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The Goodjelly Blog

On Taming the Reading Tidal Wave

By Christine Carron

This morning, I finished reading John O’Donohue’s Walking in Wonder. It is a gorgeous, contemplative book. The calm and clarity of his words reverberated through me, but beyond my happiness about its content, what struck me is how satisfied I felt seeing the...

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On Decapitating Joseph

By Christine Carron

One by one, I pulled out the carefully wrapped wooden figures from the nativity set I bought at a Christmas market in Germany years ago. As I was unwrapping Joseph, a neighbor walked past our apartment door with his dog. My pup decided to notify me of that momentous event. Her...

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On Channeling Your Inner Carol

By Christine Carron

A few weeks ago, my friend Carol Brown posted photos of her dog Erik participating in a dog agility event. I am lucky to have many dog training friends, and many of my dog training friends participate in the sport of dog agility, which means I get to see photos of many amazing...

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On Finishing Well

By Christine Carron

One of the most profound lessons I integrated from my years of dance training was to finish well. At its core, this directive is a guard against performance meltdowns in situations where a dancer flubs or forgets the steps, or worse, falls. It calls you to pick yourself up,...

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On Constraints and Creativity

By Christine Carron

I admit to being annoyed. I recently read a book (that shall remain nameless) where the author set up the main character, a girl, as being six feet tall. Then the author sent said character to a masquerade party and another key character had a conversation with our masked,...

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On Welcoming Your Writing

By Christine Carron

Building a habit of writing regularly continues to be a work in progress for me. A major gift of starting this blog has been the confidence-building effect of posting weekly. I show up for this blog (and for you, the readers) and my writing shows up in return. Again and...

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On the Ground, Gather, Grow Framework

By Christine Carron

When you go to a writing conference or workshop, if you are anything like me, you want positive change to happen as a result of your attendance. Not only because it’s an investment of your time and money, but also because you are committed to growing as a writer. Perhaps...

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On Setting Your Writing Self Free

By Christine Carron

Somewhere over fifteen years ago, I bought the book Writing the Mind Alive: The Proprioceptive Method for Finding Your Authentic Voice by Linda Trichter Metcalf and Tobin Simon. I found it in the gift shop of the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. I remember taking it...

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On Playing with Register

By Christine Carron

Which is more memorable? A girl in a beautiful pink prom dress or a girl in a beautiful pink prom dress wearing sky blue sneakers? Blue sneaker girl wins in my book every time.

A girl in a pink prom dress is expected. A girl in a pink prom dress wearing sky blue sneakers...

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On Standing at the Advice Crossroads

By Christine Carron

In last week's post, I mentioned a time at a writing conference where I asked a pointless, fawning question that I imagine led to an internal eye roll by the editor to whom the question was directed.  As soon as I stepped away from the conversation I was like, “Why...

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On Good Ripples

By Christine Carron

Once a manager attempted to pressure me into committing fraud. When I refused, that person attempted to spin the story so that it appeared that I had been in the wrong and was not a team player. It created a period of discomfort in my life, in my career. I...

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On the Beauty of Clarity

By Christine Carron

I should be devastated. After a discussion with my first readers, it became clear that the revision I had been working on for ten months did not work. 

I am not devastated. I am relieved. Clarity is a beautiful thing. No matter how difficult the truth.

Once you have...

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