It’s Muskoka Novel Marathon Time Once Again!

Tomorrow begins yet another MUSKOKA NOVEL MARATHON! I’m writing this quick post to encourage this year’s writers to have the time of their lives and to encourage you, dear reader, to contribute to the fundraiser!

These paper strips represent words written at the marathon. Writers are invited to pin a slip for each 10 pages they write at the marathon. It starts out empty, but it’s a thrill to see these clotheslines fill up with paper slips over the course of the weekend!

This annual novel writing marathon is so much more than a fundraiser. It has been the stepping stone I personally used to get into the world of novel writing. I wrote most of 17 or 18 novels at this 3-day writing event. I have lost track of the actual number of years that I have participated. Suffice it to say, this has been the one most important creative event of my life. It has changed my world.

I have made such friends along the way at my many many marathons! Here’s my friend/nemesis KAREN! (MNM 2017)

Here’s the rundown, in case you’re not sure how the MUSKOKA NOVEL MARATHON works:

40 writers (give or take) gather in one building for 72 hours in Muskoka every JULY. Each one of those writers collect sponsorship donations up to and at the event. To date this event has raised well over $250,000.00. That’s a LOT of money! All monies raised goes directly to adult literacy programs in Huntsville and surrounding areas.

Fundraiser aside, each of the writers who participate attempt to write an entire novel during the 72 hour marathon. They can leave the building and stay in hotels overnight, OR they can stay in the building the entire marathon. I’ve seen us sleeping in chaise longues, in sleeping bags, and in little rolled up balls under desks through the years. It’s up to the writer how they want to spend their sleeping hours, or whether or not they want to even have sleeping hours.

This past year, we lost an incredible person who was very close to the marathon even when she didn’t participate as a writer. SUE KENNEY (Barefoot Sue) participated in many marathons as a writer. For several years, she led a barefoot creative walk every Sunday morning of the marathon. She was a dear friend and an important mentor for me. She introduced me to one of the great loves of my life…the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in Spain. We love you, Sue. We will remember you always.

The writers dine together for three meals a day, provided to them by donors and prepared for them by volunteers. Coffee is always on. The location is beautiful. Writers can step outside and walk to the lake for creative inspiration or a break from the madness.

Participants in Sue Kenney’s annual BAREFOOT CREATIVITY WALK at the Muskoka Novel Marathon.

At the end of the marathon, writers submit their raw un-edited manuscripts to the BEST NOVEL contest. There are different categories for this. Industry judges will spend the rest of the summer reading and judging the entered manuscripts. There is a BEST NOVEL AWARD for each category…awarded at the wrap-up ceremony in September. Winners have their novels forwarded to publishers for consideration and feedback.

After the money is collected by the participating writers, you could see how this event is about SO MUCH MORE than the fundraiser (even though the fundraiser is the most important aspect of the event). This is a life-changing creative event that has kick-started so many writers on their journeys! Until you participate in this event, you can’t imagine how mind-blowing it is.

I would like to wish this year’s writers a wonderful marathon experience! May all of your words be golden, and may your time together be memories to cherish! I am with you in spirit while my creativity takes a sabbatical.

All the photos shared here are from the 2017 Marathon.

Please consider donating to this worthy cause! All donations go directly to literacy programs. And all donations are tax deductible.

Here’s a link to the main marathon page: MUSKOKA NOVEL MARATHON

Here’s a link to THIS YEAR’S MARATHON PARTICIPANTS

When you click on a writer’s face on the above link, you will be taken to their own personal marathon page. Once you get to their page, you can click the green SUPPORT THIS WRITER button to make your donation. See the capture below:

Take a look at this little movie made years ago about the marathon. This was conceived by Sue Kenney and Bruce Pirrie and was created by over 12,000 photos. It’s quite an achievement!

This year’s MUSKOKA NOVEL MARATHON takes place Thursday July 16 – Sunday July 19, 2026 at the Port Sydney Community Hall. 

HAPPY WRITING, MARATHONERS! May the force be with you!

Rest in Peace, Barefoot Sue (Sue Kenney)

I didn’t want to write this post. I didn’t want it to be true.

Ever since Sue Kenney reached out to me last September while I was in the airport lounge in Toronto awaiting our flight to Spain for our walk on the Camino de Santiago, I’ve been dreading this outcome.

“This is a lot to hear, but I wanted to ask you if you would take my intentions with you to Santiago de Compostela on your Camino pilgrimage that you’re starting tomorrow?”

I did not hesitate. It was the least I could do for the woman that gifted me an entirely new path in life.

Sue Kenney, at work along the Camino de Santiago. (I apologize for the grainy photo, but phone cams were NOT the same in 2014. I thought this photo captured Sue’s energy.)

