Muskoka Novel Marathon

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.

2025 Muskoka Novel Marathon Now Open For Registration!

Hello Readers!

What I will cover today: My love for a yearly writing event AND the OPEN REGISTRATION period for that event.

Writing in Muskoka…the balcony at the Port Sydney Community Hall where the Muskoka Novel Marathon is currently being held.

Today I wanted to talk to you about the MUSKOKA NOVEL MARATHON. This is a yearly novel writing event that, without which, I would not be where I am today on my writing journey.

I first heard about the MUSKOKA NOVEL MARATHON in 2006. I was halfway through the writing of my very first novel, SUMMER ON FIRE, at the time. I had not yet found MY WAY in the creative journey of novel writing. I was doing okay, slogging along, but I knew there was something missing. Writing a novel in the conventional way just wasn’t working for me. Not fully, anyway. I was not happy writing a novel throughout the course of a year…or years. I really struggled to keep myself on task and invested. I had to find another way.

When I heard about the MUSKOKA NOVEL MARATHON, my ears perked up. Something about the creative writing process of the marathon spoke to me and my scattered non-linear way of thinking. I knew I had to give it a go, so I registered for the 2007 marathon that was taking place in Huntsville, Ontario that July.

First, you have to understand HOW DIFFICULT that decision was for me, an introvert who shied away from meeting new people at every opportunity I could get. It was a terrifying concept, registering for that first year’s marathon. I almost didn’t…so high was my anxiety. I even stopped midway there on the 2-hour road-trip up to Huntsville. I seriously considered turning around, with my tail between my legs, and going back home.

I’m SO glad I powered through.

That year I only took part in the 48hr marathon. When I registered, I was still really struggling with the concept of writer. I felt I was able to grant myself 2 days to the craft, but 3 seemed crazy. I was quite unkind to myself back then. I couldn’t justify giving myself a full 3 days grace to explore creativity. Two would have to do!

I wrote the entire first draft of what would later become my favourite novel of all I would write…SEBASTIAN’S POET.

After my 48hrs were up, I said goodbye to all my new writer friends (it was an incredible experience and everyone truly welcomed me on board. I was one of them. Imposter syndrome melted away during that weekend), got in my car, and drove home. I think I was the only writer not staying for the entire 72hrs. It was actually hard to leave, but leave I did.

The car journey home was a psychedelic trip like nothing I had ever experienced. I was tired, exhilarated, overwhelmed. I had brought a world into existence just by writing about it. I was definitely on a creative high. The three deer jumping out of a ditch and into my path was just one of the oddities that occurred during that trip back from Northern Ontario. I was electric.

SEBASTIAN’S POET won the 2007 Best Adult Novel Award. It has since gone on to be published. It’s my homage to Leonard Cohen and the Beaches area of Toronto…all wrapped into one story. A folksinger befriends a neglected young boy and his even younger brother and helps them to navigate in the tumultuous 1970s Beaches world. One of my main characters was closely modeled after Cohen. Can you guess which one? That’s right…the folksinger!

The original cover of ***Sebastian’s Poet***.

The current cover of **Sebastian’s Poet**.

Just outside the beautiful Muskoka Novel Marathon venue in Huntsville, Ontario! (This is no longer the venue, but the new venue also has a body of water at its doorstep.)

After that year, I was hooked. I kept going back…and I even gave myself the full 3 days of creativity going forward after that first year.

Muskoka Novel Marathon. 2014. Friends I’ve met along the way.

When I tell you the MUSKOKA NOVEL MARATHON changed my life, I am not just throwing that phrase around lightly. It definitely made me the writer I am today. Here’s a list of the awards I’ve collected at the marathon over the years…

AWARDS WON

2007 – Best Adult Novel Award-Sebastian’s Poet, (BIC) Bum In Chair Award
2008 – Best Adult Novel Award-The Reasons, (BIC) Bum In Chair Award
2010 – Best Young Adult Novel Award-Half Dead & Fully Broken, Rock Star Award, (BIC) Bum In Chair Award
2011 – Best Young Adult Novel Award-That’s Me In The Corner
2016 – Best Adult Novel Award-I Will Tell The Night
2019 – Young Adult Runner Up Award-No Visible Damage
2023 – Best Young Adult/Juvenile Novel Award-Tyler Freemont Writes A Play
2024 – (BIC) Bum In Chair Award

I have found my way to write a novel. In one sitting. MY WAY. I adore the MUSKOKA NOVEL MARATHON. Not just because it’s a fundraiser for area literacy programs (they have raised over $213,000.00 for YMCA Simcoe/Muskoka literacy programs to date). And not just because of the great writer friends I’ve met at the event. And not just because of the amazing feats of the generous organizers and volunteers. All those things are pure magic. But I adore the marathon most for giving me MY WAY.

