I’m Coming to Manitoulin… Where Should I Go?
Also Know As: How I Ended Up Writing a Travel Book
*This post isn’t actually about where to go if you visit Manitoulin - but it is about how I ended up writing a tour guide all about just that.
I started my Instagram account about ten years ago to share my artwork and the inspiration behind it. I spend the summers and a great deal of the year with my family on Manitoulin Island and as such, it inflences a lot of my artwork.
Sunsets, wildflowers, researching birds, taking part in the Manitoulin Art Tour, creating an art sculpture in Providence Bay, it seems that Manitoulin Island sneaks it’s way into almost all of my work.
As part of sharing the beauty and wonder of Manitoulin on Instargam, I would frequently asked about what to see and where to go when people come to visit here (my DM’s were a busy place and I began to joke that I felt like a tour guide!).
As this happened more and more, naturally creating some sort of guide came to mind.
Firstl I checked out what was available as far tour guides go and was surprised that a ‘Lonely Planet-style’ tour guide book didn’t already exist. I ordered a copy of Shelley Pearen’s ‘Exploring Manitoulin’ which was very interesting from a historical perspective but wasn’t a tour guide that explained places to visit and restaurants to eat at. Beyond Ms.Pearson’s book there really was nothing except annual brochure type guides that businesses would pay to be featured in.
So in the summer of 2019 I started writing and researching but the project which quickly got pushed to the sidelines. To be honest, I was busy with work , doing things with my kids, and I felt a bit daunted by the scope of the project. Writing a tour guide for the entirely of Manitoulin Island, all 2766 square kilometres, eight townships, six Anishinaabe reserves, and over 100 lakes turned out to be much bigger than I expected.
What started as a ‘fun project’ was actually a much bigger task that I had anticipated.
Covid came and went, and then in the summer of 2022 I resurrected the idea and made some progress. I managed this time to get to a whopping 3000 words by the end of July when I once again lost motivation.
Along came the summer of 2023 and I was in a very different headspace and situation. My boys were now at the age (11 and 12) where I could include them in a lot of my work projects and they often would willingly participate (hurray!) and give really good feedback. I also had decided for the first time ever to close my online shop for July and August. The summer would be about the boys (usually three of them as I often also had my nephew with us) and about really exploring Manitoulin and enjoying the summer.
We discussed the guide book project over several family lunch and dinner sessions. The boys were excited at the idea of eating at new places and exploring hiking trails and places we had never been too.
The summer of adventuring turned out to be a blast.
The four of us turned into minor food critics, deepened our love of hiking (ok, just me really), we made fun memories, and laughed - a lot (like the time we drove down a hiking trail, not knowing we were ON the trail).
As we explored new places we’d make notes about what we saw, what other information visitors might like to know, or fun places to shop at. We had a clipboard in the truck and the boys would add details as I drove. I’d get up early in the mornings so I could type things up from the day before and then at breakfast, depending on the weather or other things we had on the calendar, we’d make a plan for the day.
Early in the summer I had planned out the whole project and estimated that it would be about 20,000 words. By the end of July I was deep into research and writing - nearing 9000 words.
It was also around this time that I experienced a real dip in my motivation as it still felt like I had so much to do. I decided to put everything on post-it notes to give a sense of progress with the project. I attached them all to a big sheet of paper and tacked the whole thing on a closet door in the living room. It felt great to move the post-it notes along the way and the kids enjoyed helping with this. We’d often toast at dinner about sections that had been moved into the ‘ready to edit’ section.
At this point I’d also decided to break the project into two books after realizing just how many hiking trails there were on Manitoulin. This was a pleasant surprise as before pursuing writing the tour guide I had only known of about 10 hiking trails and we ended up with nearly 40 for the hiking book.
Researching and island touring continued and I noted in my journal on Monday, August 22nd, as I finished writing for the day and my word count was at: 20,010! We were wrapping up our summer, it was nearly time for the kids to head back to school and I made a final push to get everything I needed to finish the hiking book in the Autumn, and aim to get the tour guide ready for the summer of 2024.
Draft copy of Must See Manitoulin, the cover is still up for debate (and will be in colour).
Manitoulin Island Hiking Trails: A Game-Changing Guide to Exploring the Outdoors on Manitoulin Island was published in November 2023 (and has already sold over 500 copies!), and Must See Manitoulin: A Comprehensive Travel Guide for Exploring the World’s Largest Freshwater Island is due out mid-June!
