| SPARKS: News & Notes from
Tiny Lights: A Journal of Personal Narrative
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Greetings!,
What do you mean, you haven't sent your entry to
Tiny Lights' 18th Annual Writing Contest?
The deadline is February 17, so you still have time!
If you need some help getting in good with your muse, read this month's Searchlights & Signal Flares. And for some inspiration to keep writing, a short video:
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Northern Exposure - Northern Lights - Chris Stevens (Enya - Ebudae)
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Susan Bono, Editor
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Tiny Lights
18th Annual Personal Essay Contest 
Deadline: February 17, 2012
You have a story in you, waiting to be given to the world. Tiny Lights is looking for essays that feature a distinctive voice, discernible conflict and an eventual shift in the narrator's perspective.
Prizes for essays up to 2,000 words will be awarded as follows:
- First Place: $350
- Second Place: $250
- Third Place: $150
- Two Honorable Mention Prizes: $100 each.
Three FLASHPOINT prizes of $100 are also offered for work up to 1,000 words.
artwork by Judith Stephenson |
 Writing Istanbul
Istanbul, Turkey w/ Sheila Bender, Susan Bono & Yesim Cimcoz Writing Istanbul Conference: May 11-15, 2012 3-day optional trip to Ephesus, Selcuk, Pamukkale: May 16-18 The Spice Market, the Blue Mosque, dervishes, Turkish baths, ancient ruins, and more! Experience these wonders in the company of writers. Give yourself and your writing a whole new perspective. Safe. Affordable. Remarkable. For rates and details or on Sheila's site For questions and information: sbono@tiny-lights.com
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Searchlights & Signal Flares
Tiny Lights' Online Writers' Exchange 
We humans know enough to hedge our bets. We want to be ready for any contingency. We've got our short lists of what we'd grab in case of fire or natural disaster even if we don't actually believe we'll ever be afflicted. What if the Writing Fairy were as real as floods and not just a figment of my imagination? Better to be like the writers this month who have given some thought to the question:
What would you ask from the Writing Fairy? Read what David S. Johnson this month's featured writer, has to say on the subject, along with our other contributors this month: This Month's Featured Writer: David S. Johnson
David S. Johnson is a biologist whose knack for turning a thin thread into a juicy yarn has delighted me for years now. He is currently earning his keep as a visiting assistant prof in the biology department at Sewanee: The University of the South in Sewanee, TN, where he is teaching Introduction to Field Studies and Invertebrate Zoology, "the coolest of all the -ologies," in his opinion. His work has been probably been published in professional journals, but I only know about the strange and wonderful work he's done for Tiny Lights.
How do you know what to cut?
(Deadline 2/15/12)
Send Searchlights submissions with bio (and title!) to editor@tiny-lights.com
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Speakeasy Literary Saloon
Leap Day, February 29
7-9 p.m. Aqus Cafe, Petaluma, CA  On this rare night, an assembly of stellar talent!
Celebrate Leap Day with featured authors:
Jonah Raskin
Jean Hegland
Patti TrimbleJoy Lanzedorfer
Timothy Williams
Bring a piece of your own writing (5 min.) for a chance at one of two open mic slots! Information about the performers and Directions to Aqus.
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Flash in the Pan Online Quarterly
Coming Soon!
The Twenty-seventh Flash in the Pan!
(Now in its seventh year! Even if it's late, it's solid gold!)
Guidelines
What is a Flash in the Pan? It's life caught in the blaze of a match, a beam of moonlight, the glare of a home-made explosion. These pieces of first-person non-fiction prose (500 words or less) are like potato chips--you won't be able to stop with just one. Our gems are posted quarterly in January, April, July and October on the Tiny Lights website. A select few appear in the hard copy editions of the magazine. Send your jewels to editor@tiny-lights.com.
Go to:Flash in the Pan
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Read issues at www.echapbook.com See www.echapbook.com/submissions.htm for submissions guidelines. Contact Publisher Jo-Anne Rosen: echaps@wordrunner.com |
 Make a wish and SUBSCRIBE to the print edition of Tiny Lights
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Petaluma Readers Theatre Presents Sweet & Sour Stories, poems & essays on the foibles & fables of relationships Featuring work by: Simone Wilson, Armando Garcia Davila, Susan Swartz, Judith Moorman, Susan Bono, Robin Beeman, Nancy Long, and Karen Eberhardt-Shelton 4 performances: Opening March 10 at the Occidental Center for the Arts, March 22 at the French Garden in Sebastopol, March 23rd and 24th at Petaluma Art Gallery. For information about Petaluma Readers Theatre |
Iota Press is a letterpress shop and literary studio in Sebastopol.
Along with the usual enchantment and shenanigans, Iota's Slow Print Cooperative has morphed into a quarterly offering of little books. "Almost a journal. Nearly a magazine. Kind of a trip." $30 per year for 4 chapbooks. $10 single copies.
Location: 925-c Gravenstein Hwy in South Sebastopol (next to "Beekind").
Contact: Eric Johnson....823-6152 Our latest works online at: www.iotapress.com
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Tiny Lights Recommends: Sonoma County Free Bookmobile Help bring free books to Sonoma County residents. ***************
Walking With Your Muse: weekly writing practice classes in Santa Rosa with Margaret Caminsky Shapiro: 707-575-8820
www.handwritingonline.net
****************** Marlene Cullen hosts this series of writing workshops on the third Thursday of the month from 7-9 p.m. at the Petaluma Community Center. Call 778-4380 (Petaluma Community Center) or visit www.thewritespot.us for info. $15 at the door ******************** Online Classes with Ken Rodgers
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For reservations, or more information call: OCA 707 874 9392. OCA is located in Harmony Village in downtown Occidental at 4008 Bohemian Hwy.
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Since 1995, Tiny Lights has been celebrating the power of personal voice with a biannual journal devoted to short essay. The annual essay contest, which offers $1500 in prizes, provides the material for the summer issue, while the winter issue is by invitation only.
The online component of Tiny Lights is designed to catch what can't be contained in the pages of the newsstand editions. Lights Online provides a venue for additional voices, information about Tiny Lights and resources for writers of personal essay. Sparks: Email News & Notes is our free monthly electronic newsletter.
Subscriptions to the print edition of Tiny Lights, which includes original art:
$10 per year (2 issues)
Current issue: $5 each
Back issues: $3 each Checks payable to Tiny Lights Publications, P.O. Box 928, Petaluma, CA 94953
Or take advatage of our new PayPal feature!
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 Susan Bono, Editor
Tiny Lights Publications
P.O. Box 928, Petaluma, CA 94953
(707) 762-3208
www.tiny-lights.com |
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