Website Wednesdays: She's Got Original Army Documents On Her Book's Site

In late January, I reported that Phyllis Zimbler Miller’s (WG’80) novel Mrs. Lieutenant: A Sharon Gold Novel had been nominated as a semi-finalist for the first Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition.

Phyllis’ story is a personal one based on her own experiences in 1970 as one of 4 women who came together when their husbands went on active duty as officers in the U.S. Army.

In developing this story, Phyllis used all the original army documents from that time as reference while she was writing ...and now you can see some of these original army documents among other items on her book's website.

Visit Phyllis’s website and check out:

• The first four chapters of the novel – one from the point of view of each of the four women protagonists: a Northern Jew, a Southern Baptist, a Puerto Rican, and a black from the South

• The “Original Army Documents” section – you will see a range of original documents – from her husband’s orders to report to active duty to the itinerary for the Armor School “ladies tour.”

• The “Support Military Families” section – Per Phyllis, “When my husband and I were later stationed in Munich , Germany , I learned from personal experience how important were such things as the Passover food items supplied to us by the Jewish Welfare Board. Thus, without taking a position on the current fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan , I wanted my website to encourage people to support the needs of military personnel and their families. The website’s “Support Military Families” section describes some of the many current support organizations, all of which are in need of financial donations. These organizations range from Soldiers’ Angels – with the mission statement “may no soldier go unloved” – to Jews in Green – addressing the special needs of Jewish military personnel. And there are links to each organization’s website so that visitors to www.mrslieutenant.com can easily support U.S. deployed military personnel and/or their families back home.

Read Phyllis' and other Penn authors' advice on becoming a novelist

More Website Wednesday posts here

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Tuesday Tips: Advice for the Writer who Wants to Move Out to LA

Penn writers Phyllis Zimbler Miller (WG'80), Eric Barker (C'94), Hadley Davis (C'93), Josh Heald (C'00)

In this week's Tuesday Tips series, I have enlisted the help of my Penn alumni writer friends out here in Los Angeles to offer advice to the Penn undergrad or alum who has decided to move out to Los Angeles to pursue a writing career.

Between the four of them (Phyllis Zimbler Miller (WG'80), Eric Barker (C'94), Hadley Davis (C'93), and Josh Heald (C'00)), they have written for books, TV and Film and have offered up some great advice to all of you including answers to the following questions:

-What classes should you take?
-Writing programs to use?
-Registering your work
-Events for networking
-Groups to join?
-Best place in LA to write?
-Any other advice?

I too have chimed in based on my years being a writer in Los Angeles and all the lessons I have learned.

Click here to find out what our alumni writer panel has to say and/or add your own advice!

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This novelist is a “Breakthrough” semi-finalist

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (WG’80)’s novel “Mrs. Lieutenant: A Sharon Gold Novel” has been nominated as a semi-finalist for the first Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition.

Phyllis’ story is a personal one based on her own experiences in 1970 as one of 4 women who came together when their husbands went on active duty as officers in the U.S. Army.

Click here for synopsis of the book +/-

“They had their whole lives to look forward to if only their husbands could survive Vietnam.

In the spring of 1970 – right after the Kent State National Guard shootings and President Nixon’s two-month incursion into Cambodia – four newly married young women come together at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, when their husbands go on active duty as officers in the U.S. Army.

Different as these four women are, they have one thing in common: Their overwhelming fear that, right after these nine weeks of training, their husbands could be shipped out to Vietnam – and they could become war widows.

Sharon is a Northern Jewish anti-war protester who fell in love with an ROTC cadet; Kim is a Southern Baptist whose husband is intensely jealous; Donna is a Puerto Rican who grew up in an enlisted man’s family; and Wendy is a Southern black whose parents have sheltered her from the brutal reality of racism in America.”

One review from the Amazon book page for MRS. LIEUTENANT:
“All the books and movies I've seen about the Vietnam War are from the point of view of men. So it's really exciting to have a book that focuses on the point of view of women during that tumultuous time, and even more so women whose husbands have just voluntarily joined the army. I particularly appreciated the news items at the beginning of each chapter so that the context of the women's world is clear. And I enjoyed reading the information about how to be a good officer's wife. Taken all together, I think this is a unique and important look into a specific segment of women during a divisive period in American history.”

According to Phyllis, “I wrote this novel to preserve a record of a significant historical period for women – the experience of the wives of officers during the Vietnam War. I saved all the original documents from when I was a new Mrs. Lieutenant in the spring of 1970, and this novel is a dramatic representation of my experiences. I’m now working on MRS. LIEUTENANT IN EUROPE, which will involve being an officer’s wife in Germany during the Cold War – with even more original documentation.”

Check out the first few pages of the novel here and add a review of your own
(According to the competition instructions, the more reviews the more likely the judges will pay attention to Phyllis’ novel during the judging for the 10 finalists.)

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