Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
Friday Walk
This is a bloghop. As such, all are invited to link to Kristi’s blog and, by doing so, create a web of thought, ideas and, specific to the theme, gratitude. The Ten Things of Thankful has been active in the ‘sphere for, like, years. Lizzi’s creation, it’s theme is the sharing (of) the experience of gratitude (and gratitude-related life events).
Its simple, it’s satisfying and the participants are all of good intent. This is critical. The ‘good intent’ part. Because the TToT is not like other grat hops. The format (which suggests a list of ten (10) items) is, in some of the participant’s imagination, arrives in a box that includes: crayons (the really fun colors that are only found when you can afford the 128* crayon set (With Built-in Sharpener!), some felt pens, one of those rolls of Oreos that you never see in anyone’s actual kitchen cabinet, and some folded construction paper). In other words, this ‘hop is meant to be fun and productive. Hell, we even have a Book of Secret Rules (aka Secret Book of Rules) that lets you….range far and wide, in search of the groups of words that not only convey how you feel, but how you would like to feel, were but the world more like the place you experience among friends than it seems to be on too many morning.
Lets get all photonic this week. Those things and people and lifeforms and geography that I am grateful for includes:
1) Una
The Holiday Weekend awaits.
2) Phyllis
Off for the Hike!*
* on foot. (No car…except to get to the state park or forest or wherever it is people go when they want to take a walk without automatic transmission, a/c, and leather interior!)
3) Living near the ocean
4) the Gravity Challenge: val, joy, may, lisa, kristi
5) Almira. (Where we are now: had the first fifty pages critique’d by one of the published authors at the Romance Writers group I belong to** and, in her notes, she pointed out that the story (that she liked!!!) would be even better if I’d crank up the gain on the ‘Show’ in place of ‘Tell’. (Actually she mentioned ‘deep POV’ for any character in a given scene.) As a good critique, it was a net positive experience. (A sign, imo, of a good teacher.) Her website, if you’re in the mood for Romance stories…. is Jo Ann Ferguson (tell her the Doctrine sent ya)
6) Item Five (cont’d) …so, as a result I’m back to head banging (the old meaning, not the more modern celebratory enjoyment of rambunctious*** music) and working on the story. I kinda knew that this was part of the process, ‘hey great book! now all you gots to do is re-write it a couple or three times!’ lol Mentioning this review here is a genuine Grat Item.
7) the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
8) THIS SPACE AVAILABLE (Simply put: if you would like to try participating in this here bloghop here, then send in the Grat Item (that, while you’re sure is a good one, what you’re not so sure of is if you could do a whole post). This is your chance to try it out. Send it in as comment and I’ll do the rest.
9) the Writers Club (the current ‘exercise story’ is Interlude. A time travel story with flash fiction pacing (aka really short chapters). You’re all welcome to jump in and ‘put on a character’ and join the fun…let me know and I’ll totally set ya up.)
10) Secret Rule 1.3
*(whats the deal with the prime numbers? is Crayola part of the secret conspiracy that we’re all nominally aware of which includes hidden drawings on currency (‘fold the dollar bill this way, then that way….and once more and look!‘), the Rosicrucians (seriously, an all-powerful secret society that is a regular advertiser in… Popular Mechanic?!)
** a clark, with allusions of becoming a writer, going somewhere and joining (in person) a writer’s group… why, what could be more natural for a clark to do?! lol… well, say what you will about our people… natural inclination to mumble, posture like a shy bulldog, preferring the social shadows between outside and the spotlight… once we get captured by a passion, there is little we will not do… great for becoming a CPA, heavy equipment operator, not so good for public performances, brain surgery and affairs of the heart…
*** lol yeah, as in ” My god, Angus, that new Back in Black song is…rambunctious, innit?”
music video
About clarkscottroger
Art supplies and the ocean are my favourite things. As for the writing, you are progressing, as I look back from the early days of what I used to read from you online. I fear my own in person writing group is breaking up, but I haven’t been able to make the leap to online and still plan to familiarize myself with yours. New site and all. Still, exciting because we have been doing this TToT thing so long that we get to see where we all go and where we’ve come from.
