self-improvement | the Wakefield Doctrine

re-print Friday³ -the Wakefield Doctrine- ’cause I’m in a ‘words-beget-words’ mode at the moment, but thank you for asking’

July 15, 2016 By clarkscottroger

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

(not everyone may know this, but that red building in Chicago? World Headquarters for the Omni Corporation... read all about in 'Blogdominion'

(not everyone may know this, but this red building in Chicago? World Headquarters for the Omni Corporation… read all about it in ‘Blogdominion’²

How do I know it’s been too long between ‘normal’ Doctrine Posts? Well, for starters, when I typed the first line, (which is always the first line), of this Post, the fricken spellcheck forgot how to spell ‘theory’! (I don’t know about you* but I’ve noticed a tendency to, at certain times/moods, where I don’t bother being overly careful with my spelling and, will actually get mad when it, (the spellcheck, not my spelling). doesn’t correct the word fast enough so I don’t have to stop. Anyway, so I’m typing my intro line and when I get to ‘…the theory of…’ I mistype it (no big deal, as I’ve said) but I looked and it corrected to ‘their’, as in ‘…the their of…’ and I’m all, ‘whoa! grasp the telephone receiver firmly and await further instructions’!!¹

So, anyway….

Back to my shameless self-promotion. (ed. note: holy smokes! my auto-correct is such a roger!! yeah, I know… no kidding…but but! I mis-typed the word ‘shameless’ (well, got to stay with the theme of the day, don’t I?) and it corrected to ‘seamless’ lol

‘Almira‘ we’re somehow approaching the half-way point in our story! If you’re not familiar with ‘Almira’… come on! go here and read the story from the start. It’s Summer Time! you can pull up juke pop on your little cell phone and read it at the beach… although I should warn you, a major part of our tale takes place in Lawrence Massachusetts in 1911-1912…. in the winter! brrr! In any event, my seeming surprise at where I am in the novel is quite genuine, in that I’m taking is what I believe is called ‘seat of the pants’ approach to writing. I write by the Chapter, literally. Have no idea how this thing ends. That is, of course, the fun and exciting (and impressively stressful) result seat-of-the-pants writing.

Oh well, what am I gonna do. Chapter 15 due out this weekend… Dorothy is forced to accept that there is something wrong in her life, and at the same time, something quite exciting (not giving anything away, but Tom Hardesty is there at her time of need and gives her a ride home), Eliza meets Hunk Dietrich and she’s not half as surprised at his response to her as he is… and, is it me, or is Dr. Thaddeus Morgan growing shorter and more …. Professor Marvel-istic like the guy in that other story?

Hey, really have enjoyed our time together this morning.

* well, that’s not quite true, I do know about you… a lot, too much you might say, all due to the totally fun and useful theory of clarks, scotts and rogers!**

1) …. you non-old Readers might fail to to feel the pleasure of the idiom ‘hold the phone‘…. because at a certain time in history, it was not a given that your telephone was not in your hand already, as in ‘all-the-damn-time, like,-why-don’cha-get-it-surgically-attached-save-yourself-some-valuable-texting-time-not-having-to-pick-it-up…. wait, that was a joke! no, I don’t think they have that yet.

2) ‘Blogdominion’ the first in the Sister Margaret Ryan Series.

** I will tell you! I know the characteristics of the personal reality of the three personality types so well, that I don’t need to make a conscious effort anymore (“…hmmm lets, see…’has a tendency to never throw anything away, keeping tupperware in the refrigerator as long as there are more than 2 adjacent molecules of foodstuffs, clinging, rattling-around-on-the-bottom, or giving the hint of color to the edge of the top, believes in using only one set of bath towels at a time, always re-washing the same set, rather than cycling sets, believes that the movie-making sun rises and sets on Ken Burns…. roger! got it!) and so, when I meet people, a part of my mind is observing the person through the ‘lens’ of the Wakefield Doctrine. Very helpful!

3) huh! didn’t need an old post, after all!

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: personality types, predicting human behavior, psychology of personality, relationships, self-improvement, the Wakefield Doctrine

Six (41) Sentence (a.m.) Story -the Wakefield Doctrine- ‘hey! lets try this, …..backwards’

June 23, 2016 By clarkscottroger

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

“Are you ready to order?”

Dorothy looked at the menu for what she was certain was the sixth time, and, for the 5th time, found herself wondering who in the world of restaurant design it was that thought menus ought to have tassels, 2 paged tomes with bookmarks to bring a quiet smile of satisfaction to the hungriest of Medieval scholars.

