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
July 2019
Traci Bratcher
I’m in my 27th year of teaching and have spent the past 13 of those years teaching first grade at Pelican Marsh Elementary School in Naples. About 4 years ago, I started watching the Southwest FL Eagle Cam with my class and incorporated it into the curriculum. I love teaching the children about respecting nature and learning about the eagles. The children fall in love with it as well and would request to hear the story of the pair of eaglets the mom and dad had together, E7 & E8. We also “adopt” an eagle from CROW on Sanibel which leads me to tell all about the eaglet E8’s story of recovery there. The kids love to hear this every year which made me think that I should write a children’s book about E8 so they’ll always have it handy to read. That is how my book, The Great E8, One Brave Eaglet’s Story, came to be!
Presentation: I plan to discuss how I decided to write this book as well as some of the steps I took doing so. I will talk about how my recent college graduate nephew agreed to be the illustrator for my book (on his actual graduation day) and how we had to work together with long distance between us. He had never heard of the SWFL Eagle Cam, so he needed some background knowledge lessons. The struggles and important decisions that needed to be made will also be discussed. The presentation will wind up with what my expectations were for my book, if they have been met, and future plans I have going forward with it.
Next Meeting: July 20, 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!
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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.
2019 PoetryFest on WGCU, 90.1 FM
2019 PoetryFest on WGCU, 90.1 FM, Gulf Coast Live Thursday, April 4, 1:00 Our 2019 PoetryFest will be featured on 90.1 FM WGCU's Gulf Coast [...]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 [...]Patricia Wentling’s book accepted by online e-zine
I am Patricia Wentling. I joined Gulf Coast Writers Association, Inc. in August of this year. My picture book story, Lucky's Violin, has been [...]
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, [...]Introduction to Creative Writing
Introduction to Creative Writing June 30–July 5, 2019 Sunday-Friday: 5 nights Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health PO Box 309 57 Interlaken [...]
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.
What’s YOUR Story?
Charlotte County Community Services presents... What's YOUR Story? Sponsored by the Friends of the Mid-County Regional Library Contest [...]CRAFT First Chapters Contest
OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS The inaugural CRAFT First Chapters Contest awards $2800, manuscript critique, and agency review to the top three first [...]Kaleidoscope Writing Contest
Ladies get those pens and laptops ready. We are starting our next writing contest. Below is a brief description. When you are ready to get [...]
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.
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 [...]Pen America Grants and Fellowships
Grants & Fellowships Since 1963, the PEN America Literary Awards, Grants, and Fellowships Program has honored many of the most [...]
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.