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
Registration form and schedule for Southwest Florida Writers Conference
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
GCWA 2020 Writing Contest opens October 1, 2019
Deadline for entries January 31, 2020
Details on the contest page!
Submit your ideas for Workshops
Visit our new page for Blogs, Podcasts, and Webinars for writers.
Meet your Officers and Directors for 2019
Interested in joining a new critique or reading group? [list of current groups]
February 2020
Speaker: Ronnie Walter
Topic: 5 Secrets to Make Your Self-Published Book Stand Out in a Sea of Professionals
The difference between a typical DIY self-published book cover and an eye-catching, genre appropriate sales-generator by a professional designer can be the difference between sleepy sales and exciting daily results. That’s because people DO judge a book by it’s cover.
Author and designer Ronnie Walter will share with you how to identify the visual language of your genre, how your cover can help potential readers discover your book, and also will walk you through the “Crimes of Bad Covers.” Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how to position your book for success!
Ronnie Walter, artist, writer and business coach for creatives, knows her way around publishing. She is both a self-published author and also has books with several traditional publishers. She can be reached through her website at www.ronniewalter.com
Meeting: February 15, 2020, 10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon
Location: [map]
Zion Lutheran Church,
7401 Winkler Road,
Fort Myers, FL 33919
First time guests free
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.
Book Launch Party — Charley Valera
Date changed to October 24, 2019 from October 10, 2019 Award-winning author and Gulf Coast Writers Association member Charley Valera is [...]Carmine and Dorayne Lombardo’s play honored
We were amazingly pleased to receive notification that our play, VIZHON, which was world premiered October 2018 at the John McCabe Theatre in [...]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 [...]
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.
Call for Poetry
Call for POETRY Submissions Create a poem inspired by one of the pieces of art on display in the National Art Exhibit. On Display [...]Creative Writing Workshop
The Creative Writing Workshop begins on Monday, January 27th. It will be held each week during the Spring Semester (except March 9th) until [...]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." [...]
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.
The Big Moose Prize
The Big Moose Prize Each year Black Lawrence Press will award The Big Moose Prize for an unpublished novel. The prize is open to new, [...]Call for Poetry
Call for POETRY Submissions Create a poem inspired by one of the pieces of art on display in the National Art Exhibit. On Display [...]WOW! Winter 2020 Flash Fiction Contest
WINTER 2020 FLASH FICTION CONTEST Deadline: 02/29/2020 OVERVIEW: WOW! hosts a (quarterly) writing contest every three months, [...]
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." [...]Free upload to Ingram/Spark
In celebration of NaNoWriMo’s writing challenge and writers everywhere... Publish your book FREE with Ingram/Spark until 3/31/2020 You [...]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. [...]
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.