The Goodjelly Blog
No. 123 | By Christine Carron
It took me years of dancing Argentine tango (and a second trip to Buenos Aires) to land the traditional art of being asked to dance with just a gaze. The leader’s move is to make eye contact and then nod toward their partner of choice. That is called the cabeceo.Â
The...
No. 118 | By Christine Carron
About five pages in to my first first-draft ever, I had a somewhat obvious realization: “Whoa, if I want to write a book, I actually have to write a book.” The whole endeavor felt suddenly so real and daunting. Doubt flooded in: Will I really be able to do this? Do I e...
No. 113 | By Christine Carron
Getting your work critiqued is an important part of the writing adventure. It might also be a harrowing process. You have to navigate your own hopes and vulnerabilities, along with your critique givers’ opinions, feedback styles, and intentions. When, however, you have...
No. 108 | By Christine Carron
Editor's Note: This is the second post in the Goodjelly Moves series. Each of the five Moves represents a core quality or energy needed to ace the writing adventure. The Moves framework conveys the reality that productivity, like the seasons, is cyclical—requiring both...
No. 102 | By Christine Carron
I don’t remember a time in my childhood where baking was not involved. My nana baked. Cinnamon rolls. Blackberry cobblers. Bundt cakes. My mom baked. Angel food cakes. Lemon meringue pies. Breads, muffins, rolls galore.
We had the goods. I was taught how to make the g...
By Christine Carron
Fall has arrived, a chill is in the air, and we are days away from the final quarter (Q4) of the year. That means we writers have three months left to play with when it comes to getting writerly work done this year.Â
Are you clear on what you want to get done? What you can real...
By Christine Carron
One aspect of the writing adventure I do not like is the thread that runs through it that creates an environment of intellectual and emotional, well . . . violence. I know. Violence is a strong word. I am not sure how else to categorize perspectives where creativity is a battlef...
By Christine Carron
Recently, I read an interview of a famous author. The interviewer asked the FA (famous author) about their writing process. The gist of what the FA said was, “There’s a lot of chocolate involved.”
I am sure there is chocolate involved in that writer’s process. It is also a char...
By Christine Carron
It was one of the most unpleasant few moments of dancing Argentine tango that I ever experienced. I was in Buenos Aires for a month on a tango adventure and in a class at DNI Tango*, a beautiful tango school in the heart of the city. One of my favorite Argentine tango couples, A...
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 Gallwey...
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. Attend ...
By Christine Carron
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A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had ...
