Dear members and friends of GCWA,

This is our proudest month. At our September 21 meeting, we’ll honor the winners of the annual Gulf Coast Writers Association writing contest. More information about that meeting is below. Please come and show your support for our winning authors.

To residents of Southwest Florida, September has become the cruelest month. Just three days after occupying my newly-purchased home in September 2017 I fled Hurricane Irma, not to return until power was restored twelve days later. Then two years ago this month, Hurricane Ian upended the homes and lives of all of us in ways that haven’t been resolved even now.

But if there’s a bright side to natural disasters, it’s this: hurricanes and earthquakes and tornados are sublime fodder for stories. Some of us tell personal stories. For others, it’s poetry or screenplay or crime novel or supernatural thriller. Because of Hurricane Ian, GCWA gave the world our anthology of survival, heroism, and humanity. That book will live forever as a testament to the power of words.

For most of my writing life, I have been an undisciplined scribe. I write when I have an assignment or a deadline or a challenge. Otherwise I find other ways to fill my creative mind. But as I mature, I realize that I have many, many stories to tell and I’d better get cracking if those stories are going to get out. So now, to my great surprise, I am writing every day.

I hope you are too. We all claim to be writers. Let’s make that claim true. We may never publish a book or an essay in a literary magazine. But we all have stories that need to be told. Let’s do it. Are you interested in an evening of telling or reading your original stories or poetry? Let us know. We’ll find a time and place.

A few members of our GCWA family are participating in a different creative exercise this month. The Alliance for the Arts has scheduled a reader’s theater production of The Vagina Monologues September 27, 28 and 29 at the Foulds Theatre. Visit artinlee.org for info and tickets. Bear in mind the adult themes. Some of the monologues are disturbing. This event is a fundraiser for The Alliance, to help recoup the funding denied by the State of Florida for all arts organizations.

I really hope you’ll plan to attend our special awards meeting on September 21 at Lakes Regional Library, 15290 Bass Road, Fort Myers. Winners or our annual writing contest will read their entries and receive their awards. Afterwards we’ll enjoy lunch together at the library as we mingle with our winning literary lions. This event is our proudest annual achievement. Please come.