Christine Carron, Goodjelly writer productivity

auto-generated transcript:

Mark Stinson, host: [: 00:00:00

But you're saying I'm a bit stuck and I need to get this process underway. So we're gonna talk about where inspiration and organization overlap. To really unlock our creativity. And my guest today to talk about that is Christine, Carron. Christine, welcome to the show.

Christine Carron, Goodjelly: Thank you for having

than to think about process.[: 00:01:00

But if we overthink it, then we're still stuck again. But even your company name is good jelly. And I love the idea of gelling these ideas and bringing them together and, get him on paper, get it on the screen, and finally hit the send button of our work. But let's go back to the beginning and just think about that.

Why a creative person who might be struggling needs process to help unlock that.

had nothing to do with their [: 00:02:00

It was just organizational things and process things that were really easy to resolve. And the, because I have a project management and process improvement background, the thought that came into my head was, The writing adventure doesn't have to be so hard, and that was a spark that I was like, if writers or any artist or creative could really look at their process as a separate thing from their craft, from their art, and understand how to manage that and work through it, it just, it clears the path and makes everything easier.

Mark Stinson, host: Very good. And let's say that we're talking with somebody who's got that idea, even a manuscript or an outline in front of them but just can't seem to say what's next? How do you address that?

into planning your work and [: 00:03:00

Before you started recording, we talked, oh, that little thing called the pandemic, that threw out everybody's plans and people often mistake that. A plan is a prediction of the future. It's just a direction in this moment with the knowledge you have at this time. And then you're going to move forward and you're going to get more knowledge.

So if someone is really feeling like I don't know where to go, then you decide the next small step. And you make it really small. Do you take a class? Do you and even the smaller step before that is, do you look for classes? And see what sparks your interest. And then do you take the class or do you say I need to do some brainstorming?

e boost. You get this little [: 00:04:00

Mark Stinson, host: I love that little micro boost that you get from, at least I moved something forward today.

Christine Carron, Goodjelly: Yes. Yes. And I think a lot of creatives projects or writer projects, especially like writing a novel is so long, and if you're a little withholding and you don't give yourself credit for the small steps in between, then that just Just flattens your motivation and your confidence so a mindset trick is we're all, I'm like, get as many done boosting today as you can.

So how are you breaking down your work? So you're saying, did it, and I can take on tomorrow. Yes. And do a bunch of things tomorrow because that's how you get creative projects done.

Mark Stinson, host: Sure. Rather than looking back at the end of the day and saying, I didn't get anything accomplished today. Yes.

so many, and so many I guess [: 00:05:00

Christine Carron, Goodjelly: formula. Yes, my vision of the world. I finally worked on my bi business plan earlier, like at the end of last year. And I was like, really? What am I doing? And I'm like, my vision of a world is where all writers delight in their creative process. And that word delight is, yes, it includes joy and happiness, but it's really that you have extreme satisfaction in your journey.

se, we have a process called [: 00:06:00

What I focus on is a writer really connecting to their own creative code and their context. So if you like to write every day and that serves you great, if you're, you are more of a surge, then set your weekly word count goals for a week. So you may get the same amount of word counts. It's what I call a steady, someone who is served by that steady focus on daily accomplishment.

numbers as someone who does [: 00:07:00

Mark Stinson, host: And I guess the different writing projects, a blog versus a book or a yes. A what am I trying to say? Story, yeah. A novel or a film, was Yes. Yeah. Very good. Yeah. And you have also drawn the analogy, that computer programmers and other techies have agile, to keep their projects moving and to get these surges. But I, I think good jelly for artists, is the analogy of agile perhaps.

And it isn't it more fun and. Yes, a little more palatable.

ication and keeping folks in [: 00:08:00

So managing your mindset. So I created, we do the same. You know it, it's similar to Scrum where you're working in bursts of time and you're creating rhythm and focus in your work to, again, it's a always looking for motivation and confidence in this sense of, I can do this. And so yes, agile for artists.

Totally down with that. I love that.

Mark Stinson, host: Maybe you can share a case confidentially, of course, if you don't want to use names. But give us an example of someone who, was moving along, maybe slower than they wanted to in their writing journey, and began to embrace your process and how did that turn out?

What that sounds like an interview question. Yes. Tell me about a time.

