The Goodjelly Blog
No. 112 | By Christine Carron
Writers want to make progress. I’d also like to believe that all writers would like to suffer less while achieving said progress, but I know that some writers believe that suffering during the making of the work somehow makes the work itself more legitimate. Perhaps th...
No. 107 | By Christine Carron
The core premise behind Goodjelly is my conviction that while the writing adventure is hard, there are countless ways to make it easier. One of those ways is to keep a healthy, balanced perspective about all aspects of the journey, from the way we manage our work, to t...
No. 106 | By Christine Carron
In the first week of the Jam Experience—Goodjelly’s signature training program—writers create a 2-week plan for their writing work using the new tools and techniques that are introduced in the program’s early lessons. There’s so much excitement when those first plans a...
No. 101 | By Christine Carron
Photographer and experimental filmmaker Mathieu Stern recently captured and shared a public performance by French dancer Yoann Bourgeois. As he moves up and down, falls from and bounces back to a freestanding staircase, Bourgeois creates a captivating metaphor. In an a...
By Christine Carron
For most writers, writing is done alone. Just you and the page. The writing adventure, however, requires a vast array of relationships. To navigate those relationships effectively—be they passing, enduring, or something in between—requires healthy boundaries. Nedra Glover Tawwab...
By Christine Carron
A common problem for writers is how to stay focused during a writing session when you have competing priorities. Let’s set the scene.
There you are. Intrepid writer. You’ve kept your commitment to yourself, to your art, and gotten your derrière in the chair and then . . . wher...
By Christine Carron
Writers, especially those working on long-form projects like novels, have to be momentum mavens. Otherwise it is easy to get discouraged, sidetracked, and possibly even give up. I don’t want writers to give up. I don’t want YOU to give up. Your voice, your vision, your stories m...
By Christine Carron
I received the email one week after I took over a software development project that was way behind schedule and massively over budget. The email was from the CEO of another consulting firm. Two of his consultants—very senior, very talented developers—were staffed on the project....
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. Coulda . . . Should...
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 conversa...
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 massive ...
By Christine Carron
I’m forging ahead on the Great Reading Reset of 2022 and working my way through three books this week, one of which is Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World by Brian Walker and David Salt. This book, which is about systems theory and resilienc...
