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
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
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!
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!
From the first poem (A View from the Edge of the Earth) in the new collection from artist and poet Wendie Donabie, the reader understands her deep respect and awe for the beauty of our planet. And we also get the sense that she would do anything to save it.
This collection not only asks the reader to acknowledge and revel in the beauty of Mother Earth, but also to join in the fight to save her. These poems feel like an incantation to raise our hopes and to incite us to action. Infused with a bubbling anger for the place we have gotten ourselves to, the collection is also such a lovely love letter to what we still have and what we can reclaim if only we try.
I’m SO thrilled that Wendie has shared both a painting AND its accompanying poem with us here! There is something hauntingly beautiful about a home in ruin. Here’s WHAT ONCE WAS HOME…
I first met Wendie Donabie through the Muskoka Novel Marathon and the Muskoka Authors Association, an organization which she co-founded with the indefatigable Cindy Watson. It was last year while following one of those curated trip packages from Toronto to Muskoka that I discovered Wendie’s artwork in the wild! Wow! Her art is as gorgeous and as powerful as her poetry.
One of Wendie’s pieces that I came upon in a small art gallery in the woods beyond the gorgeous historical octagonal Woodchester Villa in Gravenhurst, Ontario. If you zoom, you’ll see a beautiful Northern night skyline on the blade of the oar.
I’ve asked Wendie to partake in my Proust(ish) Questionnaire and I was thrilled when she agreed! As usual, I feel as though this is something I actually thrust upon victims! They don’t know what they’re getting themselves into until I actually send the questions over. Once again, I’m thrilled that my ‘victim’ has been a great sport about things and humoured my voluminous list of questions!
Before we go there, though, here’s one of Wendie’s latest creative offerings…
(Photo of book cover courtesy Wendie Donabie)
Click the cover above to be taken to Amazon to pick yourself up a copy of Views from the Edge of the Earth. You’ll be swept away by the beauty and fierceness of Wendie’s words. Not to mention the beautiful photos and paintings. Not only does her book of poetry celebrate the gorgeous planet we call home, but it also displays that beauty in her flawless works of art that capture it.
Now, on to my Proust(ish) Questionnaire…the WENDIE DONABIE edition!
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Being deeply engaged in a thrilling mystery or suspense novel, something with a twist, an unfamiliar perspective that whisks me away to place or time I’ve not experienced. What makes this ideal is being in a place where I can view nature outside and having my spouse somewhere nearby.
What is your greatest fear?
Losing my spouse and failing to do something meaningful with my life.
What is your most preferred genre as a reader?
Definitely mystery with an element of the paranormal or magical realism.
What else do you write, besides poetry?
I am currently working on a double murder mystery with a touch of the paranormal. The story involves a current murder, and a cold case both committed with the same weapon, set in a place that looks much like Muskoka.
Editorial Intrusion: This sounds AMAZING! I can’t wait to read it!
Which writer do you most admire and why?
There are so many. I love everything written by Alice Hoffman for storylines filled with magic realism and characters so real they live with me long after I finish her books. Also recently, I would say A. J. Hackwith is a favourite. Her series about a library in hell is believable – great characters, unique settings, and intriguing storyline.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Examining the listed virtues on the internet, I discovered DETACHMENT – didn’t know it was a virtue. I am not one lacking in emotion or personal interest in people or situations.
A clear takeaway from reading your book of poetry is that you’re passionate about the Earth and conservation. For those who wish to do something to help save our planet, but find things so overwhelming, where would you suggest as a great starting point? Are there baby steps we all could be taking?
Our lives are so busy; we need to slow down, spend time in nature to breath in, to see, to hear, to feel. We need to become more mindful to understand how we are part of the life on the planet – not separate from it. Take a walk in a city park, hike in a forest, spend time by water, these are all activities that can reconnect us with Mother Nature. By doing this, we begin noticing things, like garbage at the side of the road. This might spark the idea of organizing a neighbourhood clean up.
Other practical ideas are being vigilant about recycling, buying less plastic, composting where possible, watching water and hydro consumption, installing heat pumps, planting pollinator friendly gardens, installing bee boxes for those mason bees, planting milkweed for Monarch butterflies. There are so many online resources – just research on GOOGLE, what can I do to help the environment.
These things may seem insignificant, but every small step has impact.
How long did you work on Views from the Edge of the Earth? And did you write the poems specifically to make up this collection, or did you one day realize that you had accumulated enough of a body of work with a common theme to put it together?
The actual process of compiling the book took only around five months but the writing has been going on for years. Part of the collection includes a selection of poems I wrote in the 1980s while spending time in Cape Cod. The rest were written over the last few years, in part during the Muskoka Novel Marathons, but mostly during Poetry Marathons held online by Caitlin and Jacob Jans of Authors Publish. Each year they host this event with hundreds of writers from around the world. Participants write one poem per hour for either twelve hours (Half Marathon) or twenty-four (Full Marathon). I chose the Half Marathon knowing I couldn’t stay awake for twenty-four hours. Prompts are offered which I sometimes responded to but for at least two of these sessions, I chose to use my paintings as inspiration. The natural world informs my artwork, so the resulting poetry reflected my experience with nature.