I met Sue at a novel writing marathon in Pickering, Ontario. Her effervescent personality immediately called out to me. I can’t even recall whether or not she told me about the Camino de Santiago at that time or not. I’m pretty sure she did. What I loved about her was the over-boiling infectious energy she exuded. Like me, she could not sit still.

Fast forward a few years, and she had begun taking new pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago…in groups. By that time I had learned quite a bit about the Camino. Once you hear about the Camino, it acts like a timepiece in your heart…ticking and ticking and ticking away while it pleads with you to heed its call. It gets into your blood until you can no longer ignore it.

I signed up for Sue’s May 2014 group pilgrimage. We would begin our journey in Ponferrada and walk into Santiago de Compostela some week or so later.

We were a group of eight and Sue led us across Spain with grace and love. This is half of our contingent…being silly near the beginning of our journey while we were just discovering one another.
We kept meeting more and more pilgrims along the way. Some walked with us for minutes, some for hours, some for a day or so, and some for the remaining of the journey to Santiago de Compostela. Our group of eight was constantly expanding and contracting and our hearts were being filled by the experience! All thanks to our fearless leader, Sue Kenney.

Sue was a barefoot walker, which is something I loved doing since early childhood. My mother could not keep my shoes on my feet, no matter how hard she tried. Eventually she gave up, once she realized I’d walk through rocks and gravel barefoot unscathed and happy. With four boys to run after, she probably realized it was easier to risk my cutting off my own feet than running around forcing me to wear shoes. Sue’s barefoot lifestyle shouted out to me immediately.

I joined Sue in walking barefoot for quite a bit of our Camino. I was still going from Crocs to barefoot, not quite as accomplished as Sue, but enjoying those stretches where I was barefoot and free.

There were two memorable adventures during my first Camino that stood out the most. One of those adventures was a crazy bar run by two sisters. The Casa Verde was electric and eclectic. Sue brought us to this wild stop along the way and she was greeted like visiting royalty. It was one of those times that I felt all tingly realizing that everyone along the way knew and loved our fearless leader. Sue Kenney, or Barefoot Sue as she was also known as, was loved by all. Even elder locals walking out in the streets and alleys seemed to know her. She was definitely well known by the sisters who ran Casa Verde. They spread out the red carpet, and lined the bar with shots for all, on the house. Friends of Barefoot Sue were friends of theirs.

Sue, at the bar at Casa Verde. Pilgrims left t-shirts, which were festooned with pithy quotes and Camino wisdom and pinned to the ceiling, left to dangle. Every wall, table, window, chair, and object were covered with notes and quotes. Sadly, the bar is no longer in operation. An albergue now stands in its shadow.

Sue had us all gather food and drink in the town of Portomarin and organized a quick picnic for us at the top of the hill just outside of town.

This picnic was the absolute pinnacle of our journey. It was such a moment. I sat back at times, fighting back tears trying to fathom how lucky I was to be a part of the magic.

Sue Kenney seemed able to conjure magic wherever she went.

Our Camino group, minus Connie and myself. Connie was unable to attend this Fall 2014 reunion event, and I was taking the photo. Notice Sue’s joy!
I had many reunion moments with Sue. She was a fixture at the annual MUSKOKA NOVEL MARATHON. When she wasn’t participating herself, she would make her way to the Marathon every Sunday for her widely attended and much loved CREATIVITY WALKS.
Sue, during the Muskoka Novel Marathon…one of the years she participated in the 72 hour novel writing marathon…
Many of the Muskoka Novel Marathoners joined Sue for her yearly CREATIVITY WALKS. That’s Sue’s foot with the purple strapped shoe with the blue arrow. She also invented a barefoot shoe…which was bottomless. She appeared on Dragon’s Den with these shoes.

I just wanted to share some of the memories I had with Sue. It doesn’t begin to crack the surface of the time I spent with her. My most cherished time, of course, is that walk along the Camino de Santiago. You grow so close while walking across a country with people. We began as eight near strangers. We all knew Sue in one way or another, but we didn’t know each other. Sue brought us together.

The talks we all had! It was so magical.

I will be forever grateful that Sue came into my life that day at the Pickering Public Library. She lit a flame in me that day that would never go out. It is a profound thing to gift someone a totally new trajectory in their lives. This is what Sue did for me. I can’t imagine my life now without the Camino in it.

It was because of her impact on my life that I did not hesitate a second before telling her, “YES, YES, YES…I will take your intentions across Spain. I will walk every single step for you! I will dedicate the entire walk to you.”

It was what she next told me that stopped me in my tracks and had me searching out a quiet place in a busy airport where I could hang my head.

