| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tales of Unrest by Joseph Conrad: He said very distinctly, and looking at the carpet, "She's gone."
It was terrible--not the fact but the words; the words charged with
the shadowy might of a meaning, that seemed to possess the tremendous
power to call Fate down upon the earth, like those strange and
appalling words that sometimes are heard in sleep. They vibrated round
him in a metallic atmosphere, in a space that had the hardness of iron
and the resonance of a bell of bronze. Looking down between the toes
of his boots he seemed to listen thoughtfully to the receding wave of
sound; to the wave spreading out in a widening circle, embracing
streets, roofs, church-steeples, fields--and travelling away, widening
endlessly, far, very far, where he could not hear--where he could not
Tales of Unrest |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: Stewart's passionate appeal to her, haunted her as inevitable.
Madeline did not expect to sleep, yet she did sleep, and it
seemed to have been only a moment until Florence called her. She
followed Florence outside. It was the dark hour before dawn.
She could discern saddled horses being held by cowboys. There
was an air of hurry and mystery about the departure. Helen, who
came tip-toeing out with Madeline's other guests, whispered that
it was like an escape. She was delighted. The others were
amused. To Madeline it was indeed an escape.
In the darkness Madeline could not see how many escorts her party
was to have. She heard low voices, the champing of bits and
The Light of Western Stars |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Duchesse de Langeais by Honore de Balzac: Duchess was the same as ever, while the Marquis looked sullen and
morose, was it not plain that she had conceded nothing?
Onlookers know the rejected lover by various signs and tokens;
they never mistake the genuine symptoms for a coolness such as
some women command their adorers to feign, in the hope of
concealing their love. Everyone laughed at Montriveau; and he,
having omitted to consult his cornac, was abstracted and ill at
ease. M. de Ronquerolles would very likely have bidden him
compromise the Duchess by responding to her show of friendliness
by passionate demonstrations; but as it was, Armand de Montriveau
came away from the ball, loathing human nature, and even then
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