This afternoon, The Muskoka Novel Marathon revealed their "LUCKY" 40 writers who will be participating in their 2014 writing event. I say lucky, because in order to get on that prestigous list, you had to be very well informed of when the registration was taking place. The list of writers fills up within hours of the registration opening. 

On Tuesday, March 18th at 7:00 sharp, the on-line registration opened... and it closed at 5:07pm on Wednesday, March 19th. That's a very small window of opportunity, and unfortunately, not everyone made it on the list, that wanted to be on the list. So, there is a WAIT LIST that you can add your name to, and they will call you, if someone drops out. Don't be discouraged, something unforeseeable always happens, like a family wedding, a new baby, a funeral, or someone becomes sick... that's when they call the people waiting on the list. So, if you missed out on registering, get on the WAIT LIST here. There's no guarantee, but there is a chance... so go for it!

In the meantime, you should check out who made it on the list. Every one of these 40 writers are amazing in their own way. They represent every genre in two different categories: Juvenile/Young Adult and Adult. They write Horror, Romance, Mystery, Thrillers, Science-Fiction (the hipsters call that Sci-Fi), Fantasy, Westerns, Fiction and Non-Fiction and even some Literary Dramas too. Many of the writers have been published already and you can purchase books from them too. 

Although, the main reason they are all together in one room, writing a novel over a 72-hour period, is to raise money for the people who can't read or do simple math. I know, it is hard to believe that, as you sit here reading this blog, there are people who will shy away from the computer, books or magazines, because they can't read the words on the page in front of them. They do a lot of pretending or faking people out, saying they forgot their glasses, or the they are not interested, whatever the reason they use, it comes down to the fact that they are illiterate, and they are embarrassed to let that show. It makes them feel sad, depressed and frustrated. It overwhelms them so much, that they will avoid anyone who may figure out their secret. 

• Did you know 42% of Canadians have trouble with their literacy skills?
  
• 55% of working age adults in Canada are estimated to have less than adequate health literacy skills. 
• 88% of Canadian adults over the age of 65, appear to be in this situation.
• Only 5-10% of eligible adults ever enrol in literacy programs.
• Less than 20% of people with low literacy skills are actually employed in the workforce right now.
• If we could help 1% of the population with their literacy skills, those people could help generate $18 billion dollars in economic growth.
• Impoverished Canadian adults often do not have the literacy skills required to get into job training programs.
• Investment in literacy programming has a 241% return on investment
  
  

So, please take a moment to read about these 40 people, who are writers trying to help readers. No donation is too small. Read about the writers and pick one to donate to. If I was going to pick someone, I would choose a woman named Nora Bartlett. Last year, July 2013, Nora participated in the novel writing marathon for the first time EVER! What's so great about that? Well, the year before that, in July 2012, she was a member of the Literacy Program at the YMCA Simcoe/ Muskoka. Nora is a graduate of the same Literacy Program, we are raising money for. She is solid proof that this works. I've never seen a happier person in my life, when she hit her first ten pages of writing on her own. (Just picture Charles Schultz's, Peanuts cartoon character, Snoopy, doing his happy dance). It was AWESOME!

Please take a moment to read about everyone... or just about Nora. If you would like to meet her, drop by the Active Living Centre (Canada Summit Centre), 20 Park Drive, Huntsville, Ontario.

This is Nora Barlett, typing away on her 2013 MNM manuscript.

You can donate to Nora here.

To read more about Nora or the other 39 Muskoka Novel Marathon writers in this year's writing marathon, please go here.

**Money is being raised for the YMCA Simcoe/Muskoka Literacy Programs.**

Please give generously... we appreciate every dollar given. Thank you.



** Literacy statistics for my blog post were taken from Literacy Statistics Canada website. You can visit them here.

Contest 1 - Deadline March 31, 2014. Entry fee: FREE. Win: Prize TBA ~ Top 10 entries will be displayed at Ontario Writers' Conference in May 2014. To enter, write a short piece (100 words maximum) inspired by the art featured on website. It can be any form of writing (poetry, prose, dialogue, haiku, etc.) as long as it is original. Submit your entry in the comment section below the picture on the website. Check the full entry rules and format at http://thewritersconference.com/story-starter-march-gretel-boose/

Contest 2 - Deadline March 31, 2014. Entry Fee: $22. Win $2500. Winter 2014 Short Story Contest - Winner published in Narrative Magazine. Big money. Lots of entries. Read about it here: http://www.narrativemagazine.com/winter-2014-story-contest.

