Dear Friends, Colleagues, & Contributors:
Send me your lists!
The Quotable Woman, The First 5,000 Years is undergoing a major revision–it’s  6th.  The new book will have 5,000 women and 20,000 quotations.  My goal, as always, is to be eclectic: notable women who are scientists, writers, athletes, artists, soldiers, politicians, inventors, musicians, physicians; movers and shakers from Nairobi, Spain, Uruguay, Greenland, the Ukraine and the U.S.A.; whether they were born in 1950 B.C.E. or 1950 C.E., they’ll be there!
Here is your opportunity to send me the names of notable women you would like to see in the next edition.  Please don’t state the obvious: Hillary is there, and so is Eleanor as well as current national American figures like Michelle Obama, Jill Biden, and Nancy Pelosi. And please don’t tell me to include your mother (unless, of course, she’s famous)!  But I am just one person; it’s so easy to overlook someone wonderful, who has had some worldly success, and is highly quotable.
To ensure inclusion, send some info about the women on your list: year of birth (and death), nationality, ethnicity, occupations, major achievements.  If you have some quotations, that would be even better (if you do, though, be sure to include the source of the quotations, else I can’t use them).
But mainly–whether it’s one suggestion or one hundred–send me your list today!  Feel free to pass this on.  And make sure and the subject heading reads: The Quotable Woman: Lists.
Thanks.

In sisterhood,
Elaine
Elaine Bernstein Partnow

www.TheQuotableWoman.com <http://www.thequotable/>

The Power of Words conference is to be held Sept. 3-7, 2009 at Goddard College in Plainfield, VT and we are seeking your workshop proposals!  We invite your proposals for experiential, didactic, and/or performance-based workshops that focus on writing, storytelling, drama, film, songwriting, narrative medicine and other forms of TLA. Because we are strongly committed to including individuals from diverse backgrounds, we also encourage workshop proposals from people of color, or proposals that focus on social change, the spoken or sung word, and how to make a living using transformative language arts in service to our communities.
To learn more, and to submit a workshop proposal, please see http://www.tlanetwork.org/conference/ where you can download the workshop proposal form.  Please note that presenters aren’t paid for their presentations, but they do receive a 10% discount on their conference registration fees.  For further information, please contact Heather Mandell at heather@tlanetwork.org. The deadline to submit a workshop proposal is January 15th, 2009.
The international conference is a project of the Transformative Language Arts Network www.tlanetwork.org/ and the Transformative Language Arts MA degree and brings together writers, storytellers, musicians, educators, activists, healers, health professionals, community leaders and more to explore how the written, spoken and sung word can bring transformation to individuals and communities.   The 2009 conference features keynoters Lewis Mehl-Madrona, MD, physician, author, and narrative medicine pioneer who uses story as a mode of healing; Kayhan Irani, creator of Artivista, an organization that combines art and activism as a form of political expression and engagement; John Fox, poet, author, poetry therapist and founder of Poetic Medicine; Dovie Thomason, award-winning Native American storyteller; Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg award-winning author of several books including Write Where You Are and Lot’s Wife;  Sherry Reiter, poetry therapy pioneer; and Terry Hauptman, a painter and poet who has authored several poetry collections.

Dodge Poetry Festival YouTube Updates!
New updates added to the Dodge Poetry Festival’s YouTube channel feature Kurtis Lamkin (left) and Andrew Motion (below left) from the 11th biennial Festival, September 28  – October 1, 2006 at Waterloo Village in Stanhope, NJ.

Visit the Dodge Poetry Festival channel on YouTube.

Essay Contest Guidelines
http://www.tiny-lights.com/contest.php
15th Annual Contest Deadline: February 14, 2009
Tiny Lights invites entries that feature a distinctive voice,  conflict and an eventual shift in the narrator’s perspective. We are looking for writers who weave the struggle to understand into the fabric of their essays.
We can only consider unpublished work, or previously published material for which the author holds rights. Rights revert to author after publication in Tiny Lights.

Each essay must be accompanied by an entry fee: $15 for first essay, $10 each additional essay. Make checks payable to: Tiny Lights Publications. Mail to: P.O. Box 928, Petaluma, CA 94953.
SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope) recommended for feedback/contest notification. One envelope for multiple submissions OK.

