| SPARKS: News & Notes from
Tiny Lights: A Journal of Personal Narrative
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Greetings!,
You were on my mind when I took over 200 SASEs with rejected contest entries to the post office today. With each handful I pressed through the mail slot, I sent thanks for all those wonderful words.
Yes, the contest scores are tallied, the winners announced (see website). If you don't find your name on the list, I hope you'll think, "I'll be there next year!" And if your name is blazing among the victors, celebrate like crazy, never forgetting how many "no's" were needed to get your "yes."
Writers, you have proven your courage and talent once again! Thank you for your stories!! And if you're in need of a pep talk to keep going, try this one by Ray Bradbury.
 | | Ray Bradbury speaks about WRITING! |
Don't stop! Keep writing! Susan Bono, Editor
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 There's Still Time to Join Us! 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. Build a bridge to another culture. See what we have planned on Yesim's Writing Istanbul website! For rates and and registration For questions and information: sbono@tiny-lights.com
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Tiny Lights
18th Annual Personal Essay Contest 
Tiny Lights is ecstatic to announce this year's contest winners:
First Prize: $350
Philadelphia Zoo (Field Notes) by Eleanor Stanford Second Prize: $250
Afraid of the Dark by Kathryn Wilder Third Prize: $150
Camille's Kid, The Circus Girl by Richard Jay Goldstein Honorable Mentions: $100 Each Open Wide by Traci Moore
The Glass Wall by Jeffrey L. Schneider Flashpoint Essay Winners: $100 Each
In the Dead of Night by Margaret Rose
St. Jude and the Telltale Heart by Barbara Shine
Footsteps by Gillian P. Herbert Please check the website for the Essays of Merit. Thanks to all who shared their stories with us this year. You helped create a noteworthy competition. The contest edition of Tiny Lights will be mailed to all participants this summer. |
8th Annual Point Reyes Writing Retreat
June 8-10, 2012
This could be your view from the Lifeboat Station on the remote tip of Point Reyes National seashore, home to sea lions, cormorants, and wildflowers, (and writers for one weekend a year!).
Join Susan Bono and Patti Trimble for a program designed to give you time to write, wander, and share your work in progress.
For information and registration: www.ptreyes.org
June 8-10 7 p.m. Friday to 4 p.m. Sunday $190 ($180 Members)
Rustic Accommodations at the historic Lifeboat Station included.
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Searchlights & Signal Flares
Tiny Lights' Online Writers' Exchange 
On a good day, we don't question why we do it. We're like the dogs who ride along with their heads thrust out the car window--glorying in the ride, caring nothing for the destination. But for those days when you can't get the car out of park, we've engaged the help of savvy writers to answer the question,
Read what Joan Zerrien this month's featured writer, has to say on the subject, along with our other contributors:
This Month's Featured Writer: Joan Zerrien
What are you afraid to write about?
(Deadline 5/15/12)
Send Searchlights submissions with bio (and title!) to editor@tiny-lights.com
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 Wisdom Has a Voice: Every Daughter's Memories of Mother
25 diverse and compelling memoirs about Mother Edited by Kate Farrell A Perfect Gift for Mothers' Day! Amazon.com or special order at your bookstore Paperback $14.99, e-Book $7.99 www.wisdomhasavoice.com |
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Flash in the PanOnline Quarterly
The Twenty-seventh Flash in the Pan!
Rainbow by Karn Belgard
Expanding Boundaries by Arlene L. Mandell
Eight by Laurel Aiona
Believe by Carol Hoorn
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 |
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Loving Where We Are
Poems of Sacred Geography
An evening of poetry
to honor and celebrate this land that so generously holds us
April 20th - Friday 7-9 pm
Sebastopol United Methodist Church
500 North Main St. (across from Safeway)
With poets including:
Bill Vartnaw, Terry Ehret, Gwynn O'Gara, Penelope LaMontagne,
Larry Robinson, Katherine Hastings, Phyllis Meshulam, Iris Dunkle,
Judith Stone, Bruce Fortin,
Suggested donation $10 - no one turned away.
Proceeds to the Laguna Foundation, The United Methodist Church and the Zen Occidental Laguna Sangha
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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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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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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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