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Recognitions

Joan McNulty Pulver

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

Donna Sundblad broke into a new paying market when The Dabbling Mum accepted her article titled "Redeeming Your Time." Its guidelines state that it takes two months to hear from them. To her surprise, she heard back the following day! Accepted! The article appeared in the January 24, 2005 newsletter.

“I write true stories as well as fiction and freelance articles. Recently, I collected tidbits for a story closer to home. It's about how my husband's parents met. I enjoyed watching my mother-in-law gather information. She met me in the parking lot of a nearby grocery store with an envelope of photos, which I'd asked her to look for. She jotted down memories based on a list of questions I'd given her. Through this process I learned she worked as a nanny at the time she met my husband's father. He worked as a bellman for a fancy hotel in Evanston, Illinois, which she passed on the way to catch the bus home.

“When I received my contributor's copy, I stared in disbelief at the cover. ‘The Nanny and the Bellman’ stretched across the bottom of the February issue of U. S. Legacies in good-size red letters. Excitement welled up within me. I made the cover! The timing was perfect. It would make an ideal gift. Two weeks later, my husband and I took my mother-in-law out for breakfast for her 86th birthday. After we'd filled our stomachs I gave her a copy of the magazine. Tears filled her eyes as she glanced through the pages and said, ‘It's the perfect gift.’”

Donna will have another true life story, “Florida Breeze,” in the April 2005 print edition of U. S. Legacies.

A member of WVU for several years, Donna works as an Acquisitions Editor for ePress-online where she edited one fantasy, and is in the process of editing a craft of writing non-fiction work. Donna’s own book, Pumping Your Muse, is expected to be out in the near future. Donna is also in the process of starting her own editing business. Visit Donna’s website at http://www.theinkslinger.net to learn more about her and her accomplishments.

Pamela Ridley’s novel, Between Tears, to be published by Genesis Press in April 2006, intertwines two murders. Thirty-year-old Andrea bereaves the loss of her sister and is accused of killing her ex-boyfriend. In the meantime, she's engaged to marry the person with motive for both.

Faith holds Andrea's world together as she weathers her nephew being kidnapped and the murder of her sister. When her nephew and his father, Benjamin, return, the feelings she thought she could deny for this man return with him.

Benjamin's a likely suspect in her sister's murder, but Andrea's heart says no. She searches for her sister's killer and at the same time, she falls in love with Benjamin. On top of this, her ex-boyfriend decides he made a mistake in letting her go and has the sex tape to prove it.   He comes up murdered. Will Andrea's faith be strong enough to allow her to face the truth and find happiness between her tears?

“I was thrilled when I found out they had accepted my book for publication. I have to keep reminding myself it's a dream come true.”

Pamela wrote her first play when she was in the fourth grade. She loves words, and how people interact with each other, so stories are a good byproduct of this. Pamela said she loves to read. “I started an affair with books in my youth that is still ongoing. With writing, anything and everything that interests you, has the potential to be fodder in a book. Reading gives you the greatest foundation for writing there is. Subconsciously you absorb what works, what you like and why.

“I've renewed my Writers’ Village University membership two times, or is it three? I forget. I'm a member of the Hemingway study group, but I love how we can drop in and visit any group and no one minds. WVU was the friend I bounced ideas off of. WVU gave me the basics. It's helped me identify my strengths and my areas of need. It was my first avenue into the world of writing. ‘This is called a tag. Your story needs a dynamic opening. This is how you punctuate with quotation marks. This is a scene. This is a sequel to the scene.’ I already had a tough skin, because I used to write X files fan fiction, so I got initiated in the fact that if you don't want people's opinions, keep your writing to yourself, but my favorite part of WVU is the critique group aspect. That is why I continue to renew. WVU is a great place to begin to grow a novel. There are so many knowledgeable, kind and generous people here.”

Pamela learned that writing is a very social business. It requires meeting people and networking and that surprised her, because writing itself is such a solitary activity. She completed another book while using a critique group at WVU; the book is titled Lies Too Long. Pamela is looking for an agent with it now, as she works on her fourth novel.

Joan McNulty Pulver wrote a true story, “Pearl Harbor Remembered,” based on the recollections of her sister, Mickey. “About two weeks after its publication in the February issue at U.S. Legacies, I received an email from them asking if they could put my story in their print magazine. Can you imagine, they ASKED me for permission? I sat at my desk stunned, I couldn’t believe it. I was going to be published in a print magazine.”

“Pearl Harbor Remembered” will be in the April edition of U. S. Legacies. The first thing Joan did upon learning her story would be in the magazine was to call her family and then her partner and friend Donna. They will both have stories in the same issue.

As a lifetime member of Writers’ Village University, Joan developed and facilitates the Worldbuilding class, is the group leader of the Worlds of Magic and Mayhem study/research group and is a member of the Finish Line group which helps her stay on top of things, attaining her goals and completing her work in a timely manner. “Without WVU I would never have made it this far. The critiques and assistance I receive from other members is unbelievable.” Joan is currently working on a non-fiction book dealing with worldbuilding for all genres as well as a fantasy trilogy.

Joan works as an Administrative Secretary for the state of Florida and as the Acquisitions Coordinator and an editor for ePress-online. To learn more about Joan, visit her website at http://www.thewriterslife-online.com.

Chuck Hinckley wrote the stage play, "You Want Chili Cheese Fries With That?" and entered it in an open submission to “A call to Playwrights,” to write a play in reaction to the painting Collateral Damage (a living hell) by internationally known painter, Matt Sesow.

Set in Iraq, a small squad of soldiers takes shelter in a bombed out building, where one of the soldiers has just shot a local man who was helping guide them. He also may or may not have been an insurgent. The play shows the personal consequences of the man who shot him and how he reacts to having taken a life.

Chuck’s 10-minute play will be performed with 9 others at Raymond Shurtz’s, Collateral Damage on April 1st, 2nd, 7th, 8th 9th, 15th, and 16th at Metro Arts Institute, 1700 N. 7th Avenue, in Phoenix, AZ. See the press release at Mr. Sesow’s website at http://www.sesow.com/cdpressrelease.htm.

“My play was chosen among several to not only be in the festival, but it will open the show. I was very pleased and excited to be working with the actors, director and producer. Plays are a collaborative effort.”

Chuck started out as an actor and said he thinks it is a natural progression to want to write. “I am a creative person. I love to create art. I paint, I play drums, I write.”

He joined WVU a little over a year ago. “I am a member of The Write Stuff study group. The classes and the critique of my fellow writers has allowed me to see a more clear and concise way of expressing myself through writing.”

Chuck’s “The Baseball Thief,” was published in T-zero last July. He has had other stories contracted by Rupurt Murdoc's The News America Syndicate in NYC. He is currently working on re-writes for his novel.

Congratulations, Donna, Pamela, Joan and Chuck. We wish you continued success in all of 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
Joan McNulty Pulver, mother of five and grandmother of five, works as an Administrative Secretary for the State of Florida but considers her writing and editing to be her vocation. She is a columnist for T-Zero: The Writer’s E-Zine, a course developer and facilitator at Writers’ Village University and the Acquisitions Coordinator/Editor for ePress-online. Joan has had two short stories published and is currently working on a non-fiction book and a fantasy novel.