Contest 3 - FREE Entry fee, must be received by Easter weekend, Thursday, April 17, 2014. I say send/submit ASAP to be considered. Winner gets a free copy of Anthology & published in the Anthology about writing. Judged & published by Sunshine in a Jar. Read about it here:http://www.sunshineinajar.com/books-2/sunshine-in-a-jar-press/the-writing-spiral/submission-guidelines/.

Contest 4 - CANSCAIP Writing For Children Competition. Deadline: April 25, 2014. Entry fee: $25. Win $1500 & submission to 3 publishers for consideration. Read about it here: http://www.canscaip.org/competitions.

Contest 5 - Writers' Community of Simcoe County (WCSC) is having a Short Prose Contest. Deadline: April 30, 2014. Entry fee: $10. Win $100. Usually around 20 submissions to this one, so you have a better chance of winning. You get published in Lifestyle Magazine's and you win money...not much but it counts towards grants. Read more here: http://simcoewriters.ca/simcoe/contest/.

Contest 6 - William Wilfred Campbell Poetry Festival ~ A Poetry Contest for Grey-Bruce Poets. Deadline: April 30, 2014. Entry fee: FREE. Win: Cash prizes, $200 for each of the top three poems in two categories; winners MUST read their winning poem at festival on June 1st to receive prize. Entries to be typed on 8.5x11-inch white paper. On a cover page, list entrant's name, address, telephone number, email address, poems and poem titles. The entries are to be sent to: Contest Registrar, William Campbell Appreciation Society, Box 1214, Wiarton, Ontario, N0H 2To. The contest is open to previously unpublished poems (not more than 45 lines) based on the area's lake scenes. Campbell was known as the Poet Laureate of the Lakes.

Contest 7 - Toronto Novel Writing Marathon (ToNoMa). Deadline: Registration starts: March 26th, 2014. Entry fee: $100. Write a novel. Submit for feedback from judges & win the chance of publisher's consideration. Read more here: On Facebook, website not up and running yet...it's a brand NEW marathon this year: http://www.torontonovelmarathon.ca

Magazine Short Stories - The Tin Roof Press. Open to all local Grey-Bruce writers. Deadline: On-going, issues published throughout the year. Entry Fee: FREE. Go to website to read more on this. Owner and editor is Jennifer McGuire. http://tinroofpress.ca. General inquires: [email protected]. Editor: [email protected]

REMINDER

One of the most important writing tasks of the year is happening in less than 22 hours... 
MNM Registration!

If you forget to sign-up for the Muskoka Novel Marathon,
you won't be spending an awesome weekend in July,
in a room full of 40 amazing writers, creating your Great Canadian Novel.

Registration begins at:
7:00 SHARP, Tuesday, March 18th, TOMORROW evening
on the Home Page for the Muskoka Novel Marathon at:
www.muskokanovelmarathon.com.

Keep refreshing the page until you see the REGISTER ME! button.
Then press it and start filling in all the empty boxes.

Page One IS IMPORTANT. It determines the number you become on our Writer List. So, HURRY!

You have 2 hours after you submit Page 1, to send information for Page 2 and 3.
Your registration time will go faster if you have your author bio ready to copy and paste.

Any questions, please feel free to send me an email at [email protected]

Hope to see your name on the list tomorrow.

~ Lori Twining, MNM Writer Liaison

If you are a writer, and like to submit your work to contests, I have an excellent opportunity for you to take part in a writing anthology with Jessica Outram's "Sunshine in a Jar". This contest is slightly different from your usual short story contest submission... instead, you are writing a piece about your writing experience, in the form of stories, essays, poems or short plays. This anthology is going to be published in the Fall of 2014 and it is titled, "The Writing Spiral - An Anthology About Learning and Writing". 