After giving me her awful news, she followed up with so much inspiration…I was ready to face the Camino and take her with me in my heart.

I want to directly quote Sue here because I want you to see how full her heart was and how thoughtful and caring she was at all times. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind me sharing her words in full.

“Since you’re about to walk the path to Santiago, and it doesn’t mean that you have to be religious or have a religious intent, I would like to ask if you would do me a favour and carry my intentions for world peace, a universal love for nature, and great compassion for all the people in the world.

“And to my dear Camino, I want to intend so much gratitude for the 29 different journeys that I took on the path to Santiago. I am so grateful for the lessons and the stories and the experience of guiding other pilgrims on the way, that I was blessed with. Including you! ❤ 

“I’ll be with you each step as you both walk, without your guidebook, following your heart.

Sending love and light.

Buen Camino

Barefoot Sue.”

Of course I walked for her. Each step I took, I thought of her back home and the journey she was now forced to be taking. I walked into Santiago de Compostela with Sue’s intentions in my heart. And if I ever walk the Camino again, I will do the same. It was her who gave me this great big wondrous gift, and it will always be her I thank for opening my heart to it.

We lost Sue this week. Her light is carried in the hearts of so many pilgrims. I’m certain she will never be forgotten. Her 29 journeys on the Camino alone would be enough to ensure it doesn’t happen. Not to mention the myriad of other ways she entered the hearts of the thousands of people she changed for the better.

Walk on, my friend forever. Captain, my captain.

Sue Kenney, walking into Monte de Gozo…MOUNT OF JOY! May, 2014. Joy meeting Joy!

I love you, dear Sue. Thank you for everything.

 

My Novels On Sale For One Dollar!

Heads up! Until MARCH 1st, 7 of my novels are on sale for $1 on Amazon platforms!

Get them while you can!

$0.99 on Amazon USA, and the equivalent in every other Amazon country. Here’s a list of the novels on sale:

I Will Tell the Night:

Amazon USA

Amazon CANADA

Finn Barker escaped his family in Miramichi, New Brunswick, decades ago for the anonymity of Toronto. When he learns of his mother’s impending demise, he decides to make the trip back home to say goodbye. But going back will awaken all the sleeping ghosts Finn’s not quite sure he’s willing to stir. With no time to decide, his split-second decision to jump back in has him driving across the country, with his boyfriend Steven behind the wheel. Along the way, Finn begins to unpack the mess he left behind. There’s the grandmother, MyImogene, he adored, and the twin brother who died of cancer when his own parents would have preferred to lose the other twin. There’s also the huge scandal Finn orchestrated with a teacher that gave him the Dutch courage he needed to flee. It was almost all bad.

Finn makes it in time for goodbyes, but then there’s the still very active strife between him and his father, the funeral, the family, and the secrets that shed new light on the cause of the rift between his parents and his beloved MyImogene. Every family carries secrets. Finn discovers they’re the one thing you can’t escape, no matter how far away you run. Secrets always catch up. Often, it’s death that has a way of bringing them back into the light of day. He was able to make peace with his dying mother, but can Finn make peace with all the rest…or is it time to run away for another thirty years?

Summer on Fire:

Amazon USA

Amazon CANADA

Zach Carson is a loyal friend. But is loyalty enough to keep best friends together when one of them sets fire to the rural barn they use as the local hangout?

Zach, Jeff Barsell and Arnie Wilson struggle to pick up the pieces when news spreads that a body was discovered in the burnt out shell of the neighboring home. When the word murder is used by the local police, the stakes grow even higher. When the police start searching for their most likely suspect—none other than Jeff’s older brother, and nemesis, Marty Barsell—the boys decide to join forces and come up with a way to prove his innocence.

But just how innocent is Marty Barsell? When Marty admits to being at the scene of the crime, the three friends enlist the help of Zach’s annoying sister, Sherry, as well as the sympathetic town eccentric, Ms. Halverton. But can they keep it together long enough to save Marty, and themselves, from eminent catastrophe? Summer on Fire is the story of friendships, and the lines we are asked to cross in order to keep them.

Pride Must Be A Place

 

Amazon USA

Amazon CANADA

Ezra Caine is gay. He’s sort of out at school but not at home, where he fears the wrath of his father’s bigotry. When Ezra’s flamboyantly out friend Alex Mills takes one too many beatings from homophobic bully Will Carter, Ezra finally snaps. Fed up with the situation at school, he decides to do something about it. With the help of his BFF, Nettie, and some unlikely allies, Ezra rallies to create their small-town school’s first gay-straight alliance. The Rainbow Alliance Club is formed. But the changes don’t come without hiccups, one of which being a messy scandal involving Alex and a gay hook-up app. As Ezra and his friends attempt to sway their school into an alliance of tolerance and acceptance, Ezra experiences a few surprises of his own on the home-front. He also learns the hard way that friendships out of convenience aren’t always a good idea, just as some enemies might not be as bad as he originally imagined them to be.

