May Workshop – The First 100 Words

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May 2023

Workshop: The First 100 Words
Topic: The Importance of the First 100 Words
May 20, 2023, 10 a.m. to Noon
In person – No Zoom Offered
Claudia GeaganMeeting Location: Map
Word of Life Church
6111 South Pointe Blvd.
Fort Myers, FL 33919

You only have one opportunity to make a memorable first impression.  “The First 100 Words” is based on a book by the same name, written by Stephen Parish and editors at Lascaux Books, a literary publishing house.  According to the blurb in the book, the first 100 words of a manuscript are as important as all the words that follow.  They comprise a first impression.  If poorly chosen, they may be the only words an editor reads.
“This is a workshop, not a lecture,” says Claudia Geagan.  May’s attendees should bring notebooks and fast-writing pens and be prepared to participate.What distinguishes being a scribbler from a genius?  Claudia’s workshop may provide you with some insight in that direction; she is a master at word minimalism.
After a financial career in major corporations in big cities, Geagan retired to South Carolina and later to Southwest Florida.  She began authoring personal essays and a smattering of flash non-fiction and poetry and has been published in at least eight Literary Journals.
While at Furman University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Geagan taught “Writing the Personal Essay” and has been nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize.  Pushcart is the most honored literary project in America!
Geagan is one of the judges for this year’s GCWA Writing Contest.  “If your work doesn’t get past the first readers, it doesn’t go anywhere.  In the case of Literary Reviews, these first readers are often bored grad students.  The opening must intrigue.”

Jeff Bogart

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I’ve joined GCWA to maintain and sharpen my writing skills, while enjoying the wit and comradery of fellow writers.

As a journalist, I’ve been a Staff Reporter for the Kansas City Star and a Desk Editor for United Press International.  The Washington Star Sunday Magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, McGraw-Hill’s Electrical World Magazine, and The New York Times have carried my freelance writing.  I’ve also started a community newspaper and published and edited a hyper local e-newsletter.

As a Strategic Communications Consultant, I’ve written, edited, and advised on everything from corporate news releases to executive speeches, web material, and annual reports.  Along the way, I’ve taught college freshman English Composition and high school English Language Arts.  I’m an avid tennis player and photographer, and I have a history of leadership in civic affairs.

 

April Workshop – Tell Your Hurricane Story

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April 2023

Workshop: Tell Your Hurricane Story
Topic: Develop Your Hurricane Ian Story
April 15, 2023, 10 a.m. to Noon
In person Only – No Zoom
Jeanne MeeksMeeting Location: Map
Word of Life Church
6111 South Pointe Blvd.
Fort Myers, FL 33919

Plan to attend our meeting on Saturday April 15, 2023.  This program is a workshop to help us develop our stories about the Hurricane Ian experience.  Prose or poetry – whatever your favored writing style – the only rule is that it must be true (or mostly true).
Jeanne Meeks and Mary Charles conduct memoir workshops in their home communities.  They’ll bring some of their experience and advice, along with some challenging exercises, to our April 15th meeting.  It will be a fast-paced hour in which we’ll each develop or refine a story about the September 28, 2022 storm.
The stories you write on Saturday will become part of the permanent record of Hurricane Ian.  We’re creating an anthology of storm stories to be printed before the anniversary of Ian’s visit.  In partnership with the Alliance for the Arts, we intend to have this book on display and for sale during their planned month-long exhibit in September 2023.Join us this Saturday, April 15, 2023 at 10:00 am.  Because it’s a hands-on workshop, we’ll be meeting in person only.  There will not be a Zoom component this time.

GCWA is In The News…

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GCWA In the News

Florida Weekly carried a story about GCWA’s writing contest in the Arts and Entertainment section on page 3.  It appears in the Fort Myers, Bonita and Naples editions.  The three editions appear to carry the news release almost entirely verbatim.  (In the Fort Myers print version and online versions, for example, the wording is the same as that in the news release except that the last, boilerplate paragraph is omitted. The online versions, on the other hand, of the Naples and Bonita editions omit Irene’s quote about the Youth section of the contest but include a portion of the last, boilerplate paragraph.)  This week’s Charlotte online edition does not carry the story, nor do the online editions for Key West and Palm Beach.

 

A copy of the story from the Fort Myers print edition is attached. Here also is the link to it on the Florida Weekly website:   https://fortmyers.floridaweekly.com/articles/gulf-coast-writers-association-announces-writing-contest/ .

Click on the links below to review three more news stories about GCWA’s writing contest, appearing recently in the Cape Coral Breeze, Lehigh Acres Citizen, and WCGU News:

Clip–Cape Coral Breeze

Clip–Lehigh Acres Citizen

Clip–WGCU

PRESIDENT’S LETTER FOR APRIL 2023

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President’s letter for April 2023

In our broadest initiative in many years, Gulf Coast Writers Association is partnering with the Alliance for the Arts to remember Hurricane Ian in words and art.

The words are the job of us Gulf Coast Writers, of course. We will produce a book of prose and poetry submitted by our members and the public, telling the story of Hurricane Ian from a personal perspective. This anthology will debut during the month-long art and interactive exhibit installation in September at the Alliance for the Arts.

The deadline for inclusion in the printed Storm Stories book is May 1. To help us put our stories down in writing, our April 15 meeting will be a workshop to develop or refine our Storm Stories.

Come with your work in progress or simply a blank notebook and pen. Two of our members, Jeanne Meeks and Mary Charles, will facilitate creating or fleshing out your story. Both Jeanne and Mary conduct memoir workshops in their home communities. They will bring their experience and skills with exercises to help us tell our stories.

We expect a big turnout on April 15 among our members for this workshop. But we also extend an invitation to all Hurricane Ian survivors with a story to tell. Tell your neighbors. Encourage them to attend and write their stories. This initiative is not just for highly skilled writers. Ask the EMS worker down the street to participate, or the lineman you met during restoration, or your friend in the police. Stories can be submitted to the GCWA website, whether or not you attend the April workshop.

This workshop may also help you refine your other writing project: submission to the annual Gulf Coast Writers Contest. That deadline has been extended to May 31. You can enter in fiction, nonfiction or poetry. Just enter. This is another opportunity to be published. All 1st, 2nd and 3rd place entries, with submitters’ permission, will be featured on our website, in addition to other prizes.

We’ll see you on Saturday April 15, 2023, from 10:00am to noon.

Location: Map
Word of Life Church
6111 South Pointe Blvd.
Fort Myers, FL 33919

Come in person or via Zoom. And if you have not renewed your membership, you can pay your dues at the meeting, or through PayPal, or by check mailed to:

Gulf Coast Writers Association
P.O. Box 60771
Fort Myers, FL 33919

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Irene Smith, President