| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Street of Seven Stars by Mary Roberts Rinehart: She felt a little more cheerful when she had had a cup of coffee.
Jimmy wakened about that time, and she went through the details
of his morning toilet with all the brightness she could
assume--bath blankets, warm bath, toenails, finger-nails, fresh
nightgown, fresh sheets, and--final touch of all--a real barber's
part straight from crown to brow. After that ten minutes under
extra comforters while the room aired.
She hung over the boy that morning in an agony of tenderness--he
was so little, so frail, and she must leave him. Only one thing
sustained her. The boy loved her, but it was Peter he idolized.
When he had Peter he needed nothing else. In some curious process
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: for I trust he will conduct himself like a gentleman; and if
he is killed -- well, he will die bravely; but hold --
should such a misfortune happen -- well -- " Athos passed
his hand across his pale brow.
"Well?" asked Aramis.
"Well, I shall look upon it as an expiation."
"Ah!" said D'Artagnan; "I know what you mean."
"And I, too," added Aramis; "but you must not think of that,
Athos; what is past, is past."
"I don't understand," said Porthos.
"The affair at Armentieres," whispered D'Artagnan.
Twenty Years After |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Buttered Side Down by Edna Ferber: Chicago, Mrs. Judge Porterfield had worn the negro porter's coat
over her chilly shoulders in mistake for her husband's. Kate
O'Malley can tell a funny story in a way to make the after-dinner
pleasantries of a Washington diplomat sound like the clumsy jests
told around the village grocery stove.
"I wanted to tell you that I read that last story of yours,"
said Millie, sociably, when I had strolled over to her counter,
"and I liked it, all but the heroine. She had an `adorable throat'
and hair that `waved away from her white brow,' and eyes that `now
were blue and now gray.' Say, why don't you write a story about an
ugly girl?"
Buttered Side Down |
