Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
This is the Six Sentence Story bloghop.
It is hosted by Denise.
Each week she provides a prompt word.
We are, all of use, invited to write a story that invokes this word. The only rule requires our stories to count out to having exactly six sentences. No more, no less.
Oh, one other thing, we all read and comment on each others Sixes. (This is me being selfish. A rather substantial aspect of the exercise here involves my effort to improve my writing. When I read Six Sentence Stories, more often than not, I’m all, ‘…how the heck did they manage to convey that‘. Comments are totally valuable and appreciated. ya know?)
This week the prompt word is:
Exhaust
With the labored sincerity of a child resisting bedtime, the young man leaned around the soundproof divider the library provided for each study terminal and whispered, “They say the price of skill is practice.”
“Are you sure you don’t mean ‘practice is the cost of skill’?” The girl continued typing, intent on not encouraging the boy; a lone, rebellious eyebrow struggled to semaphore an early surrender as she continued, “We need to practice to learn.”
“Well, no, I simply don’t agree you are using the appropriate word in this context,” the challenge in his voice, every bit the crumpled-stem bouquet of flowers gathered on impulse, in the service of a far more pervasive motive than either had the experience to appreciate.
“Rather than join the futile effort to exhaust your limitless supply of excuses to avoid the actual work,” her lips joined her eyes in waving her heart’s standard, the beginning of a truce in a battle that has resisted lasting peace since the beginning of human history. On the same impulse that gave rise to civilizations, wars and great art, she relented, and with a softer, tone added,
“Your time and effort in practicing the craft is the cost that you are willing to pay; the price of success as a writer is that, plus whatever it is that keeps you coming back to a blank page.”
