, and bilingual, Julia has also read a large number of Brazilian authors.

“I suppose I first wanted to be a writer before I even knew how to write, but went about the garden at age seven making up stories to repeat to a small brother, whose own stories were remarkable for a five-year-old. At 12 my greatest ambition was to edit a magazine. The business of earning a living and all the ups and downs of life claimed me at 20 and it was only much later, after retirement, when I thought about it again. Membership in WVU and the contacts made with younger and enthusiastic classmates and group members is one of the joys of my life.”

Congratulations, Cheryl, Shanna and Julia. We wish you continued success in all your writing endeavors and thank you for sharing your information with us.

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!

About the Author
Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Joan McNulty Pulver moved to Florida about 30 years ago and decided to stay. She has five children (two girls and three boys) and five grandchildren (four boys and one girl). An Administrative Secretary for the State of Florida, she plans to retire in about seven years and then start her real career, writing. Joan hopes to have at least one novel finished and published by that time. She does a little volunteer work here at WVU and enjoys this community of writers. "I have learned so much here and like helping others learn along with me."