Christine Carron, Goodjelly: [: 00:09:00

And then we, she came into the program and there's, there are times that some writers are a little overprocessed, they're a little process lockdown. They're being so rigid in their time or applying these traditional. Expectations of writers write every day. And then when you fail to meet that you're not aligned with your own creative code, then it starts, you have start to have a drag.

his writer just embrace this [: 00:10:00

It's exciting,

Mark Stinson, host: it's terrific. Let's pause a moment on that inner kindness. Yes. Cause we can be pretty rough on ourselves, can't we?

Christine Carron, Goodjelly: Yes. It's it was interesting when the feedback first came, the testimonials on the first jam experience. I, there was so many comments from the participants about inner kindness.

nner kindness works when you [: 00:11:00

I got, I get that you're concerned, but I now have a way to work. I'm staying connected to myself. And then kindness just becomes so much easier as well. When you try to be kind to yourself, when you don't have other things in order, that's when it get, can get a little dicey and actually feel even more unsafe than just like inner critic attacks.

You get into this should, I shouldn't be doing this. A real writer wouldn't be having these thoughts. So true.

Mark Stinson, host: Yeah. Yeah. And you mentioned your jam experience. Now, what I read so far on your website, was that a real kind of group experience? Yes. A small group training. How does that work?

Christine Carron, Goodjelly: My aha.

I kept thinking, how [: 00:12:00

Designers, developers, QA people, they get the benefit of, in agile terms, a scrum master or a project manager just. Keeping things out of their path, helping them work through blocks, and I thought, why don't I just create the jam experience like a project team of writers. And so it's fabulous. We, in essence, sprint, the good jelly language is a little different, but we sprint together.

er. But just I do not ask me [: 00:13:00

So it was, it's magical love that.

Mark Stinson, host: Let's pause here to find out how we can learn more about that

Christine Carron, Goodjelly: program. Just check out good jelly.com and right at the top, on the right there's a button that says, learn how to jam. Love

Mark Stinson, host: that. And the jam experience couldn't fit better with the brand.

ovement to the creative side?[: 00:14:00

Christine Carron, Goodjelly: I think the way my brain has always worked is I see patterns and connections. For me, anything is inspiration. And even on the I do series of. Posts on the blog and the, and I, if you're on my newsletter you get the what is the connection between this set of posts and I just started a little series called Mixed Metiers, so I'm taking, like Monday's blog post was I took a class with the Highwire Walk Highwire artist, Felipe Petit, many years ago.

And so it's wisdom from a Highwire artist. Applied to the writing adventure. I talked to a friend of mine who. Does curling. I don't know if you say you do curling, but Right. Or are you a curler? I'm not sure what term

Mark Stinson, host: of verb is curl to curl. Okay. I've curled.

she curls and it was such a [: 00:15:00

Wouldn't, I don't know if we were being recorded or not, but we talked about momentum and the name good jelly. But the way jellyfish move is they, Clear the water out in front of them, and then they just move into that space. So it's not from the, they're not pushing, they're making space and moving forward, making space and moving forward.

And there's a. Carol's gonna be upset for me cause I can't remember the official, the sweeper. It's, I believe it's the sweeper that goes out in front and is, making it like to speed the stone up or slow it down. And that's how you become your own project manager for yourself. You become your own sweeper where you make it easier to make Ford momentum.

n my own personal writing, I [: 00:16:00

Yes.

Mark Stinson, host: I'm glad you brought up Phil Philippe Petit. I do remember reading his book and it was terrific about Yes. Again, that creativity, you think you're just walking a highwire except, it's between two skyscrapers.

Christine Carron, Goodjelly: Yes. Yeah. Yes. One of the, I was looking at my notes from that class and one of the things that I really appreciated from, a lot of times, Writers are worried, if they think, oh, she's a process improvement consultant or a project manager, like she's gonna just suck all the joy out of my process and lock me down.

s a phrase he uses and I'll. [: 00:17:00

Like it grounds you on the wire. But then he said right after that, unless the other one feels better, then just change. Yeah. And that to me, yeah, that to me gets into what, you know what, there is a sense of what feels right to you on the creative adventure and to ensure, yes, you can learn from other people and get ideas.

u have a sense of, not quite [: 00:18:00

And being attuned to that and honoring that. Yes.

Mark Stinson, host: Let's find that writer who's sitting right now in front of their computer staring at a blank screen. They gotta write a blog, they gotta write a proposal, they've gotta write the next page, a next chapter of their novel. But they just, literally, I'm staring at the blank screen.