Author Selfie in the closet at the Muskoka Novel Marathon…

All this to introduce you to a yearly writing event that you probably know far too much about already if you’re a constant reader of my blog. I talk about it all the time. It’s been a life-changing whirlwind of a monolith in my life for almost 20 years. Of course I talk about it.

Today, I wanted to bring it to your attention because the registration period is NOW OPEN for this JULY’s event in Port Sydney, Ontario (just outside of Huntsville).

This year’s details:

Thursday July 10 – Sunday July 13, 2025

Port Sydney Community Hall, 607 Muskoka Road 10, Port Sydney, Ontario, Canada

CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE REGISTRATION PAGE.

If you are having trouble registering, please send an email to: writerliaison@muskokanovelmarathon.com

A photo of my desk at the Muskoka Novel Marathon, where this novel from hell began its messy life.

T-shirts from various Muskoka Novel Marathon years…

If you’re a writer in Ontario (or anywhere else), you should seriously consider registering for this event and getting yourself up to PORT SYDNEY this July. It will change your life! If it’s too far or impractical for any reason…there’s also ONLINE registration.

In-Person Registration – $100.00 – Covers ALL MEALS and comes with an endless flow of COFFEE.

Online Registration – $25.00 – You will be Zoomed into the event.

Writers are encouraged to collect sponsorship money for the fundraising part of the event. There are prizes involved for fundraising as well.

Best Novel Award comes with the prize of a Muskoka Chair! And all novels submitted to the contest for judging at the end of the weekend get critique notes from the judges.

This is a yearly fundraising event. Check it out if you want to up your writing game. Just imagine being in a room with 39 other writers…and you’re all clacking away at your keyboards attempting to write an entire novel in one tiny 72hour period of bliss and chaos. You know you want to.

Don’t be nervous! The writers and the organizers welcome all with open arms. You’ll immediately become one of the MNM family. Put your fear aside and take the step!

CLICK HERE NOW!

I Will Tell The Night – A Family Saga LGBTQ Literary Novel

It’s happening! My 2016 Muskoka Novel Marathon novel, I WILL TELL THE NIGHT, is being released. This is the novel that won me the BEST ADULT NOVEL AWARD for that year. It was originally scheduled to be released from the same publisher who published my novels SUMMER ON FIRE and PRIDE MUST BE A PLACE, but that publisher closed its doors before the release.

After unsuccessfully attempting to find another home for this baby, I have decided to self-publish this one. It would seem that it’s difficult to find a publisher for LGBTQ Literary fiction. This is especially true when there is zero heat level in it.

I have very strong feelings for this novel. So much so that I feel I can’t move forward before first putting it out into the world. The release date will be JANUARY 7th, 2025! So I have some work ahead of me, as we are about to go on vacation and I want to do a one-last-pass edit on it before I release it. Just know that I have done everything in my power to make it the best possible story I could make it. I’m super proud of this one…it feels…real. I want to get it as polished as possible before releasing it.

I have had so many readers and edits on this manuscript…so many eyes that I’m not sure there’s anyone left who hasn’t read it.

I really have to work on the cover blurb for this, so for now you will have to settle for the query letter synopsis.

Finn Barker escaped his family in Miramichi, New Brunswick decades ago for the anonymity of Toronto. Now is his chance to reunite with the strangers they’ve become. But going back will awaken a hell of a lot of ghosts Finn’s not sure he’s willing to awaken. 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, the twin brother who died of cancer when his own parents would have preferred to lose the other twin, and the scandal he created with a teacher that gave him the reason 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?

I have some work ahead of me. Watch for updates on the release, etc. All I have now is a finished manuscript that needs one last edit, and a cover.

I WILL TELL THE NIGHT – COMING SOON

Pre-Order links will be in my next post…which will be going live later this morning!