The June meetinig of Gulf Coast Writers showcased these titles as memoir-writing encouragement. -CASEY BRADLEY GENT / FLORIDA WEEKLY

Walking into the June meeting of the Gulf Coast Writers Association felt like walking into a room of new old friends.

The GCWA began in 1995 and continues to represent a collection of regional writers who share inspiration, community and education through online networking and in-person monthly gatherings.

In the room of nearly 50 faces, everyone was either a published writer or on the path toward near publication. While the faces were new to me, the journey of publishing is not. My memoir was traditionally published in 2023. Entering a gathering of individuals who value words, creativity and books was the coming-home part of being welcomed — as a writer and journalist — within a community of highly accomplished wordsmiths.

On the Saturday of my visit, I barely scratched the surface when it came to placing faces with the bylines of some of Southwest Florida’s most highly decorated authors. This group includes:

GCWA members during the June meeting. -CASEY BRADLEY GENT / FLORIDA WEEKLY

Pilot Charley Valera, who wrote “My Father’s War,” a story, he said, of overdue gratitude for the veterans of World War II.

Patti M. Walsh, author of “Chick Stories” — soon to be accompanied by an adventurous YouTube channel devoted to ladies and “brave gentlemen.”
Middle-grade writer Theresa Siller, whose book “Meredith’s Triumph” is part of the Lee County library system.

Current president Christie Zarria introduced the Gulf Coast Writer’s Association as the region’s “largest and liveliest writing community,” and June’s meeting/workshop proved her descriptive adjectives correct. Before Mary Charles, former GCWA president, led the energetic memoir-writing workshop — a genre she deemed “important writing through which life endures” — fellow authors Valera and Walsh addressed the group.

From battle stories to Barbie

Valera, the son of a World War II veteran, spent the previous eight years interviewing 18 veterans of WWII. After completing and self-publishing his book, “My Father’s War,” a compilation of his veteran interviews, Valera also produced a documentary from the same stories.

“I had roughly 20 hours of raw footage,” Valera explained. “I finished editing the entire project in February of 2026.”

He took the microphone to thank the local group for their support. The documentary “My Father’s War” is Valera’s benevolent effort to thank the veterans of World War II for their devotion to America. On June 6, the anniversary of D-Day, Valera planned a showing of his completed movie in his hometown of Leominster, Massachusetts. Members of the GCWA are not simply writers. These individuals are also entrepreneurs and filmmakers.

“In April, I started putting teasers about the documentary on Facebook. I hoped 25 or 30 people would show up,” Valera shared.

On the first day of sales, 55 tickets were sold

I was astounded,” he said, his voice smiling.

Author Patti M. Walsh is creating a YouTube channel called Chick Stories. -CASEY BRADLEY GENT / FLORIDA WEEKLY

Valera hoped the last living veteran from his original group of 18 interviewees —101-year-old Charlie Sanderson — would attend. The war hero had not answered Valera’s recent calls.

“I knew he was alive and well. I did not know if he would make it to the premiere,” Valera said.

On June 6, 101-year-old Sanderson, accompanied by his granddaughter, did show up to the documentary premiere of “My Father’s War.”

So did 200-plus others.

Ticket holders offered a standing ovation inside the theater in Sanderson’s honor. Valera was humbled to share his success with GCWA, an outwardly supportive group that next made time for Walsh to discuss her projects.

Walsh is an ageless spirit, comfortable in front of a crowd, and eager to tell a story.

“I am, after all, a storyteller,” she told me, grinning.

Walsh’s book, “Chick Stories,” is a collection of 47 essays from the author’s childhood and beyond. In the description Walsh wrote for Amazon, she said her book contains “travesties, tragedies and comical calamities,” along with the detail that Barbie helped Walsh discover her own sexuality.

From WWII heroics to a firsthand retelling of growing up as a girl in mid-1950s America, the diversity of the authors who collectively make up GCWA is palpable. Walsh next plans a YouTube channel dedicated to women, like herself, with stories to tell.

Finally, Mary Charles, a former president of GCWA, began her workshop. She is currently in charge of communications for the organization.

Making a memoir

Early in her career, Charles said, “I told tales of Fortune 500 companies.”

She had not spent much energy, if any, considering the value of memoir writing.

“My life is not for the pages on someone else’s shelf,” she teased.

It was not until her parents, in their 80s, gave Charles the gifts of loose-leaf binders containing their life stories, that the writer began to take an interest in memoir writing. She said the notebooks of memories — handwritten by her mom and dad — were the least expensive and most valuable gifts she had ever been given.

“Memoirs are a curated set of moments … and the opportunity to really let the reader trust you,” Charles told participants of the June workshop.

She filled her presentation with notes on how to start — and finish — writing a provocative memoir.

First, Charles suggested an effective memoir writer must establish the scene, an atmosphere including smells and feels.

Memoir enthusiast and public speaker Mary Charles addressing the Gulf Coast Writers meeting in June. -CASEY BRADLEY GENT / FLORIDA WEEKLY

“Setting the scene and creating a theme are important differences between just journaling and writing a memoir,” she said. “While journaling is day to day, memoir writing is more reflective. Memoir writing encompasses a block of time.”

Charles also said that any great writer must treat their work as a job, and that developing a memoir requires the writer to allocate intentional time for their story.

Another message Charles repeated throughout her workshop was: Do not stop at your awful first draft.

“Every first draft,” she said with empathy, “is awful.”

The workshop leader teasingly inserted the Ernest Hemingway quote: “Write drunk. Edit sober.” Her audience rumbled.

The GCWA is committed to providing educational workshops and a community inspired by both words and action. Monthly meetings of the GCWA are held in Browning Hall of St. Hilary’s Episcopal Church in Fort Myers.

The organization invites fellow writers to connect at gulfcoastwriters.org.

In The KNOW:

Gulf Coast Writers Association

Monthly meetings of the GCWA are held at Browning Hall on the campus of St. Hilary’s Episcopal Church, 5011 McGregor Blvd., Fort Myers.
For more information or to become a member, visit gulfcoastwriters.org.