| SPARKS: News & Notes from
Tiny Lights: A Journal of Personal Narrative
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Greetings!,
Fearlessness is on our minds this month, which makes for a great edition of Searchlights & Signal Flares!
The 2012 contest edition of Tiny Lights? Still working on it!
And for those of you trying to write in dangerous territory, may this video make a lovely metaphor for you.
Be brave and keep writing!
Have a memorable Thanksgiving!
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Searchlights & Signal Flares
Tiny Lights' Online Writers' Exchange
This month's question shone a new light on bravery:
Read what Margit Liesche, this month's featured writer, has discovered about courage, along with Bonus: This video of grandson Oskar inspired Margit's essay on fearlessness: This Month's Featured Writer: Margit Liesche
Margit Liesche is the daughter of Hungarian refugees who arrived in the States in 1947 following years of missionary service in war-torn central China. Weaned on her parents' tales of adventure and escape, Margit's passion is weaving actual events and historical figures into fiction. Her Pucci Lewis mystery series is published by Poisoned Pen Press. Lipstick and Lies and Hollywood Buzz take readers for a ride with the inimitable Pucci, a Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP), who encounters real life WWII-era spies and movie stars in sharply written adventures filled with intrigue. The Triptych, Margit's forthcoming novel, is set in 1986 Chicago and 1956 Budapest, drawing on her family history and illuminating mother/daughter relationships caught in the brutalities of war. Find out more about Margit at her website: http://www.margitliesche.com
How does fun factor into your writing? (Deadline: 11/15/12)
What drives your writing? (Deadline: 12/15/12
Send Searchlights submissions with bio (and title!) to editor@tiny-lights.com
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Important Announcement Regarding
The Tiny Lights Personal Essay Contest
No Contest in 2013!
Now's the time I usually start campaigning in earnest for the Tiny Lights' annual personal essay contest. After seventeen years, the urge borders on knee-jerk. Frankly, I don't know how I'm going to face this coming February without hundreds of essays to manage, but the muse who started me on this merry chase back in 1995 is telling me I have to take a break. New lights glimmer on the horizon. A sabbatical is in order to discover what they have to offer.
My thanks to the thousands of writers who have made this annual adventure so rich over the years. Wish me luck on my journey, and please stay tuned for what 2013 will bring to Tiny Lights!
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Truman Capote's
A Christmas Memory
Kick off your holiday season with this delightful interpretation of Truman Capote's early work. In his 1956 story, A Christmas Memory, Capote remembers when he was 10 years old and it was, "fruitcake weather." His holiday rituals are painted with loving and nostalgic strokes, becoming a truly memorable experience for all ages. Directed by Maureen Studer, featuring Jennifer March, Leslie Scatchard, John Ton December 7, Music 8:30pm, Show 9pm
December 8, Music 8:30pm, Show 9pm
December 9, Music 2pm, Show 2:30pm
Murray Rockowitz Photography Studio
128 Petaluma Blvd North
Petaluma, CA
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Contest and Call for Submissions
 Kate Farrell, Linda Joy Myers & Amber Lea Starfire, Editors Where were you in the 60s and 70s? Seeking women with telltale stories of that extraordinary era for a unique anthology: Times They Were A-Changing: Women Remember the 60s and 70s. Prizes will be awarded to the top three works, though all entries are eligible for publication: First Prize: $300, publication, and 5 copies Second Prize: 150, publication, and 3 copies Third Prize: $75, publication, and 2 copies Deadline: January 15, 2013 Entry fees: $20 for prose, $15 for poetry. For complete guidelines and to enter, go to: www.timestheywereachanging.com
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Flash in the Pan
Online Quarterly @ Tiny Lights
Continue to resist sending me Flash submissions for now! They will only feel lonely and neglected until I get caught up. Stay tuned!
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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Writers Forum of Petaluma
presents
Seré Prince Halverson
"My Long, Slippery, Uphill-Both-Ways Path to Publication"
November 15, 2012 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Petaluma Community Center, 320 No. McDowell Blvd.
$15 at the door
Twenty-five years, two marriages, four kids, one career as a copywriter, two agents and three novels later, The Underside of Joy was finally published by Dutton. Seré will share what she learned along the way, including: How to keep writing when it seems like it's the last thing you should be doing, Parting ways with an unenthusiastic agent, The query letter that rose out of the slush pile, Carving out time for a writer's retreat, Never, never, never, never give up, and more.
For Info: www.thewritespot.us
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This Restless Life by Levonne Gaddy
Sparks reader Levonne Gaddy wrote to me about following her star. The journey began with blogs about her three-year adventure with her husband as volunteer park caretakers and campground hosts in some of California's public parks, and is now leading her to create a book of photography, interpretive collage and stories with the help of funds from Kickstarter.
May her story inspire your own acts of creative fearlessness!
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Playwright's Forum
Are you an armchair playwright? Have a script all dressed up and nowhere to go? Would you like to have open constructive conversation about your play, scene or ideas? 6th Street Playhouse is introducing the Playwright's Forum. The forum is an ongoing group specifically designed for playwrights to have a place to meet and discuss their work. The group will be facilitated by Maureen Studer. Please bring up to 20 pages of your play and duplicate copies (enough for all readers to have their own copy). $10.00 per session.
Tuition: $10.00/session
When: Every 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month, 9AM to 12PM
Where: The 6th Street Playhouse
Fall Dates:
November 10
December 8
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Tiny Lights Recommends: Sonoma County Free Bookmobile Help bring free books to Sonoma County residents.
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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.
Print editions of Tiny Lights, which includes original art:
Current issue: $5 each
Back issues: $3 each
Checks payable to Tiny Lights Publications, P.O. Box 928, Petaluma, CA 94953
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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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