Essays may be submitted in one of two categories:
STANDARD (no longer than 2,000 words) or
FLASHPOINT (no more than 1,000 words)
Please indicate preferred category on ms.
Entries should be typed and double-spaced.
Cover letters are optional, but ideally the title page of the manuscript should include author’s name, complete address, e-mail, phone number, and essay word count. Essay title and page number in header or footer OK. Author name should not appear there.
Personal essay requires writers to communicate the truth of their experiences to the best of their abilities. While no theme restrictions apply to this contest, we will not consider essays that celebrate brutality or gratuitous violence. Tiny Lights does not accept poetry, short stories, or material written for children. Entry fees for inappropriate submissions may not be returned.

Entries must be postmarked by February 14, 2009.
First Place: $350 Second Place: $250 Third Place: $150
Two Honorable Mention Prizes: $100 each.
Three FLASHPOINT prizes of $100 are also offered. Awards will be determined by a panel of judges. Final authority rests with the Editor-in-Chief, Susan Bono.

Winners will be posted at www.tiny-lights.com by April 11th, 2009

Winning essays may be edited before publication. Final copy must be approved by writer. No essays published without author’s permission.

All contestants will receive a hard copy of Tiny Lights’ contest publication featuring the winning entries.

A few words about hard copy submissions: I know it’s old-fashioned, cumbersome and expensive for you to send us your entries via snail mail. Someday, I’ll have to invest in the software that allows us to manage electronic submissions. But until we learn to enjoy scrolling through hundreds of essays on computer screens, you’ll just have to put up with us sprawling on couches and beds, sitting at the kitchen table or in a sunny window or a rocking chair or a dentist’s waiting room reading every single word you send us. We’re old-fashioned enough to believe it’s important. Inquiries may be addres
sed to <editor(at)tiny-lights.com> (replace (at) with @)
editor@tiny-lights.com.

Kelly Sonora writes that  an article about Google applications of use to writers is newly posted!

WIR contributor Alle Hall instructs:

Is the industry conspiring to keep you from publishing your poems, essays,
short fiction and articles? In one afternoon, the gal behind the popular
Hugo InPrint series will demystify, using a pre-mailed syllabus one student
called “chock-full of publishing info; insider tips, lists of Best Places to
publish new writers.” You will learn: Whom to send to and how to find them.
How to build a book. Whether to send the manuscript, or query? What’s a
query? Through written exercises, students will generate lists of venues to
query, and draft queries.

January 31, 2009 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Min: 5 Max: 15
General: $95.00
Members: $85.50
http://www.hugohouseservices.org/home/Class/DisplayClass.aspx?CatalogID=9#Gr
oup5

National Prize of $1000.00 will be awarded for a single, unpublished poem that has not won first prize in any national competition. Open to all U.S. residents 18 years and older.
Regional Prize of $250.00 will be awarded for a single, unpublished poem (that has not won first prize in any national competition) by a resident of Cape Cod, Nantucket, or Martha’s Vineyard, 18 years and older . All Cape and Islands poets are also eligible for the National Award.
Pulizer Prize winner Maxine Kumin is the judge

Submit up to three poems of any style or subject totaling no more than five pages with an entry fee of $15.00 by January 15th, 2009 (postmark). All entries should be typewritten on plain, white paper. The poet’s name should not appear on any page except the cover page, which should include name, address, phone number, and email address, the titles of the poems submitted, and a one-paragraph bio. “Contest Entry” should be clearly indicated on both the outer envelope and the cover sheet.  Email to lwolkculturalccc@verizon.net for more information.

The 2008 TLS Poetry Competition has been won by Susan Rich, of Seattle,
WA, for her poem “Different Places To Pray”. She receives $4,000.

Congratulations, Susan!

The deadline is coming up December 31st!

If you are ready to renew your subscription or are not yet a subscriber, the $45 dollar contest fee which includes a year’s subscription to Writing It Real as well as my response to three poems or up to six double-spaced pages of prose is a good deal.  If you’d like to enter the contest but have the 12-month subscription go to someone else, let us know at info@writingitreal.com. I can offer my response to your writing and create the subscription as a gift to someone you’d like to have it.

The guidelines are here–remember to have your submission uploaded or post marked by December 31.

This week we are posting a holiday double issue: one article for December 18 which is a review of Margaret McGee’s Book, Sacred Attention: A Spiritual Practice for Finding God in the Moment and one for December 25, which is an interview with the author.

I hope you’ll comment here and let us know how you have found that writing helps you pay attention and what kind of observations enrich your writing and your spirit. And if you find Margaret McGee’s ideas helpful, let us know how you use them.