Welcome!
The Gulf Coast Writers Association is proud to provide a forum for fellowship, education, and information for writers in our community. Whether you write for pleasure or profit, you’ll find support from our members. And with an average of 175 members, there’s always encouragement and friendly guidance to help you improve your writing skills. Plus, our monthly speakers’ events are informative and fun, providing expert advice on topics such as writing techniques, publishing, marketing, and others. So no matter what your genre: general fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children’s, young adult, historical fiction, romance, mystery/thriller, memoirs, and more, you’re in good company. Check out our website and see what exciting things we have in store for you.
Announcements
GCWA MARCH, APRIL, MAY, and JUNE 2020 MEETINGS CANCELED
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, we canceled our general meetings and the executive committee meetings.
I have tried to post any other event cancellations on the website, but don’t have information on all events. Before you plan to attend any event, be sure to check to see if it is still scheduled.
Election of GCWA 2020 officers will take place at our July meeting.
The GCWA writing contest winners received their prizes by mail and will be invited to attend a meeting later this year to celebrate and read their winning submissions. The winning entries are posted on the website. See winning entries here.
Send your suggestions for speakers or topics at meetings this year to Bob McCarthy.
Handouts from Bob and Judy’s presentation on Self-Publishing
Legal handouts from Anne Dalton’s November Presentation
Presentation slides from Charley Valera’s October Presentation
Submit your ideas for Workshops
Visit our new page for Blogs, Podcasts, and Webinars for writers.
Interested in joining a new critique or reading group? [list of current groups]
July 2020 — We’re Back
Speaker: Craig Handel
Topic: Keys to Good Interviewing Techniques
For more than 40 years, Craig Handel has written for newspapers in Wisconsin, Arizona, California, Massachusetts and Florida, with his stories being picked up by newspapers in the United States and beyond.
Quality writing is helped by being a good interviewer, which means being a good listener and asking good questions. Many times, we need to talk to people to get a better understanding of the subject we’re writing of.
Craig Handel, who has 40 years of experience in journalism, will give a short talk on the keys to good interviewing techniques. He also has prepared an exercise for members of the audience. So bring your pens, notebooks and recording devices.
Meeting: July 18, 2020, 10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon
Location: [map] Southwest Florida Military Museum & Library
4820 Leonard Street
Cape Coral, Florida 33904
New Writing Game
Join Us!
Gulf Coast Writers provide ideas, support, encouragement, resources and networking opportunities to fellow writers. Don’t miss out on all the great speakers we have planned for the upcoming year. Click button below to learn what you will get within our association. Only $40 annual ($50 for families). Come join the fun!
LIKE our Facebook page and check out our meeting photos.
Dear Members: Renew now! We value your membership and don’t want you to miss the exciting events we have planned for this year. Dues are payable from Fall until January 31. If you haven’t renewed and plan to attend our next meeting, please bring your money or check with you. Or you can pay today! Simply click the Membership Application tab and renew your membership online via PayPal. If you aren’t sure if you have paid your membership dues, please e-mail website@GulfWriters.org.
Latest Good News
If there is an ellipsis (…) at the end of a post here, that means there is more to read. To read a complete post, click on the headline. Or, if you want to scroll through ALL of our Good News, Click Here for more good news. Good news is for members only. If you would like to join in the fun, visit the Membership Application Page to learn more about joining. If you are are a GCWA member with Good News, please send email to website@gulfwriters.org.
Andrew Conlyn’s New Book Available
Andrew Conlyn published a science fiction novel The Venus Prophecy in May 2020. It is available on Amazon.Sloan Jordan publishes book
Sloan Jordan has published her first book, A Life Filled With Music: My accidental journey through America's Iconic Musical Performances. Her [...]Susan Grunin’s children’s book published
Susan Grunin's first children's book, Life Lessons and Tales of Little MisFit, was published on May 29, 2020. "Congrats from London Publisher, [...]