The writing pieces should be about learning, teaching, mentoring, writing, growing, creating, and sharing. They are looking for pieces about love, loss, joy, hope, fear, friendship, family, work, light, and darkness. You are being encouraged to write about your experience with learning to write or why you like to write. This anthology hopes to capture the spirit of learning to become a writer. Writers of all ages, stages, and places welcome. The more authors stories and experiences gathered, the better the book will be.

The original submission deadline was March 1, 2014 but it has been extended until Easter of 2014, so Jessica can add a few more writing pieces to round out all the different subject material into something awesome. It will be the perfect book for writers by writers. She is hoping to hear from a few more authors. So, submit as soon as possible.

Here is a list of what she is looking for right now:

• Your favourite writing prompts. 
• Tips on craft. What have you learned about writing? 
• Writing and place. Where do you like to write? How does place influence your work?
• Humorous stories about the writing life.
• The writing process. How do you decide what to write about?
• Writing teachers. Who are your mentors? How have they influenced you? If you are a writing teacher, what is that experience like?
• The experience of writing alone vs. writing in a group.
• The experience of learning to write.
• Song writing
• Letter writing
• Script-writing
• Writing and relationships. How does your work impact the people in your life?
• Ethics and writing
• Blogging
• Balancing writing and life

If you are interested in submitting your work to this anthology, go check out the website with all the submission guidelines at Sunshine in a Jar.  Did I mention you can submit your work for FREE? Yep, now it is definitely, a golden opportunity, isn't it? Hopefully, my submission doesn't get tossed in the garbage, now that I've told you all about this great opportunity. Good luck and HAPPY WRITING, my friend. :)

I’ve been attending 3-Day Novel Writing Marathons for years and I can attest that they are the most writerly fun I have all year long. Imagine sitting in a room full of 40 writers all typing away at their laptops, creating a brand new novel. We eat together, go for early morning coffee together, we occasionally go for late night drinks together, and we sometimes sleep together…separately, of course!

If you are interested in spending a wonderful weekend in Muskoka in the middle of July, and you are a writer, I’ve got important information to share with you. Check this out...it is TIME SENSITIVE:

On Tuesday, March 18th at 7:00 SHARP, registration for the Muskoka Novel Marathon opens on-line at www.muskokanovelmarathon.com on the Home Page. Just a heads-up, there are 40 spots available and they go in a blink of an eye or a swish of a lamb’s tail…you have to be FAST to be included in this writing event!

The actual 3-Day Muskoka Novel Writing Marathon, takes place from Friday, July 11th at 8:00pm to Monday, July 14th at 8:00pm at the Active Living Centre (ALC). The ALC is part of the Canada Summit Centre at 20 Park Drive in Huntsville, Ontario. It has FREE Parking, FREE Wi-Fi, showers and a pool...among many other exciting features. Check out the website for more details.

Basically, this is how the writing marathon works: you sit down at your laptop; the horn goes to signify the start of the writing period and you type... you have 72 hours of writing time to complete a first draft of a novel; eating and sleeping are optional, and so is talking and networking with fellow writers. I recommend doing a little bit of everything, of course, most writers will share their treats, along with their business cards.

The biggest point of this writing marathon is about the fund-raising for charity. The writers collect funds to donate to the YMCA Simcoe/Muskoka, who work miracles on a teeny-tiny budget in their Literacy Programs. We like to refer to our efforts as "Writers Supporting Readers". Last year, in 2013, we had the first graduate of the Literacy Program write in the marathon with us. Her name was Nora, and she did great! She had so much fun, that she wants to come back again this year!

So, being a writer, you not only get to help a worthy cause raise money for Literacy, but you also get a chance to win the possibility of publication. The MNM has judges read the submissions and then the top winning manuscript in both the Adult Category and the Juvenile/Young Adult Category will be sent on to an acquisition editor or literary agent. It's a win-win situation.

I guarantee it is the best writing event of the year... you really should consider signing up. I'll be sitting at my computer on Tuesday night, March 18th at 7:00pm SHARP, just waiting to hit the REGISTER ME! button on the MNM website. Will you?