Burn Baby Burn Baby

Amazon USA

Amazon CANADA

Seventeen-year-old Francis Fripp’s confidence is practically non-existent since his abusive father drenched him in accelerant and threw a match at him eight years ago. Now badly scarred, Francis relies on his best friend Trig to protect him from the constant bullying doled out at the hands of his nemesis, Brandon Hayley-the unrelenting boy who gave him the dreaded nickname of Burn Baby. The new girl at school, Rachel Higgins, is the first to see past Francis’s pariah-inducing scars. If Brandon’s bullying doesn’t destroy him, Francis might experience life as a normal teenager for the first time in his life. He just has to avoid Brandon and convince himself he’s worthy of Rachel’s attentions. Sounds easy enough, but Francis himself has a hard time seeing past his scars. And Brandon is getting violently frustrated, as his attempts to bully Francis are constantly thwarted. Francis is in turmoil as he simultaneously rushes toward his first kiss and a possible violent end.

Half Dead & Fully Broken

Amazon USA

Amazon Canada

Carter Colby is the most unpopular teen at Jefferson High. This would be easier to deal with if his identical twin brother, Marcus, weren’t the hottest, most popular boy in school. When Marcus is killed in a motorcycle accident, Carter discovers the one thing more painful than trying to compete with Mr. Wonderful: wearing his dead brother’s face. He felt invisible before the accident, but with Marcus dead, everybody turns away from him in mourning. How can he blame them? He can’t bear to look in the mirror. When Carter begins to see Marcus’ ghost, Mr. Wonderful’s quest to save the world and spread happiness may not be over after all, even in death. Marcus knows that Justin Dewar, the boy who drove the truck that crashed into his motorbike, is struggling with the guilt of taking a life. Melanie, Marcus’ mourning best friend, was also hit hard by the tragedy. Marcus wants to make things right before it’s too late. With Marcus’ help, Carter experiences love and friendship for the first time in his life. But is Mr. Wonderful’s helping hand enough for Carter, Melanie, and Justin – three kids fully broken by the tragedy – to save one another?

Sebastian’s Poet

Amazon USA

Amazon CANADA

Sebastian Nelson is a boy in search of a family. Abandoned by his mother, Sebastian is left with a broken father who doesn’t even seem present when he does show up. Forced to be the main caregiver of his younger brother, Renee, and lost in a sea of indifference, Sebastian only wants to experience the love a real, stable family could afford him.

One morning he discovers the famous folksinger, Teal Landen, asleep on the sofa. Teal’s nurturing nature brings an immediate sense of security into Sebastian’s tumultuous life. But a dark secret looms between Teal and Sebastian’s father of a hidden past. Sebastian is driven to discover their secret, but also he’s aware of how tenuous their hold on Teal really is. He doesn’t want to lose the feeling of home Teal’s presence has brought him.

If Sebastian pushes too hard, he could lose Teal forever. He could be destined to raise his younger brother alone, while witnessing the total decline of his emotionally devastated father. If Sebastian is abandoned by the only healthy influence in his otherwise shaky existence, he will also be forever in the dark about the secret that will reveal so much about his fractured family.

Sebastian’s Poet was the winner of the 2007 Muskoka Novel Marathon’s BEST ADULT NOVEL AWARD.

The Reasons

Amazon USA

Amazon CANADA

With a mostly absent father, a deceased older sister, a younger sister on the verge of invisibility, and a certifiably insane mother, Tobias Reason is forced to grow up quickly. Though he tries to be a surrogate parent to his sister, their broken mother, Maggie, takes up a lot of his time. Annabel falls to the wayside and becomes a ghost in their chaotic existence.

When Maggie flippantly hands her mother’s house over to Tobias, he sees an opportunity to learn how and why his family became so shattered. Be careful what you wish for. When his world begins to collapse from the weight of un-buried secrets, he focuses on a stranger from his parents’ past. Only by eliminating the past, he believes, can he make his family whole again.

The Reasons won the Muskoka Novel Marathon’s 2008 BEST ADULT NOVEL AWARD.

 

7 titles ALL for $1! That’s a deal you can’t beat! Get them now before the sale is over!

What would really make my day, my week, my month, my year is if someone bought all 7! Who has $7 burning a hole in their pocket?! (-;

Just click the links above if you’re in Canada or USA. Search your country’s Amazon to find each title. Thank you in advance!