The Goodjelly Blog
By Christine Carron
We live in a culture that values doing, accomplishing, taking action. On the writerly adventure, leaning into that cultural norm is a good thing. You have to take action—a whole lot of action—as a writer, or your literary dreams will never amount to anything....
By Christine Carron
I left for the conference with high hopes. Not only was I going to get all the main conference sessions, I had paid for a session with a V.I.I.P., i.e., a very important industry professional. I was going to be mentored by an agent or an editor or a successful author who had...
By Christine Carron
I’ve been on the writing adventure for over a decade, and it kind of blows my mind that last week was officially my first ever personal writing retreat. I have attended conferences and classes and workshops galore, but never before have I gone away with the main purpose...
By Christine Carron
For years, I tried and failed to meditate. Instead of being calmed by the process, it stressed me out. I felt a bit ashamed about this. Wasn’t meditation supposed to be a universal salve? When I finally ‘fessed up about my meditation chagrin to my therapist, she...
By Christine Carron
[The inner game] takes place in the mind of the player, and it is played against such obstacles as lapses in concentration, nervousness, self-doubt and self-condemnation. In short it is played to overcome all habits of mind which inhibit excellence in performance.
- Tim...
By Christine Carron
I had been living in the small studio apartment on Rue de Bremondis in Aix-en-Provence for a week. Madame Leyssieux was my landlady. A lovely woman who kindly agreed to let me parrot her in attempt to improve my French pronunciation and vocabulary. Each one of our early...
By Christine Carron
There I was. In a writing workshop with seven other writers. We had completed a writing prompt a moment ago. The workshop leader called on me to read and instead of reading the prompt, I launched into an . . . I don’t know what.
Apology? Explanation? Plea to the...
By Christine Carron
It’s true. An active Inner Critic can wreak havoc on our writerly adventure. She* might keep us from sharing our work. It’s so not good enough! Seriously. Total dog doo-doo writing. . . .
Or stop us from taking classes that will help us grow as writers. What...
By Christine Carron
I have worked on software development projects for over twenty-five years. First as a business analyst, then as a project manager. There are many moving pieces involved in building a website that satisfies (and ideally exceeds) a client’s expectations, but the one I...
By Christine Carron
Have you ever noticed how much there is to do on the writing adventure? Learn how to write whatever it is you want to write. Write. Learn how to revise. Revise. Learn how to critique. Find a critique group. Learn how to keep your equilibrium while being critiqued. Write....
By Christine Carron
Imagine your favorite novel. Now imagine that same novel with no chapter indicators or chapter breaks, no indentations at the beginning of paragraphs, no line breaks at the end of paragraphs, no capitalization to begin sentences, and no punctuation to end them. Just one...
By Christine Carron
From the age of ten to fourteen, I was a member of the Saint Louis Civic Ballet. It was a seminal experience of my...
