Well, here we are again. Registration has opened for the 2023 MUSKOKA NOVEL MARATHON. I’m excited to see this time of year coming round again, and disappointed that we are still only meeting online! This will be the 4th online version of the Muskoka Novel Marathon. As usual, it happens in July. As is the case for the past four years, it does NOT happen in Huntsville (Muskoka).
The 2023 Muskoka Novel Marathon is Open !
Save the Date: July 14 – 17, 2023
The best part of this is that anyone from anywhere around the world can take part in this 72-hour novel writing marathon.
“Due to the on-going situation with the pandemic, we will be holding our fourth (and hopefully last) all online Muskoka Novel Marathon. Join us for a ZOOM event. No seat limit! Tell all your friends!”
Do you have a novel idea bursting to get out? Do you have a place with internet access that you can run away to for a 3-day weekend in July? Do you want to chat online on Zoom with your fellow novel writing marathoners while you luxuriate in your own creative fictional world for 72 hours? If you said yes to any of these questions, you should register for this online event.
At the end of the 72 hours, participants are encouraged to submit their manuscripts (finished or not) to contest judges. The judges then choose the manuscripts for the Best Novel Award (Usually awarded in Juvenile and Adult categories), and the winners move forward to publisher consideration (after they’re given an opportunity to complete and polish their manuscripts).
There is a long history of this marathon which begun in July of 2002. I myself have taken part in 14 previous marathons. This will be #15!!! Holy hell, how did that even happen!? I have won the BEST NOVEL AWARD 5 times.
I usually mention this part first, but here we are…the MUSKOKA NOVEL MARATHON is a FUNDRAISER for LITERACY. Writers are expected/encouraged to fundraise in the form of sponsors, in much the same way as participants of the Terry Fox Run. Over the course of the history of the marathon, we have actually collected over $210,000.00 for the YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka Learning Services in Huntsville, Ontario.
A little more information from the MNM website:
“These funds are used to directly support literacy programs in our community. Two out of every five Canadians struggle with basic reading and writing. Literacy levels influence career opportunities, salaries, standard of living, housing, education and the ability to participate fully in our communities.”
The YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka is continuously adapting to the needs of the community. Programs funded by your donations include:
- English as a Second Language classes
- Digital Technology Training (computers, smart phones, tablets)
- One-on-one training and support for low level learners
If you’re a writer with a free 3-day weekend July 14th-17th, you should ‘come’ to the marathon.
REGISTER TODAY BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK.
Registration is $25.00. All information regarding the marathon can be found at their website:
I am not affiliated with the marathon, just a longtime participant.
I promise you, the online event is NOTHING like the in-person event. There is such a remove. You have to rely on yourself to write during this 72 hour period. That’s hard to do when you’re firmly entrenched in your own everyday world. It’s so much easier to allow yourself to do nothing but writing when you’re stranded in a room in Northern Ontario with 39 other writers doing the same thing. The heartbeat of the keyboards clicking and writers sipping coffee and laughing and crying motivates your fingers to keep up with the beat. But doing the event online with all those other writers just a screen away? That’s the next best thing…I promise! Give it a go!
Hopefully this will be an in-person event in 2024 and we’ll be back to normal. There is nothing like the support and camaraderie of the actual MNM in-person event. 40 writers sit together in on big room, we take breaks together, we eat together, we help each other out of the thickets of plot holes and catastrophes. It’s a brilliant opportunity for writers on any stage in their writing careers. When this event becomes in person again, you really should find a way to attend! In the meantime, now would be a great time to figure it out from the outside on the inside through Zoom!
REGISTER NOW! The writing fun begins at 8pm on Friday July 14th!
On a personal note, many of my marathon novels are currently on sale for 99 cents at AMAZON. Best Novel Award titles are: Sebastian’s Poet, The Reasons, Half Dead & Fully Broken. Other titles on sale are Summer on Fire, Pride Must Be A Place, and Burn Baby Burn Baby.
KEVIN CRAIG 
This is a great piece and extremely helpful. Love that the event supports literacy.