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 2019 Writing Contest winners and their entries are posted
on the contest page!
Meet your Officers and Directors for 2019
Ghost Writer wanted
Interested in joining a new critique or reading group? [list of current groups] Looking for new members for your critique group? Contact Al York.
New Writing Game
August 2019
Judy Loose
Judy will show you where to find writing contests, events, resources for writing and the business of writing. She will introduce you to GCWA members and their books. She will take you on a tour of all the information that is available on our website. Come to the meeting with ideas about how to improve or add to the website.
Judy is the current Website Manager for Gulf Coast Writers Association. She has been designing and building websites for 20 years at her company LooseLinks.com. She is an Information services professional and certified in Web Design. If it has to do with computers she has done it, from pulling wires through the ceiling and taking the computer apart to make it work, to implementing and managing complete corporate systems. She is also a writer (www.januscode.com, www.mangrovemadness.com, and www.jcferguson.net). Currently, In addition to designing websites, she designs book covers and formats books for self-published authors. Judy’s blog: onReadingandWriting.com
Next Meeting: August 17, 2019 10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon
Location: [map] Zion Lutheran Church,
7401 Winkler Rd, Fort Myers, FL 33919
First time guests free
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.
Joe Pacheco on WGCU radio
NPR station WGCU, 90.1 FM will broadcast my Moon Day poem on Friday, July 19, at the following times: Morning Edition 8:45 AM All [...]2019 PoetryFest on WGCU, 90.1 FM
2019 PoetryFest on WGCU, 90.1 FM, Gulf Coast Live Thursday, April 4, 1:00 The 2019 PoetryFest was featured on 90.1 FM WGCU's Gulf Coast Live, [...]Jill Jennings New Book of Poetry is Published
Pineapple Wine: Poems of Maui, Jill Jennings' third full-length book of poetry,was published in December 2018. It is available for $12.95 from [...]
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.
Creative Writing Workshop in the Vineyards of Tuscany
IN VINO VERITAS Creative Writing Workshop in the Vineyards of Tuscany September 1 – 7, 2019 Alison MacLeod (Author of Unexploded, long-listed [...]Kauai Writers Conference
Kauai Writers Conference November 4-10, 2019 The Kauai Writers Conference has just published its complete general conference schedule, [...]21st Century Storytelling with Nathan Hill
Nathan Hill, best-selling author of THE NIX, brings a four-part lecture series on storytelling in the 21st century to the FGCU community. This [...]
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 Summer 2019 Flash Fiction Contest
WOW! Women On Writing Summer 2019 Flash Fiction Contest Deadline: August 31, 2019 Guest Judge: Literary Agent Kaitlyn Johnson with the [...]WOW! Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest
WOW! Women On Writing Q4 2019 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest Deadline: July 31, 2019 Seeking creative nonfiction essays on any topic [...]Summer Short Story Award
Now accepting your submissions for the Masters Review Summer Short Story Award! The winning story will be awarded $3000 and publication [...]
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.
Saw Palm is currently accepting submissions
Saw Palm: Florida Literature & Art, a literary and arts magazine published annually by the University of South Florida. is currently [...]Ghost writer wanted
Elderly gentleman in South Fort Myers (close to Alico Road) looking for a ghost writer to help him write his memoir. If interested, email [...]International Women’s Flag Football Association looking for writers
We are looking for interested female writers to write stories for our flag football magazine called: Forward Pass Magazine. We are a female [...]
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.