may not be a group, but, until your find a replacement real world writers group, would you like to do a couple of Friday Night hangout call ins, like we used to do? Let me know what night (of the week) works best. I don’t know what it is I’m looking for in a writers group, well, I kinda know and its a couple of different things…. associating with people who are ‘way up the road’ from where I am writing-istically speaking, which I have with the Romance Writers. But, for all of the good it does me, I also would like to hear other people closer to where I am say things that offset my own brain…. “Write?!! You?! Total fluke, you have not the slightest chance in the world of getting published!!”
lol well maybe not that extreme.
speaking of fun with words… check out the Interlude serial. The basic setting is a large old house on the ocean, a summertime gathering of multi-generations of the Ross family and assorted friends and cousins and domestic staff… for fun, if you’d like to ‘put on a character, come join us… near as I make it, it’s early on a Saturday afternoon in August in 1967. Plenty of characters available!
let me know about the call-in
I would be up for that again, like old times. I am away until the end of September, but into October I would be available again. Most nights are good with me, so just let me know and how we do it, as I’ve forgotten and it’s been so long.
I will try and check out this new story you’ve got going. So much online nowadays, but real life and speaking to people, all difficult in its own ways. I love to escape into fiction and you’ve got a most excellent imagination.
cool, lets touch base start of October… (it was google hangouts we used and sending out invites which, in turn, were links into the meeting. We’ll figure it out.
Another chat like old times would be nice. I am away for the rest of September, but come October I’d love to talk again like we all used to do. Any day works for me really, so maybe just let me know and how it works, as it’s been a while.
Love your imagination Clark, so I’d love to check out your latest fictional world.
Big congrats for progress with Almira. I enjoyed the online version very much so I hope that one day we will see it in hardcover!
That picture of Una up there with those eyebrows in a different color makes me smile. She knows what’s going on. She knows.
Please tell Phyllis hello! I hope you all had a great hike! We went on a long hike today with Mr. Vinny who only tried to chase a squirrel three times. But in four miles, that’s not bad. lol
As for clarks and writing, well, yes. I’m figuring out that perhaps FICTION writing is probably not going to be my direction. I’m watching a new (to me) series (that’s pretty much the only TV I watch) called Outlander. It’s a fantastic story, based on the novels by Diana Gabaldon. John’s into it, too, with all the Scottish shenanigans. But feeling like I could ever have the imagination to write something worthy of television that is not something I feel like I am capable of doing – at least not at this moment in my life. And perhaps that’s the secondary Scott in me: not feeling like I can be “on top of my game” almost makes me want to…try something else.
Just as well. I much prefer writing non-fiction. And I’m accepting that. As I am in the throes of embarking on creating an LLC, meeting with accountants and doing the requisite things to create a meditation teaching business, I relish in the future articles I’ll write that will HELP, as well as the artwork to go with it all (mandalas and such). (And improving all the time. I got my first two-star review – I knew it would happen sometime – on one of my books and my biggest thought was, “Thanks a lot, Mr. Roger. Tell us how you really feel. 🙄 He let me know my drawings weren’t all that great. Well, I THOUGHT they were just fine – fine enough to publish. lol)
Anyways, I trust you had a good weekend. Autumn is in the air. I’m noticing the slow transition of wearing skirts and shorts a little less, and donning pants and scarves just a little more…
Una and I had a great hike called Shelter Trail – maybe three miles total. We think we may have seen a bear. A large animal making a lot of noise running away from us, as large as a deer but much darker. It made Una want to hike faster. Grateful that all went well.
I think Vinny chasing squirrels is a little more to our liking (LOL).
(As you see in Phyllis’ Comment, they had quite the adventure with the woodland creatures on their walk.)
You know, (as to fiction versus non-fiction writing), as clarks, we’ve never really been all that concerned with the line separating the two. lol
(To borrow from my fav, Carlos Castenada), when we write something we feel strongly about, they are ‘Tales of Power’. ‘Fiction’ or ‘non-fiction’ being merely a Dewey Decimalistic distinction to help the rogers who make up the part of the library system that is concerned with categorization and such.
