| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Lesson of the Master by Henry James: irreparable loss, then her husband's inspired advice had been a bad
joke and renunciation was a mistake. Overt was on the point of
rushing back to London to show that, for his part, he was perfectly
willing to consider it so, and he went so far as to take the
manuscript of the first chapters of his new book out of his table-
drawer, to insert it into a pocket of his portmanteau. This led to
his catching a glimpse of certain pages he hadn't looked at for
months, and that accident, in turn, to his being struck with the
high promise they revealed - a rare result of such retrospections,
which it was his habit to avoid as much as possible: they usually
brought home to him that the glow of composition might be a purely
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum: splendid tin castle."
The Tin Woodman was so surprised at this frank speech
that for a time he did nothing but stare hard at the
boy Wanderer. But the Scarecrow wagged his stuffed head
and said in a positive tone:
"This boy is right. I've often wondered, myself, why
you didn't go back and find that poor Munchkin girl."
Then the Tin Woodman stared hard at his friend the
Scarecrow. But finally he said in a serious tone of
voice:
"I must admit that never before have I thought of
The Tin Woodman of Oz |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Vailima Letters by Robert Louis Stevenson: her garden. Page 88 is done, and must be done over again to-
morrow, and I confess myself exhausted. Pity a man who can't
work on along when he has nothing else on earth to do! But I
have ordered Jack, and am going for a ride in the bush
presently to refresh the machine; then back to a lonely
dinner and durance vile. I acquiesce in this hand of fate;
for I think another cold just now would just about do for me.
I have scarce yet recovered the two last.
MAY 18TH.
My progress is crabwise, and I fear only IX. chapters will be
ready for the mail. I am on p. 88 again, and with half an
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