Pretending to study the menu, as if it was necessary to refresh her memory of her 4 choices in the lower right corner of the right side page, subtly labeled, ‘Breakfast Menu’ (set apart from the rest of the day’s food offerings by a horizontal row of tilted coffee cups, each with a double ‘s’ line above it, meant, she assumed, to assure all diners that the coffee would be served steaming hot), she looked over the top of the stiff cardboard, across the faux marble tabletop at Tom Hardesty.

She felt the blood rush within her body as he smiled at her through a grey-velvet curtain of cigarette smoke, his expression one of both satisfaction and anticipation, everything, she thought, quite inappropriately, the designers of the menu in her hands could hope to inspire.

“Have you decided want you want, Tom?”

Extending his hand, he held his cigarette out to her, and, with a lightest of touches on his hand, she inhaled deeply,

“Yeah, Dorothy, I know what we want.”

This has been a backwards Six Sentence Story. Come join zoe and the rest of us in our weekly celebration of, ‘sometimes, the quicker is the better’ story telling.

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: personality types, psychology of personality, self-improvement, the Wakefield Doctrine

Six Sentence Story -the Wakefield Doctrine-

June 16, 2016 By clarkscottroger

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

So the word is ‘Deck’. The Object (of the Six Sentence Story ‘hop) is to write a story of no more (or less) than six sentences. Pretty simple, isn’t it? Well, sure, zoe says so! Simple, not easy.

Sally and Fred decided to extend the back porch of their house because the backyard, though quiet and attractive, was too un-even in terrain to provide a nice place to sit, and they both thought it’d be nice to be able to have their morning coffee outside, when the weather was nice.

Stan, (Sally’s brother), happened to be a very skilled carpenter but was also an incredibly judgmental and abrasively opinionated man, however, their budget was very tight and they thought it might be nice to help him out, as he seemed to have few clients, despite the high quality of his work.

From the moment he arrived to begin work, Stan responded to the most innocuous or well-intended comment with bile and sarcasm, as when Sally’s husband, Fred, remarked, “that’s a really good job you’re doing, I used to be pretty handy with a hammer and nails, if you need a hand at any point’, and without even looking up from what he was doing, Stan snarled, “oh listen to sidewalk expert, telling me how badly I’m doing and how much better he is than me!”

Finally the project was complete, Sally handed her brother the check, (which included a little extra), he glanced at the amount, looked at her and said, “so you think I need your charity, I did the job I said I would and I won’t take a penny more, because I’m an honest person, you should try it sometime.”

As he walked across the backyard to his truck, Sally looked at the gleaming mahogany railings, (with built-in benches), turned to her husband and asked, “So, Fred, what do you think?”

Fred smiled and said, “What a deck.”

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: predicting human behavior, self-improvement, the Wakefield Doctrine

Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine ‘…hey, that’s what friends are for, right?’

June 13, 2016 By clarkscottroger

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

We’ve written, (and you’ve read), some pretty unusual Posts, here at the Doctrine over the last 5 or 17 years, right? And it’s not that that’s a bad thing, in and of itself. Without this carte blanche that spontaneously established itself, probably in the first year when I wrote a SOC post that, I claimed, as an excuse was me practicing my James Joyce imitation (do I warrant an elbow patch if I use the word homage instead of imitation?) In any event, (oh yeah! and then there were those road trip videos back in like 2012 , going to places that were famous in my head and such). We’ve sure had fun, un-filteredistically-speaking, haven’t we?

Well, today’s Post strikes me as extra weird. No, nothing’s wrong or bad or anything like that. jeez! can’t a clark get his roger on, without having everyone get nervous? You know, that whole thing about developing my rogerian aspect is true. For a clark it’s got to be the biggest challenge of all. And, as an illustration for the truth and fact of personal reality being, well, personal, today’s Post provides the best of all examples. A scott will read this post and think, (well, lets get real, the scott will say to the person/any person… “fricken clarks! they make their lives so un-necessarily difficult. Them people need to lighten-up and have themselves more fun. Hey!“), and they, (the scott), will be correct. If, by ‘correct’, we agree that their’s a reasonable response to the situation, as they are experiencing it. Because that’s what happens, according to the Wakefield Doctrine, we encounter the world and it is experienced/interpreted/reacted to on the basis of our own predominant worldview.

...anyway, I’m getting off the point. (See? exactly what I mean. I have an idea (behind this post) and I want you, the Reader to have as much information on what is going on in my head as possible…because I’m. a. clark.)

So, the weirdest of all posts? This post today is a contender, ’cause I’m in the process of trying to find an agent for ‘Blogdominion‘. And part of the process, (of finding an agent), is to write query letters. Among the group of agencies that I’m mailing to today, what is required for submission is a single email (no attachments, please!) that include a… here, let me show you:

Please limit your submission to just a query letter that consists of the following:

Paragraph One – Introduction: Include the title and category of your work (i.e. fiction or nonfiction and topic), an estimated word count and a brief, general introduction.

