A synthesis—an abstraction, chunk, or gist idea—is a neural pattern. Good chunks form neural patterns that resonate, not only within the subject we’re working in, but with other subjects and areas of our lives. The abstraction helps you transfe...
I turned in my seat. Will’s face was in shadow and I couldn’t quite make it out. ‘Just hold on. Just for a minute.’ ‘Are you all right?’ I found my gaze dropping towards his chair, afraid some part of him was pinched, or trapped, that I h...
We dance. Sweet, downcast, through-the-lashes-glances bely every beating she got at thirteen, every lash of the tongue from her dad at fourteen, every heroin high that let her out for awhile, every hour and day she had to be tough. She is so natural ...
Hermes smiled. "I knew a boy once ... oh, younger than you by far. A mere baby, really." , George said. Martha snapped. Hermes ignored them. "One night, when this boy's mother wasn't watching, he sneaked out of their cave and stole some cattle that b...
You told me men don’t do this.” “Do what?” She walked around the counter, speaking animatedly. “Two years ago. We were at Firelight, having drinks. Cade and I had split up and you said that men don’t mope around after a breakup. You said ...
Reading Aloud to My Father I chose the book haphazard from the shelf, but with Nabokov's first sentence I knew it wasn't the thing to read to a dying man: The cradle rocks above an abyss, it began, and common sense tells us that our existence is but ...
In the past I had often tried to escape the grown-up world of sorrow through my imagination- dreaming that a handsome young lieutenant would ride to my rescue or that a great empresario would discover my musical talents and whisk me away. I had envis...
THE ONE WHO STAYED You should have heard the old men cry, You should have heard the biddies When that sad stranger raised his flute And piped away the kiddies. Katy, Tommy, Meg and Bob Followed, skipped gaily, Red-haired Ruth, my brother Rob, And lit...
As a songwriter, I'm gathering clues and possibilities all the time, whether I see a piano that day or not. I've tried to explain to people how I collect these dispatches, because I think anybody can do what I'm talking about. Once I do plug in, I mi...
I’ve shared more breakfasts with you than any woman I’ve dated in the last year and a half,” Mitch returned. “I know what you look like in the morning. I know what you act like when you come home tired after work. I know that you pick the lea...
I got tired, I told him. Not worn out, but worn through. Like one of those wives who wakes up one morning and says I can't bake any more bread. You never bake bread, he wrote, and we were still joking. Then it's like I woke up and baked bread, I said...
Becky: [on the roof about to teach Dante how to dance] Hey, Twelve-Step! [Jay looks around confused] Becky: Jay! Jay: [looks up] Lord? Becky: Up here, jackass. Jay: [moves so he can see her] What the fuck are you doing up there? Yo, if you're gonna j...
Oddball: This engine's been modified by our mechanical genius here, Moriarty. Right? Moriarty: Whatever you say, babe. [giggles] Oddball: These engines are the fastest in any tanks in the European Theater of Operations, forwards or backwards. You see...
Roy Hobbs: I'll take some coffee, then. [Hobbs finds ball and glove on couch after viewing framed photos placed on furniture] Iris Gaines: It's my son's. he means the world to me. he's a great kid. Roy Hobbs: I'll bet he is. I'd like to meet him. Iri...
[Andrew transcendentally describes his favorite opera] Andrew Beckett: Do you like opera? Joe Miller: I'm not that familiar with opera. Andrew Beckett: This is my favorite aria. This is Maria Callas. This is "Andrea Chenier", Umberto Giordano. This i...
Milt Shaw: You know, Ray, your contract with Atlantic expires in 4 months. Ray Charles: Yeah, I know. Ahmet and Jerry sent me my new contract. They're gonna double my royalties. Milt Shaw: Before we go down that road again I thought I'd check and see...
Merry Men: [singing] Ta da, da da da da - whoo! Monsieur Hood: I steal from the rich and give to the needy... Merry Man: He takes a wee percentage... Monsieur Hood: But I'm not greedy - I rescue pretty damsels, man I'm good! Merry Men: What a guy, ha...
The Mole: Hold me. [coughs] The Mole: There is no hope now, you must get out of here. Kyle: We can't leave without you! The Mole: It's okay, I'm done for. Kyle: No! We can't leave without you! We don't know where the hell we are! The Mole: Were is yo...
And George Farr had the town, the earth, the world to himself and his sorrow. Music came faint as a troubling rumor beneath the spring night, sweetened by distance: a longing knowing no ease. (Oh God, oh God!) At last George Farr gave up trying to se...
I am who I say I am, I'm not some fantasy of how you think you think you know or who I ought to be. I am a girl who is growing up in my own sweet time, I am a girl who knows enough to know this life is mine. I am this and I am that and I am everythin...
