| SPARKS: News & Notes from
Tiny Lights: A Journal of Personal Narrative
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A few glorious weeks of heavy rain here in California and now the earth is heaving forth its green right on schedule. But after such a dry winter, how will our drought affect the coming summer? What kind of stories will we be telling as winter, wet or dry, closes around us again? For some of you, Tiny Lights has been around so long it's hard to imagine your inbox without it. But by October, it will be archived on my personal website, like springtime flowers pressed into an album. So I invite you to partake of TL's living greeness while you can! Enjoy the latest Flash in the Pan and finally make good on your promise to send some responses to Searchlights & Signal Flares questions. Nothing lasts forever, and that's a good thing. If you don't believe me, watch this "60 Minutes" interview with Bob Dylan.  | | Bob Dylan talks about change |
But no matter what comes or goes, Keep Writing!
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Take Me Out to the Ballgame!
April 10, 11, 12 - 17, 18, 19
7:30 p.m.
Clear Heart Stage 90 Jessie Lane, Petaluma
Petaluma Reader's Theatre pays tribute to baseball just in time for spring training. Their encore production of this popular show includes old favorites:
"Who's on First"
and
"Casey at the Bat" www.petalumareaderstheatre.comWear your fan regalia to the show to be entered in a drawing for A's and Giants tickets. Peanuts and Crackerjack will be served! I'll be attending on April 12--See you there?
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The 10th Annual Point Reyes Writing Retreat
Friday, June 13, 2014 - 6:00pm to
Monday, June 16, 2014 - 2:00pm
For ten years, intrepid writers have joined this retreat in the wilderness of words and come away with many treasures. This year we are adding an optional extra day, because those who have attended in the past are never ready to leave on Sunday! Workshops on poetry and essay include writing in nature as a means to look, listen, feel, and think more deeply; writing to express our relationship to the natural world. There is also time to write, rest, and wander during the day. Our potluck dinners are followed by evening discussions, reading, and writing. Patti and Susan are supportive and inspiring teachers: they create a respectful and energetic environment where excellent new writing happens! The class is open to anyone who wants to write about (or in) nature. All levels welcome. Accommodations included at the Historic Lifeboat Station. (The photo is of the trail to nearby Chimney Rock.) For Information Register Now
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Flash in the Pan
Online Quarterly @ Tiny Lights
It's here! The next-to-the-last
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 throughout the year on the Tiny Lights website.
Go to:Flash in the Pan
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Searchlights & Signal Flares
Tiny Lights' Online Writers' Exchange
Stay tuned for answers to the May Searchlights question: "How does control factor into your writing?"
Let's make the most of these last few Searchlights! There are only a few more opportunities to join the conversation that's been going nonstop since 2002! Go to the Searchlights & Signal Flares Guidelines page to find out how to send a light. Here are the last questions you'll have a chance to answer: How does control factor into your writing? (04/25/14) What do you owe your audience? (05/15/14) How do you feel about endings? (07/15/14)
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WriteWays to Happiness II 
An Exploration of the Art and Science of Well-Being
Spirit Mountain Retreat Center
With Susan Bono and Joan Zerrien
Recent research in neuro-plasticiy indicates that mindful practices,including writing, alter the underlying structure of the brain, giving us the opportunity to cultivate lasting calm, confidence and contentment. Your well-being is not only valuable to yourself; it affects everyone around you.
WriteWays to Happiness II is a weekend designed for writers and non-writers to expand your capacity for happiness through writing prompts, art materials, meditation and group sharing in a safe and nurturing environment.Introducing new material since our Retreat in 2011, we are deeply pleased to be back at Spirit Mountain Retreat, a truly magical and inspiring environment. Arrangements can be made for longer stays in this deeply restorative place.
Dates: Saturday, July 12 and Sunday, July 13, 2014
Time: Saturday 9 am to Sunday noon
Fees: $225.00 - Includes workshop, accommodations on Saturday night, Saturday meals and Sunday breakfast (For accommodations on Friday night add $50.00)
Commuters: $160.00 - Includes workshop and lunch and dinner on Saturday
Registration:
Call: 951-659-2523 or info@spiritmountainretreat.org
Deposit: $50.00 is due by July 5 (participants limited to 14)
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Accessing the Story Within
An Artists Colony at Emandal Farm  16500 Hearst Post Office Road
Willits, California 95490 October 1-5, 2014
Come with me to Emandal Farm in early October to celebrate the change of seasons. The afternoon air will still be summer warm, but the shadows will be richer and the autumn constellations will burn even brighter! Emandal's home-grown, family style food, the magnificent Eel River, and the company of other writers, artists and photographers will help prepare you for a long winter drawn close to your creative home fires. Bring a project to finish or a blank slate upon which to begin. Writers of all genres and levels welcome. Our work together is structured to facilitate your progress and give you time to write. Dare to mark your calendar! Give yourself time to pursue a dream (or let a dream pursue you).
Please contact Tamara at tamara@emandal.com or (707) 459-5439 for registration or questions regarding the facility. Email me Sbono@comcast.net to find out more about the writing program.
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for beginning and experienced writers
...the most personal of the programs
--The New York Times
...dynamic, inspiring, invigorating, supportive
--James Lasdun,
The Horned Man (Harper 2002)
learn to read and work like a writer
writing methods from a Pulitzer Prize winning writer
experience the freedom of persona writing
10-week sessions in San Francisco Information:
415-321-9728
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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 |
presents
Lynn Cook Henriksen
Keeping Spirits Alive: Tap Memory & Write Memoir
April 17, 2014 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Petaluma Community Center, 320 No. McDowell Blvd.
$10 at the door
Lynn Cook Henriksen
LYNN HENRIKSEN, author of TellTale Souls Writing the Mother Memoir, invites you into the spirited and soulful world of the Mother Memoir, where the focus is on "Keeping Spirits Alive." This is the place to start before you write another word. Writing with honesty about intimate, often trying, relationships is the most valuable form of writing--it's an eye-opening, essential process.
http://www.telltalesouls.com * www.thestorywoman.com
Lynn is a member of California Writers Club, Marin and past president of the Women's National Book Association, San Francisco.
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Tiny Lights Recommends
This insomniac's take on
Patty Hearst, Marina Oswald,
Vegas weddings,
sleepwalking murderers & more!
Published by Stephen F. Austin State University Press
"Kat Meads can be funny, eloquent, enlightening and exciting-all in one
compelling essay after another."
-Lee Gutkind, Founder and Editor, Creative Nonfiction
Available from Powells, Amazon, etc.
Tiny Lights contributor Kat Meads teaches in Oklahoma City University's
Red Earth MFA program. (www.katmeads.com)
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Since 1995, Tiny Lights has been celebrating the power of personal voice. Although we no longer produce a print edition of the magazine, the online manifestation of Tiny Lights provides a venue for unique voices and resources for writers of personal essay. Sparks: Email News & Notes is our free monthly electronic newsletter.
Print editions of Tiny Lights, which include original art:
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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