I’d been writing poetry on and off for years so in the fall of 2023, I decided to see if I had enough work for a book. My poems covered a variety of subjects, so I tried to figure out a way to organize them all. During that process I realized the majority were about Mother Nature. I didn’t want to do chapters or sections; instead, I arranged the book more as a journey through the natural world.
Now I needed a title. In last year’s Poetry Marathon, I drafted the opening poem of the collection, A View from the Edge of the Earth. It was from a prompt to write a poem from a view on the edge of a flat earth. I conjured this dramatic image of our Earth with humanity falling off the edge into hellfire. The poem inspired the title for the collection, Views from the Edge of the Earth, encompassing the idea of my experiences with the Earth.
For the preface I reached back to a piece of prose created in 2014 for a Mother’s Day event in Muskoka, Mother Earth – the Mother of Us All. This short essay went on to win Gold in the August 2014 issue of Art Ascent Magazine. And it provided the perfect foreword for the poetry collection that launched in June 2024.
When I first started reading Views from the Edge of the Earth, I had the real sense of the trouble we are in. You pulled no punches. But as I progressed through the reading, it really opened up to joy and beauty. It gave me a sense of how lucky we are. I particularly loved the poems that focused on trees. I think it began at Tree of Life, but trees were also peppered throughout and explored in the grouping of winter poems. These poems made me want to return to the forest! Your landing poem, If I knew Magic, seems to be a mix of the two extremes…a dire warning, and a sense of magic that allows us to believe that we CAN make a difference…a change. You left us hopeful. What’s the next step? For you? And what should our next steps be as readers?
For me it’s working every day to be more aware of what I am doing to help or harm our planet. It’s a daily practice. I believe in the butterfly effect – that the small things we each do can have far reaching ramifications. Living by example is what I try to do but I’m no saint and I don’t always recycle properly or conserve in the best ways. However, I do my best and I think that’s what we all can do.
Some people are called to greater advocacy and activism roles, and I admire those folks. For my part, I also support organizations doing important work to bring about healing and change on the planet.
When and where were you most afraid?
After my late husband died, I would lie in bed at night and worry about dying and no one knowing.
Which talent would you most like to have?
I would love to be able to instantly recall details from my life, people’s names, experiences, places I’ve been and to draw on this information for storytelling.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
A wealthy philanthropist with compassion and insight who could influence and bring about change in the world, help solve world hunger, bring diverse factions together, help the world find common ground as sisters and brothers.
Which came first…visual art or words? I know this is sometimes a difficult question to answer. I can’t remember when the two things were separate in my own life. They seem to walk hand in hand. For you, did you come to them separately…or all at once?
I started out quite young in photography and still take tons of pictures. Both writing and art came in my twenties although I had wanted to write and paint as a child but never had the confidence.
What are your three deserted island books?
A book about how to live on a desert island and two blank books to write in.
Do you ever have reservations about sharing your creations with the world? What medium makes you feel the most vulnerable when it comes to sharing?
I believe in overcoming my fears by doing and so I share my work, with trepidation at times, but without reservation.
The night before my book launch I started questioning my sanity. Who did I think I was authoring a book? Who was going to like it? It probably wouldn’t sell. Those thoughts plagued me for a short while but then I started getting feedback from readers about how much they loved the book, a particular poem or a memory that was rekindled for them. I love hearing how the poems effect people and why.
For my art, my first exposure was stressful, and I still probably feel most vulnerable about my paintings. I was in a show with artists who’d been painting for much longer than me and my work was not up to their calibre. Now, I’m more comfortable with my pieces as I realize they come from me and me alone; I’m not like any other artist or writer. Not everyone is going to like what I do or identify with it and that’s okay.
Can you tell us what your favourite poem from this collection is? If it’s too hard to choose, are there any that you’re particularly proud of? I sometimes finish a poem and feel that I finally connected with something. I look back at those poems with a sense of pride…like I finally allowed myself to get out of the way and let the poetry come through from that sacred place. Did any of these poems feel like that to you? Little gifts from that place?
It is really hard to choose, but I think the one I feel proudest of is What Once Was Home. I loved the painting that inspired it too. We were on the east coast two years ago on vacation and drove by this deserted house. I hollered, “Stop. Go back.” I took a series of reference photos for use in the studio. I find old, deserted building so full of character and spirit. When I wrote the poem it spoke to me of the natural cycle of life and interplay of all life on our planet.
Yes, I understand what you mean about a poem coming from a sacred place. The one that feels most like that is A View from the Edge of the Earth. It was unlike anything I had ever written before, and it felt like the right message to open the book.
What sound grates on you more than any other?
Someone chewing food loudly or with their mouth open – that wet, squishy sound and smacking of lips. Yikes!
How would you like to die?
In my sleep after a wonderful day spent with the ones I love. If my body were wracked with illness and pain, and I no longer had any quality of life, I would choose MAID (Editorial Intrusion: Medical Assistance In Dying).
What sound brings you deep joy?
Birdsong and a baby’s unrestrained giggles of joy.
What is your motto?
I never thought I had a motto before, but this feels right: “Love always.”
I absolutely LOVED Wendie’s answers here! Thank you so much for taking the time to humour so many questions, Wendie…even the slightly weird ones. I appreciate your time and I appreciate YOU!
Pay particular attention to Wendie’s answers to QUESTION 7…there are so many small things we can do to bring about change and hope for this beautiful planet we live on.
KEVIN CRAIG 