Muskoka Novel Marathon – Page 4

Upcoming Event at Muskoka Authors Association…

I will be speaking at the Muskoka Authors Association in Bracebridge on WEDNESDAY, November 13th. Looking forward to some on-the-spot writing exercises and communion with fellow creatives. For several years I have felt a bit like an adopted child of the Muskoka region on Northern Ontario. It’s the place where I do the lion’s share of my novel writing. I have been going up to Huntsville, Ontario, in the heart of Muskoka, every year for over ten years. Huntsville is host to the yearly fundraiser for literacy known as the Muskoka Novel Marathon…where 40 or so writers get locked into a room together for 72 hours so that they each may attempt to write a complete novel in one sitting. It’s a magical experience that has had me falling deeply in love with Muskoka and its creative community.

From the Muskoka Authors Association website:

Novelist and Playwright, Kevin Craig, Shares Tips on Jump Starting Your Writing!

About this Event

Try Everything! Quirks and Tips to Help You Jump-Start Your Writing…

On Wednesday, November 13, Muskoka Authors Association welcomes, Kevin Craig, author of six published novels (Summer on Fire, Sebastian’s Poet, The Reasons, Burn Baby Burn Baby, Half Dead & Fully Broken, and, Pride Must Be A Place). Kevin will give a short overview of their own writing journey, including how they bounced from one form of writing to another while attempting to stay focused on their long-term goal of writing young adult novels. Kevin will also share how they discovered there is more than one way to write a novel, and that you should explore the different ways with each consecutive novel you write. They will discuss how invigorating it can be to explore alternate writing forms along the way to your own writing goals, whether they are to write the Great Canadian Novel, a screenplay, a memoir, or a poem. As well, Kevin will discuss how important it is to allow yourself to escape your comfort zones while getting to those goals.

Whether you’re new to writing or a seasoned pro, you should never be afraid to try something new. New forms of writing can often trick our creativity and jump-start a stalled project back to life. They may even accidentally help you to discover new creative callings. What if the novel you’re writing is actually a play? Maybe the short story you’ve been struggling with is really a collection of poems.

Kevin will introduce some of their favourite exercises and prompts that helped in their own creative journey. Like Kevin, you may find that the journey is just as exhilarating and rewarding as the destination. Attendees should come prepared to write and share their work.

Kevin Craig is also a five-time winner of the Muskoka Novel Marathon’s Best Novel Award. Kevin’s seventh novel, THE CAMINO CLUB, is forthcoming from Duet Books, the YA imprint of Interlude Press (October 2020). In addition, they are a playwright with a resume of ten short plays and two one-act plays staged in various places from Toronto to Mumbai, Australia, and the United States. Kevin’s poetry and short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies and journals throughout the world. For several years Kevin worked as a freelance writer, writing everything from articles on interior design and travel to interviews with musicians such as Bif Naked. Several of Kevin’s songs have been recorded by various artists. Kevin was a founding member on the board of directors for the Ontario Writers Conference and is currently a member of the Writers Community of Durham Region. Kevin lives in Toronto, Ontario.

You can visit the EVENTS PAGE HERE FOR TICKET INFORMATION.

Here’s a link to the MUSKOKA AUTHORS ASSOCIATION WEBSITE.

From One Passion to Another – Back to Writing…

Now that the Camino de Santiago is behind me yet again, I’ll attempt to stop talking about it on here for a while. I can’t make any promises, though (like, I could drop a pic from the Camino without warning at any given moment!).

I’m moving on to my next passion for a bit. On July 12th I participated in a 3 day novel writing marathon in Huntsville, Ontario. During the 72 hours, I wrote almost 40,000 words. My goal for October is to finish the first draft of this novel. Let’s see if I can keep the momentum going. I’ve been at it for 2 days so far and I’m feeling pretty good about it.

The manuscripts written at the marathon are entered into a juried competition at the end of the weekend. My novel, NO VISIBLE DAMAGE, was awarded Runner Up in the YOUNG ADULT category of the competition. I’m thrilled with that outcome. First draft, written frenetically in 72 hours? I’ll take it!

20190714_154142 — A bookmark gifted to writers at the Muskoka Novel Marathon!

So I’m locking myself into writer mode for a bit. This may mean that I come at you with some exuberant writing advice every now and again. When I’m in that zone, it’s all I think about. Adios por ahora, mi Camino! Writing is my October jam!

One last story from my Muskoka Novel Marathon weekend prior to diving back into my manuscript. The bookmarks pictured above were given to ALL marathon participators. The back of each bookmark was blank. My fellow marathoner, Colum (who is literally the sweetest most kindhearted person) took my bookmark down to a local store in town and had the back personalized after I told him about a line that POPPED out of my manuscript. I wrote the line about a laptop that was thrown across a room in the story. During our conversation about the line in question, I told Colum it sounded like a great name for a punk band. Colum said it sounded like a perfect novel title. That’s the exact second my THE EPOQUE OF ETHAN manuscript became NO VISIBLE DAMAGE. Thanks, Colum! Both for giving me the TITLE and for getting the personalization of the bookmark done!

Happy WRITING!

Home from the Marathon – My 11th MNM

I usually write about my Muskoka Novel Marathon (MNM) experience shortly after it’s over. But I wasn’t sure how to deal with this one. I’ve been home from it a week today. I felt like I got nothing done this year. But I also managed to write almost 40,000 words in 72 hours. Perception and reality vastly conflict with one another. It’s the same ole same ole.

Another of the many distraction tactics I look forward to every year at the MNM…a long walk up a short hill to this place. LION’S LOOKOUT. Down below me, in the background, is the MNM venue.

Why is it this way? Because of the automaton feature that writers will often tap into. They can begin a project by being a writer writing and end up just being writing. Writer disappears at these marathons. Writer becomes writing. The act itself…with no one at the wheel.

This is why I always underestimate my creative output and my productivity. I disappear.

These are the 10-Page marker ribbons that all writers add to the clothesline every time they get to another 10-page milestone. They add up over the course of the 72hr novel writing marathon!

I was driving yesterday and a thought about my Muskoka Novel Marathon novel came to me in a flash of brilliance. It was more like a eureka moment. ‘I really should have my one character meet with a therapist.’

I mean, something big and terrible happened to them. Most likely, a therapist would be foisted upon them practically against their will in real life after experiencing what they experienced. I should write a scene where they visit a therapist.

20190714_004105 — This is the Active Living Centre in Huntsville, Ontario, at night. Shot from the dock at the water’s edge down below during Saturday evening’s distraction period of socializing. (-:

Then, when I finally sat down in front of my manuscript to continue my read-through, a funny thing happened. I came upon a fairly long scene (several pages in length) where my character visits a therapist. Who knows, there may even be more therapist meetings in the manuscript. I’m still reading through. This is one of the reasons I try not to edit while doing that first read-through after arriving home from the marathon. I often have no recollection of what my manuscript contains. And I never know what I’m gonna find. Literally, I have no idea. The therapist scene is a case in point. Blindsided.

A shot from the dock beside the Muskoka Novel Marathon venue.

I also know that I’m a monumental distraction to other writers at the marathon. I do my best focusing when I’m not focusing at all. I have too much energy to do things in another way. I write my ass off while drinking coffee and eating garbage candy and shooting myself madly off in every direction. Somehow, I walk away from the marathon with most of a novel…and somehow I get that novel completed in the few weeks immediately following the marathon. It’s how I function as a writer.

Another year in the can, another diabetic coma narrowly avoided. My novel is coming along. I may even like what I came away with. I’ll like it more once this read-through is complete and I know exactly what it is I wrote.

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