Category: Writer

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!

The Ant on the Raft

Hello readers. It’s been a while.

I’m currently reading BOOK OF LIVES by Margaret Atwood.

I have to confess that I have not read very many of Atwood’s books. But every single title of hers that I have read has touched me profoundly. Odd that. It seems bizarre that I would not read every single book she ever penned after realizing how much I love her books that I have read. I think I know the reason, though. To be honest with you, LARGE TOMES scare me. As one of the world’s slowest readers, a big book feels like too large a commitment to me. I have a historied past of taking the easiest way out…of literally anything life throws at me. This includes reading. I’ll look for slender volumes to read and I’ll almost always eschew the tomes. I know this means I miss an awful lot of great reading. John Irving comes to mind here. I have also loved all of his books that I’ve read. BUT it seems as though there are always two or three novels hidden within the depths of each of his novels. If you’re a John Irving fan, I’m sure you’ll understand what I mean by this. There is a blurred line with his works. Take the total of all of his published novels and multiply it by 2 1/2, and that’s probably closer to the sum of novels that Mr. Irving has penned.

Side-note: a few years back Michael and I were at the TRANS MARCH in Toronto (we never miss an opportunity to show up for the T in LGBTQIA2S+). Who should walk right past us, marching away with all the trans marchers and supporters, but JOHN IRVING himself. I smiled, made eye contact with him, and swallowed every urge to run out into Yonge Street and hug him and take a selfie with him and beg him for a signature or some such nonsense. He was just a man quietly showing up to support the community. He marched alone…with a look of determination and showingupness. I’ll never forget that quiet moment. No fanfare, no need to tell the world, “It is I, John Irving!” Just a man marching for something he believed in.

By now I have almost forgotten what I began this blog post for…I am meandering again.

Back to (close to) the beginning.

I’m currently reading BOOK OF LIVES by Margaret Atwood.

In it, Atwood speaks of a book she wrote as a child. It was called Annie the Ant. It was such a success with her readers (her parents and brother), that she set about writing a sequel where Annie takes an adventure down a river on a raft. The young Miss Atwood soon lost interest and the sequel fell by the wayside.

Why do I mention this? Because this was one of Atwood’s first writing lessons in the memoir. It was a lesson for herself, as well as a lesson for any writers (or wannabe writers) who may read the memoir. It’s a lesson in moving on when a piece of writing is not working.

“If the ant on the raft isn’t working for you, it’s okay to stop.” ~ Margaret Atwood, BOOK OF LIVES.

I needed that reminder. Thank you, Margaret Atwood. This made picking up the gigantic tome of a memoir well worth it for me. This one sentence is worth the price of admission. We writers do hold on to ideas that become stale and stagnant and shrivel on the vine. Instead of trying to find a way to write ourselves out of the paper bag–the corner we have wedged ourselves into–there is indeed another option. As Ms. Atwood says, it is perfectly okay to stop. Move on to something else.

This is probably glaringly obvious when you look at it. But it’s also something so many writers don’t do. They’ll struggle to re-alive a dead cat (that’s an analogy. It’s not really a dead cat. It’s a story that has fizzled out and died. No cats have been hurt in the creation of this analogy.) rather than bury it.

It’s never a waste to give up on a piece of writing. Spending time with the craft is always beneficial, whether or not you use the bi-product of that spent time. If it’s not working…it’s okay to stop.

That is all.

Writing Life Update – Is it Over? Or is it on Fire?

It’s so hard to see the big picture when I think about my writing life. Sometimes it feels almost non-existent. Sometimes it’s on fire. When I zoom in to a specific period of time I think, ‘Oh no! It’s over!’

But when I zoom out I see that it’s a whole world unto itself…and I calm down a bit. It’s those periods when I’m not writing that I gasp and sigh and just KNOW that it’s over.

But it isn’t. I think I might always be a writer. In fact, last weekend when there was a discussion on retirement I made the very blasé comment, “I just see myself writing all day long every day.”

In that throwaway statement I realized that I have nothing to worry about. Downtime is downtime, nothing else.

This week I’ve been working diligently on my unfinished mid-grade novel with the goal of finishing it by the end of the month. I know it’s ridiculous to throw deadlines around like that, but for me they really spur me on to stay on task. I work best under pressure and under threat of deadlines. They become impossible lines in the sand that I must arrive to at the assigned date and time. I learned this method works best for me when I entered my first MUSKOKA NOVEL MARATHON. The deadline at that time was to finish a novel in 48hrs. Spoiler Alert—I DID IT! That first MNM novel was Sebastian’s Poet. It won the BEST NOVEL AWARD that year. 2007. A lifetime ago!

But I digress. I’ve been really enjoying this mid-grade novel. It feels good to be reimmersed in it. That’s the thing about writing fiction. The writer really does get inside the story. You can feel yourself falling into it. Sometimes I think, ‘If I looked up right now, I’d see the surface above me‘ as though I’m under water and softly embraced in another world. One of my own creation. That’s the part I love the most…disappearing and becoming the story I’m telling. Once you feel that, it’s like you spend the rest of your life chasing that high. Every time you get drawn into your own fiction, you reach that feeling again–that high–and thank the universe that you’re still able to experience it.

Happy Writing and Happy Reading!