Paragraph Two – Brief overview: This should read similar to back-cover copy.

Paragraph Three – Writer’s bio: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background (awards and affiliations, etc.).

(curtsey of the P.S. Literary Agency*)

The thing of it is, I’m getting totally blocked on writing back-cover copy. (And, compared to more formal synopsiseseses… this should be easier!)

So the thing is… when I’m typing a post, talking to you Readers, my head is very different than it is if we were to meet, say on an elevator. Which I get the feeling is what I’m supposed to write in Paragraph Two. (That being said, if anyone out there has some spare diplomas and certificates and such, and would lend me some, it’d surely help with Paragraph Three!)

Well, thank you, this little talk has helped. I might be back a little later today and try out a couple of ‘blurbs’

….no, what the hell am I saying?!! (I can hear zoe in the background, ‘what?! get back and sit down and do not hit publish without providing at least on, short description. watch ‘im, Skip… see that he doesn’t leave until he writes something that makes you want to buy the book‘.) Ok… ok!

The line that divides the 20th Century from the 21st Century is more ill-defined than suggested by calendars and almanacs. Margaret Ryan is running away and has found refuge in a religious order that drew it’s strength from centuries of faith and belief. Refuge is never acquired with paying a price, and Sister Ryan is called upon to help preserve the way of life that offered her peace, although the price might be higher than she imagined.
Unit 17 is the designation of a particular computer component in a web hosting facility in Provo Utah. A child of the 21st Century would not be too poetic a description, as there came a morning when Unit 17 discovered that it was aware. And, like a child, its entire being is dedicated to discovering it’s place in that world.
The world of tradition and the world of technology cross paths.

*totally want to make sure I cite the source or ibid the op. cit. with these guys!

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: personality types, predicting human behavior, relationships, self-improvement, the Wakefield Doctrine

TToT -the Wakefield Doctrine-

June 4, 2016 By clarkscottroger

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

Item Once: Una

Itemo Secundo: Phyllis

Ometi Trieste: work and home

Quartro Itemae: Gravity Challenge

Cinque: the joy of remarkably lax filters, at least when it comes to the written thought

Sex: (for everytime I miss-type a small handful of words, get the word ‘sex’ and invariably laugh. This, I submit, is proof of the immortality of adolescence)

Seven: I just remembered that, of late, zoe and doug seem to, somehow, miss the connection over here on this oT, I will attempt to remedy this by the simple expedient of linking both at Lizzi’s and z’s. (hell, I’ll link pretty much anywhere that I’m not, actively and actually barred from… we need a new term for the courage that’s sometimes imparted by the fact of virtuality! There’ss little doubt that ~~everyone~~, ~~most of us~~, ok, ~~clarks~~….. sure, sure…just me have a certain confidence that comes with the existential anonymity of being in the virtual world. damn! can’t think of one! I’ll work on it and get back to ya. (online suave? virtual balls? lol! no! digital chutzpah… lol enough for now!)

Ocotpie: ‘there’s always enough to go around’

Item 9th: ‘Almira‘ Chapter 10 due this weekend. It’s about ‘time’. The fleeting nature of it and the ephemeral character of all things that are tied too tightly to the passage of time. In this week’s Chapter: Emily Gale pays a visit to Ephraim Hardesty and reminds him of her Offer (an Offer she will not permit be refused). Eliza Thornberg has dreams of being in the movies and discovers that, while desire (when fulfilled) is always good, want (with the risk of disappointment) is decidedly not. Finally, Dr Thaddeus Morgan talks with Nurse Griswold. (Why, no! of course it was only the two of them! Can you think of anytime that two people were in the room with Nurse Griswold …at the same time?) Hey, I trust everyone noticed the soon-to-be-significant-character, Sterling Gulch, back a couple of chapters ago! Yes, his last name is, in fact, Gulch.

10. SR 1.3 (from the Book of Secret Rules aka the Secret Book of Rules), this particular Rule states that ‘the completion of a List of Ten Things of Thankful can be considered to constitute a thankful thing, in and of itself. The aforementioned List can, therefore, remain pre-terminus with Item 9, the completion citation (along with appropriate reference(s) to the BoSR/SB0R and, applicable Rule substituted as Number 10. et its fit!

Lets get ourselfs some music. Since we have a photo of a dog, lets use the song, ‘All Dead’ by Queen. Because, (as the story goes), it was written by Brian May for his dog and is quite touching. And, no, nothing wrong with Una. But looking at the photo made me think of Ola.