Events
We get a lot of upcoming events sent to us, from all over Florida and even beyond. If there is an ellipsis (…) at the end of a post here, that means there is more to read. To read a complete post, click on the headline. Take a look at all the events. You can Click Here for more Events, and you can go to our calendar to see those that are posted in our local Lee county and surrounding areas. If you are affiliated with a group that is hosting an event that is relevant to authors, please send email to website@gulfwriters.org.
Writer’s Digest Annual Conference 2020
Writer’s Digest Annual Conference 2020 is going VIRTUAL! New Dates: November 5 –7, 2020 The Writer’s Digest Annual Conference—NEW DATES: [...]Pine Island Writers Zoom Meetings
Pine Island Writers ARE holding Zoom meetings every Monday at 7 pm. If anyone would like to join us, please have them contact Chai Voris for the [...]FAPA CONFERENCE CANCELED
FLORIDA AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS ANNUAL CONFERENCE July 31 - AUG 1 - CANCELED After careful consideration and weighing all factors, the [...]
Writing Contests
If there is an ellipsis (…) at the end of a post here, that means there is more to read. To read a complete post, click on the headline. Or, if you want to scroll through ALL of Writing Contests we have heard about, Click Here for more writing contests. If you are affiliated with a group that is hosting a writing contest, please send email to website@gulfwriters.org.
WOW! Women On Writing Q4 2020 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest
WOW! is proud to introduce our newest essay contest! The mission of this contest is to inspire creative nonfiction and provide well-rewarded [...]WOW! Summer 2020 Flash Fiction Contest
SUMMER 2020 FLASH FICTION CONTEST Deadline: 08/31/2020 OVERVIEW: WOW! hosts a (quarterly) writing contest every three months, [...]Aesthetica Creative Writing Award
Aesthetica Magazine is looking for new writing talent and we want to make sure as many writers know about the opportunities with the Aesthetica [...]
Announcements and Opportunities
If there is an ellipsis (…) at the end of a post here, that means there is more to read. To read a complete post, click on the headline. Or, if you want to scroll through ALL of our Announcements, Click Here for more announcements. Also, if you would like to make an announcement of your own, please send email to website@gulfwriters.org.
Writers on the Air
Every Sunday, WKDW 97.5 FM nonprofit radio invites amateur writers, poets, and comedians to perform or read on its program "Writers on the Air." [...]Submit ideas for workshops
At the November 2019 GCWA meeting, we asked what workshops people would like to attend. The following are current requests for workshops. [...]Volunteers wanted for Writers on the Air
WANTED: Volunteer Tech for non-profit radio station WKDW 97.5 FM open mic radio show, "Writers on the Air" on Sundays in North Port at 12735 US [...]
GCWA officers
Meet the officers and directors for 2018/19.
Members Poetry and Prose
See the latest contributions by our members, Lorraine Walker Williams, Jim Gustafson and Joe Pacheco. Send your own poetry and short prose to website@gulfwriters.org.
New GCWA meeting agenda
We are replacing our long business meetings with contributions from our members. If you would like to speak at one of our meetings, please contact Bob McCarthy at Programs@GulfWriters.org or Irene Smith at Membership@GulfWriters.org
Information wanted
GCWA members — send us your photos, your bios, your books to be listed on the website — email website@gulfwriters.org.
Visit your local book stores
There are several book stores who sell books by local authors. Visit, buy books, check on selling your books on their shelves. List of stores
Looking for Word Song editor
Due to time constraints our News Magazine WORD SONG is needing an Executive Editor with MailChimp experience in order to continue. If you would like to know more about it, please email TheWord@gulfwriters.org We will continue to send out a basic meeting announcement until then. If you are not seeing these emails, please search your SPAM and PROMOTIONS folder and then add the address to your contacts list. Or contact membership@gulfwriters.org to verify that your email is in the system. You can click here to see the current edition and get instructions for how to find our emails.
Services page on website
We have added a Writing Services page to the website. GCWA members, if you have a writing-related business you would like listed, please contact website@gulfwriters.org. No fancy ads, just listings for editors, illustrators, publishers, ghost writers, website designers, etc.