Since the Everything Rule insists that both a roger and a clark could be librarians, here’s a quick ‘which is which’ quiz:
Library Front desk: a) “Well, if you feel you must borrow a book, then first tell me the subject matter, ideally as it is ranked by industry experts or other readers, however if you have its IBA NABisCO code, I can order it for you. But you must wait. And remain here as I lecture on your shortcomings in proper book reservation technique. No! The people behind you in line can wait… they won’t be upset with me, after all, you’re the one needing the lecture. It helps keep silly questions to the minimum.”
2) “What an excellent choice! Man, I love that book. Hold on, it’s in one of these piles over here…. lets see, ‘fun-and-interesting’ or is it in the ‘wow-how-cool-is-this’ pile… be right with you. What? the people in line behind you? You’re right…. ‘Hey! anyone back there read the book this person is looking to borrow? If you have, lets hear a little about it…. any idea where I might have put it? lol”.
yeah, one of the two might be a roger… lol
#2 of those two answers is *so* what I would say to people when I worked at the bookstore all those years ago. :D Then I’d get into these conversations about the merits of mass paperback fiction versus literary fiction that could withstand the test of time and…then I’d talk about the (fiction or non-fiction) good read that touched my soul that I’d read recently…**
The people waiting in line thing would make me nervous because sometimes they’d get impatient. But if I could get them looking at all the colorfully-named coffee lattes they could order, or have them join in on the conversation, well, then, all was well. In fact, that’s how I met a really good family friend. I’d make his favorite Count Chocumint latte and we’d talk about the latest bestseller from a UK author, or one that talked about historic fiction of the UK…i.e. Diana Gabaldon. All these years later, we get together for beers, (him, John and me) and have a go-around about the state of politics and how it relates to the annals of history…
**this is probably more of a “nerdly” response than you bargained for…
seeing how a) is the rogerian response, #2 totally sounds like what any of us* might do
* ‘us’ being clarks and all… lol
PS – I need to get to reading more Castaneda. I’m reading something by Ram Dass at the moment, but yeah…Castaneda.
for a story that (at least for the first couple of books) involves two characters (then don Genaro joins in)… there is a lot of useful ‘word tools’.
So many gratitudes, so little time to post them all.
Having the first 50 pages of Almira critiqued by a published author shows your tenacity to achieve your goal and to learn from someone with more experience. Your willingness to share the outcome of her critique also helps the rest of us to consider how we write.
Just a note of advice. Better wear a well padded cap on your head if you are going to do any serious head banging over rewriting Almira. LOL
Does Una have to stay on a leash, or are there some “dog park” places like they have here? Does she get to dash into the ocean? On second thought, from that photo, it looks like she would have to leap off a rock into the ocean.
Yeah, this process of writing (which is a direct offshoot of the Wakefield Doctrine) is quite unlike most of the rest of my world. Those things that I would never dream of doing, when encountered as part of something like writing Almira, well, gotta do whatever it is I gotta do.
lol… I’m falling back into the ‘as long as I’m putting words ‘on paper’ its good, But, even as I type that, I realize that, no, I can’t substitute writing blog posts for writing the things that force me to learn to do what most of me says I can’t do.
A leash when they are out in the world. No, Una does not like water. At least the kind that a dog can swim in…in fact she prefers that it not rain, at least when she has to go out. Snow is another matter entirely. She totally loves snow. (The length of her hair is a factor, I suspect).
Any post that includes the Crayola pack with the built-in sharper AND the ocean is indeed one of thankful.
I miss the ocean — tides rule my blood flow — and I must look for my super set of crayolas. Tucked away under jars of Pacific and Atlantic seawater, no doubt.
lol… I could totally not live in Nebraska Precambrian seabed or not!
Congratulations on getting a published author to critique your work. I do think you’ve got what it takes to get published.
thanks Kristi, oddly more difficult (the re-write) than writing it in the first place.