2014/6 — Gary McLouth

Gulf Coast Writers Association

President Gary McLouth
President’s Letter # 1
June 2, 2014

GWCA Colleagues,

It’s a challenge, a privilege, an opportunity and an honor to be your president. For one thing, I get to practice that hallowed form of expostulatory rhetoric dunned by Facebook, Twitter, Hither and Yon. For another, it reminds me that there’s always something to write when I don’t feel like writing. Deadlines treat writer’s block without prejudice. And, I admit that I’ve extended my deadline on this missive by a number of days. I recall the words of a former boss: “Don’t explain; don’t complain.” Yeah, but…

Our last two meetings have been well organized and thoughtfully programmed. I see this as the signature of our executive board’s ability, and I sense that the GCWA is building momentum as an influential force for the writing arts in SW Florida. It is not by chance that we gather at this fountain, seeking to rededicate ourselves to the service of our muses. I am always conscious of those I’ve learned from and those I’ve admired in my writing life, and I know you’ve gained inspiration from one, or many, on your way here. We owe them our best efforts to be as good to our craft as they were good to theirs. A minute of silence might remind us that we are not here alone.

At this writing, I feel like lighting fires in the smoldering hearts of poets and writers, mounting the plays of dramatists, and burnishing the scripts of film makers. After a life of striking matches, I feel fortunate to have fanned flickering lights of promise from time to time. The Gulf Coast Writers Association gives us all the opportunity to make some light, and striking together, we can glow.

“First in the heart is the dream/then the mind starts seeking a way”
Langston Hughes from Freedom’s Plow, Vintage Bks. 1959