Contributor Biographies #22

 

Shaun Marie Trumble

Fifty-four hours a week, I’m a paramedic, four to six hours a week, I’m a columnist for a paper writing about gardening - the joy of gardening. Wish those two time frames were reversed.

Also, right now I’m a full time college student in a low residency program from Vermont College. I thought I saw a superwoman cape in my closet when I signed up, but alas, it was just an old dress from the seventies. When I finish this semester in March, will only take part time classes.I only have three fountain pens, one is a recently purchased Sailor (see Candice on the message board) and I have fallen deeply in love. (with the pen!)

I am a fanatic gardener, especially flowers, and I love books, animals, really good tea and chocolate, in no particular order. I love to write - journals, letters, fiction, my column, anything at all.I’m afraid the fascinating, tall, dark and handsome description wouldn’t fit me. I’m rather ordinary, short, 45 years old, and have chronic dark circles under my eyes from never getting enough sleep! It’s those twenty-four hour shifts!

Hope someone would like to write.

Shaun

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Rachel Pollack

I've been a non-serious pen collector ever since I graduated college and talked my parents into giving me an MB biggie as a present. In recent years I've gotten more serious, by which I mean a. buying more pens than I can afford, and b. learning more about them. Most of my pens are new, primarily because I did not feel I knew enough to buy vintage, but I'm starting to learn. There is no special type I collect, I buy pens to use them, which means I like pens that are both good to write with and lovely to look at. I prefer pens extra fine, as fine and delicate a line as possible, with flex if I can get it. Of my contemporary pens, my favorites are a Montegrappa St. Elmo, a Namiki Impressions, and a Pelikan M600. Of my small collection of vintage (hopefully larger soon!) my two favorites, both ringtops, are a Parker pastel and a Wahl #2 gold fill, given to me by a friend.

Happily, I get to use all these pens. My profession is writer. I write novels, 5 that have been labeled fantasy but I just think of as stories, two of which have won awards. My sixth novel, and my first mystery, comes out in March. It's called A Secret Woman. I also write non-fiction, especially books about tarot cards and their symbolism. I've written more than a dozen books on tarot, as well as edited a couple of books, and written a book about the origins of religion, called The Body of the Goddess. I also designed and drew a tarot deck, called The Shining Tribe Tarot, with art based on prehistoric and tribal art, from European cave art to African rock drawings to Aboriginal Australian paintings (I have a small collection of original Aboriginal art, lugged home from a visit to Melbourne and Sydney a few years ago).

I write all my books longhand first, then move them to computer. Because I write in journals, this is another of my great interests. I've had the great fortune to visit Paris about a dozen times, and the first thing I do always is go to Papier Plus, my favorite store for handmade journals. Travel is another great passion of mine. I lived in Europe for a long time, which gave me the opportunity to visit many countries. I go back when I can.

Thank you for setting up this list. I look forward to hearing from people.

Rachel

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Mary Plante

Mary Plante was born in Tacoma, Washington. She was introduced to writing and fountain pens before she started school by her grandmother. After writing cursive with a fountain pen for two years, she protested mightily when Sister Colette required her to print with a fat pencil. By second grade she was back to writing script with her Sheaffer and hasn't stopped since.

After managing college bookstores for ten years and repairing more than a few mechanical pencils and drafting pens for students in that time, Mary left higher education to work for an ecumenical agency on whose board she had served for a number of years. During that time she began writing a religion column for the local paper. When she left Associated Ministries after seven years, she continued writing the religion column and began writing for a number of religious and labor publications as well as providing care for elderly parents and aging dogs.

In January, 1997, she accepted a temporary, part-time position at her local United Way to help teach a class to union members who wanted to know more about community services and write a community service newsletter directed at the labor community. Expecting to work six to nine months, she stayed five years and worked on the campaign side, too, conducting fundraising efforts in union offices, factories and warehouses.

She "retired" in December, 2001, to begin research for a book she's been dreaming about for years, fund her research writing newsletters and articles and help ready house and acreage for sale. After buying on eBay for years, mostly vintage Sheaffers, Mary is now offering items for sale. "I can always find room for more pens, but some of the pottery, china, kitchen collectibles, granite ware and glass are going to go. We won't have outbuildings for storage in an apartment or condo."

Mary is a Sheaffer collector with a primary focus on vintage pens but picks up a few new pens, too, each year. "I'm still caring for one elderly relative and rough off much of my work waiting in doctors' offices and hospital waiting rooms." She always has a notebook and several fountain pens handy.

Mary currently lives in a large house on three acres with her husband, Jim, and dog-daughter, Sarah.

Mary W. Plante

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Cristin O'Keeffe

I'm a 34 years old. Currently I'm living in an all-woman's boarding house in my native San Francisco. Because I'm single, it's nice to have a community of friends waiting when I come home. I will grant, it makes for an interesting world view and I certainly have plenty of characters to fill future works of fiction galore.

Prior to returning home to San Francisco, I lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts while I studied archaeology with a focus on Celtic Studies as an undergraduate at Harvard-Radcliffe. It was while I was in college that I developed a love for fountain pens as I kept a supply of the Sheaffer transparent cartridge pens in my student bag for note taking in classes. After graduation I spent two more years in the Boston area while I worked in the legal department for WGBH, the public television station that produces NOVA and MASTERPIECE THEATRE. I left WGBH for law school at New York Univesity, but eventually decided that a career in law was not for me and left to pursue an artist's life in San Francisco.

I earn a living as a night time graphics support person at an investment bank while I use my spare time working at becoming a professional writer. Hence the time and money spent on pretty pens as a carrot to get me cheefully in front of my blank sheet of paper in the morning. My collection is cobbled together from the sales on discontinued Sheaffers from Arcamax, a couple of Pelikan 400's from the Levengers Outlet, plus the odd win on e-Bay. I also have three vintage Conway Stewart lever fill pens which I anticipate are the beginnings of a larger collection in the future. I suspect it's my MASTERPIECE THEATRE background coming to the fore.

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Pamela Murray

I'm a Financial Advisor and a mother of 2 girls, age 4 and 4 week old. My interests other than fountain pens and ink are stationery, reading newspapers and jewelry. I have a fondness for Waterman pens - my favorite is the Serenite and a close second is my Carene with a stub nib. I also have another Waterman pen that's about 10 yrs old but I don't know the name of it. It's a narrow pen that's black with gold accents. It's brass with enamel?. I wish I knew the name. I also have a Parker Duofold with Platinum trim and a Red Montegrappa Harmony (I wanted something other than black).

 

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