How to Win a Muskoka Novel Marathon (Recording)

Description

How to Win a Muskoka Novel Marathon
Panelists: Kevin Craig, Jennifer Turney & Shellie Westlake

On Demand Playback | 1 hour Panel +  Q&A

So you want to win the Best Novel Award at the Muskoka Novel Marathon, do you?! Though there is no secret recipe for success, there are ways to improve your chances along the way. Jennifer Turney, Shellie Westlake and Kevin Craig have some thoughts that might help you achieve your final goal. Between the three of them, they have brought home 8 of the coveted Best Novel Award Muskoka Chairs. If you’re unfamiliar with what a Muskoka Novel Marathon win brings the Best Book Award author, the Muskoka chair is what you sit on while you prepare your manuscript to be submission ready to the marathon’s affiliated publisher for feedback and consideration. Kevin, Shellie, and Jennifer have some tools, tips, and insights to share with writers about keeping on task and seeing your marathon novel all the way through to The End. Whether you’re a pantser or a plotter, there are ways to put your best foot forward in this competition. From pre-marathon planning, to pushing through the mid-marathon darkness, to cribbing the synopsis along the way, there are ways to stay on top of your story and hand in your best First Draft work at the end of the weekend. Let Shellie, Jennifer and Kevin show you the way to one of those coveted chairs!

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About our Panelists:

Kevin Craig is the author of contemporary young adult fiction (Summer on Fire, Burn Baby Burn Baby, Half Dead & Fully Broken, and, Pride Must Be A Place, The Camino Club) and contemporary adult fiction featuring young narrators ( Sebastian’s Poet and The Reasons). Kevin is a 5-time winner of the Muskoka Novel Marathon’s BEST NOVEL AWARD. Kevin is also a playwright, and has had twelve plays staged. Their short stories appear in several anthologies and journals. Kevin has also had poetry published in multiple media. Kevin’s memoir writing has appeared in the Globe & Mail and they have also recorded memoir for CBC Radio Canada. They live in Toronto, Ontario.

Jennifer Turney is a writer from Huntsville, Ontario. She has had short stories published in various literary magazines, online and in print, and is currently enjoying the variety that comes with being a freelance writer. Jennifer has participated in 6 Muskoka Novel Marathons and was complemented to win the award for Best Manuscript two years in a row, writing both YA and Adult Fiction respectively. When she isn’t writing, she can be found playing board games or hiking with her family, digging in her gardens or enjoying an almost meditative peace at the dojo – once she’s done with all the weapons and heavy bag that is.

Shellie Westlake is a writer who lives in Branchton, Ontario, with her family and a menagerie of animals including cats, a lizard, and an enormous but completely harmless dog. She hopes to add chickens into the mix and is working on convincing her husband that a goat would also be a lot of fun. (Her two girls are completely on board!)

Shellie won Best Novel in 2012 in the juvenile/YA category for her novel, A Field Guide to Dragons (and Other Exotic Animals). This year will be her twelfth time participating in the marathon.