Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
‘Una and the future ghost of Christmas Past’
Why the ‘Year of the Un-Balanced’? Just say it out loud… in two syllables… ‘Twenty Nineteen‘ See what I mean?
Thanks to Kristi for startin out the year’s Grats. It is no small task to organize and ride Herd over an increasing number of Gratiticients.** here at the Ten Things of Thankful.
One New Year’s Resolution I chose not to make this year: be concise, to the point and leave the flights of fancy on the desk top/internet/ home. Following is a list of things for which I am thankful.
1) At Number One for the nth post running: Phyllis and Una. (Phyllis is the quilt. Una is Una)
2) the Wakefield Doctrine. sine qua non, binyons, sine qua non.
3) ‘Almira’ Approaching what I believe is the stage during which I arrange a beta read. Anyone out there with experience and/or knowledge of this part of the process of book writing, I would appreciate any input.
4) the Gravity Challenge: val and kristi and may and joy and sometimes lisa have rocked the gravity well of this here planet here for the last …. year(s). It’s fun and beneficial and we just happen to be in the middle of the annual membership drive. So come on down!
5) the Six Sentence Story this is a blog hop that you really should stop by and check out. (I would maintain that everyone reading this not only enjoys writing, but look for ways to improve they skills…. at wordation. The Six Sentence Story is sorta like one of those open book tests at the end of a semester that doesn’t go to your grade. And everyone gets to talk during the process.)
6) the Book of Secret Rules (aka the Secret Book of Rules) This Book, hidden from view from the casual passerby says, ‘if you can googlize enough faux latin ( ‘factum est autem latine‘) and use ‘[‘ and ‘}’ convincingly, you can justify any rhetorical behavior that strikes your fancy, i.e. creative license with music videos. It’s fun. You should try it.
7) THIS SPACE AVAILABLE (For anyone out there not yet to the point of submitting a full TToT post. While the rules are quite liberal (I mean, you did just read Item 6, didn’t you?!) sometimes it helps to stick a toe in the water. This, Item 7 is meant for your toe…. (yeah, not as cleverly lyrical as it was in my head). Anyway, send a Grat Item in a comment and let me know how to attribute it and I will post it here.
8) That which I do for a living. It offers variety, challenge and the opportunity to self-improve myself
9). something, something
10) Secret Rule 1.3 (See Item 6)
* too much? come on…. Its 2019, the Year of the Non-Balanced!
** not a ‘real’ word and probably too big for a Tee Shirt
video 1
video 2
About clarkscottroger
I’m glad you wrote a TToT! Haha. I see that Christmas tree out on the porch. Nice! Hehe. Sweet Una. I hope she’s having a great weekend.
Un-balanced. I don’t know if it’s the YEAR, per se, but I fully acknowledge the unbalance. I have been so hard at work on my meditation course over the last 2.5 months that I have hardly done anything else besides work and sleep. Haha. (Haha<–not really haha…more like…uhhhhgggg). But there's the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm editing videos on week 7 of 8. Alllmost there. In the meantime, I am planning a full-on tech retreat toward the end of the month. I think tech retreats are good. Gooood. lol
Hope you're having a great weekend. Will call soon!
Yes, it’s Phyllis’ tradition to move the Xmas tree to the deck…for a while. lol
I suspect I should expound on what I believe I see in the Year of non-balance… not (necessarily) a negative. Most of what I thought, when I realized exactly what kind of Year the calendar had in mind, came out of my experience with tai chi lessons, back in the day. Our instructor used to talk about the notion of balance and stability a fair amount. Both have a value, but like your mandala represent half of something else… motion is, one might argue, is the antithesis of stability. We move only by altering a state of stability into instability… ideally, it is a deliberate and controlled instability. (Of course, the martial arts unpinning of tai chi would have us use our opponents imbalance in the furtherance of our goal.)
so, I am looking at a Year of Non-Balance as offering the opportunity to un-settle routines and re-discover the power inherent in our acts.
tech retreat! interesting notion.
That makes more sense – thank you.
Appreciate the brothers this morning. Happy to say I saw them in ’77, one life goal achieved lol
Appreciate the plug for the SSS.
Very much appreciate Kristi bringing us the TToT each week. There is a comfort knowing the door is open…
Congrats on reaching the beta read stage in the writing of Almira! I’d volunteer except that I’m a bit partial to the story. Having said that….I’d be curious to read after the edit.
Excellent caption to 1st pic :)
If ever I buy a scale, may have to join you Graviteers. Winter weight has accumulated over these last 4 winters lol
Happy 2019. Use it as a chance to learn where your center is so you can balance, that’s what i have to do every time i try to stand on one foot.
If you want to put that i am thankful to have met you as your 7th item, go ahead!
I don’t know why, but “Phyllis is the quilt” makes me chuckle. Kind of a “Be one with. . . ” sort of philosophical statement.
lol. Una does alternate between the bed and guarding the bedroom door.
Love both of your music selections taking us into the new year with a little of the past.
The “year of the unbalanced” isn’t something I want to embrace, although as you saw in my post I had a bit of a battle with staying balanced at the end of 2018. LOL
It looks like Una as a piece of that quilt too. What a great companion!
I agree on the negative manifestations of balance (one quickly becomes acutely aware of their breathing and posture when this kind of thing happens). Non-balance has a place, when deliberate.
I seem to stick a toe in the waters of many many things, projects,but only the toe. I need to work on picking something and going all in.
Happy 2019 to you and your girls, dog and human. Love the songs you always post at the end of these, like to think what I was doing with that rubbed off on you sometime over the last three or four years of reading each other’s thankfuls.
I am familiar with the first song, love the easiness of that one, but less familiar with the second, those guys I haven’t listened, but I liked the vibe.
So excited to see where things with Almira will go in the coming year. It’s a great story.
I’m trying to move in a more general direction. In the editing phase of Almira, but thinking I need to write more smaller things, short stories and such. I figure that if I can increase the quantity of completed work, I’ll be in a better position to see where I have to focus on the learning part of this thing.
Allman Brothers…. best ask your parents… ayiee, so much time. The song is from the early 70s. The pioneers of what came to be called Southern Rock.
Not entirely clear on the novel completing process. Finishing second edit. Should now be under 500 pages. Perhaps, if your time permits, I could ask you to beta read. (I’m not yet clear or comfortable with the idea of beta readers and reading. Seems like an awful lot to ask of a person. But in the next month I should have a better idea.