In the old days, the typewriter page, was the scariest thing you could ever look at. What are a couple of suggestions that you could give this writer? Right here, right now that says, if you're listening to this program, here's a key to unlock

Christine Carron, Goodjelly: something. The main tip I would be saying, do not approach writer's block like a writer.

es. They're just part of the [: 00:19:00

Would taking a shower, help you? Would standing up and turning around in a circle help you just to change the energy, but don't make the block bigger than it is. The developers are blocked, QA people are blocked. Everybody gets blocked, and when you stop acting as it's like some statement about you as a writer, then you can just get practical and just take an action.

And sometimes stepping away, like you did put the parameters on that example, like you had to get it done. But to just to take a breather and say, for this next second, I actually don't have to, and see what space that opens up. And it's just this adding a sense of playfulness to this feeling of you can't move forward.

u. That absolutely knows you [: 00:20:00

Mark Stinson, host: I like this. And just as you said, it's like just for the moment. Yeah. But just embrace this moment. Maybe you don't, but in the moment. Yeah.

Christine Carron, Goodjelly: Yeah. And I think that gets into what I was saying earlier about the Dun Boost and the power of claiming small wins.

flow and is movement and is [: 00:21:00

This you just, I sometimes I don't. You are more of a scientist than I am, but how like when you have magnets and somehow they're demagnetized and they just drop that you want to drop the, with your art, and that when we get blocked, we get tight. And tightness is not flow. So just that moment of having the ding.

Let the magnet, let that polarization drop. And then you've got it. Yeah.

It's

Mark Stinson, host: a good visual. Thanks for sharing that. Listeners, we've also been consistently now using this writing and writer. Yes. But you're right, Christine. It's like creators of all kinds. Yes. We might bet talking to a songwriter, a restaurateur.

Yes. A animator, a creative of many different kinds. And yes, the principles really do apply.

ting for me as well, because [: 00:22:00

But, and that's why, to me, it's a separate, it's a separate thing than craft that you have to understand your work. Your process, your mindset, but that process is a separate thing. And just as you want to ace your craft, you want to ace how you get your art done. And that's a different set of skills that I don't think is often talked about, that are talked about the periphery.

onship with it, how you move [: 00:23:00

Mark Stinson, host: stuff.

I can tell I wish you were more enthusiastic. I know.

No, it's fantastic and it's very encouraging and inspiring. And listeners go to Christine's blog. But the website is good jelly.com, but a number of blogs, every one of them has a tip, a trick inspiration. Just something to help say. In the moment, what could, what ideas could you gather?

What techniques could you try to get out of that? And then I think to put a final punctuation on this, with the ultimate goal of getting the work out into the world. Yes. Oh, this is not just, can we finish the draft, perhaps Yes. And get it to the proofreader. That's one thing. But if we've got something to say, we've gotta get that voice

Christine Carron, Goodjelly: heard.

Yes, and [: 00:24:00

Being part of a critique group, maybe volunteering at an artist conference and all those things help, to your point, to get your work out into the world. Yes.

Mark Stinson, host: And I love that you've underscored this teamwork and collaboration and I can imagine in your small group program that you see this exchange of ideas and experiences and, tips and tricks and all sorts of things.

And also affirmation like as [: 00:25:00

They can do that. I can't. Something's happening there. Just the power of that and what artists or writers or who are on a more solo journey in the creative act, like as you said, that getting it out into the world is obviously collaborative, but in that moment of creation, of working alone you can feel alone.

rocess challenge, and that's [: 00:26:00

Mark Stinson, host: Christine, what a terrific conversation and love your energy.

And I love your, yeah, what's great is just like good writing. You have the content, but you also have the personality behind it, and I really enjoyed our chat.

Christine Carron, Goodjelly: Thank you, Anne. Thank you to the listeners. Thank you to you for having me. And let's go. Let's good jelly.

Mark Stinson, host: Let's go. That's right. Let's jam.

Let's jam. Yes. My guest has been Christine, Carron. Her website and business is good jelly. Dot com and we're gonna put the process and the writing and get our work out into the world. And that's what it really, what it's all about. And as I mentioned, we get a chance on this podcast to talk to creative practitioners everywhere.

inue these journeys to bring [: 00:27:00

So until then, I'm Mark Stenson and we're unlocking your world of creativity. We'll see you next time.