Book Snippet Quotes

“I prepare to increase my concentration, figuring I ought to engross myself in this task as intensely as Daniel is engaged with his. Instructions come to me as if a tutoring sensei is speaking in my ear. It’s like in every sci-fi movie I’ve ever poked fun at with Daniel while lounging on his sofa.

“Clear your head. Let go of your doubts and fears. The power to move objects is yours; it is mind over matter. Feel it. Harness it. Imagine the pencil rising from the ground, suspended in the air until it’s drawn to you, drawn to your hand. See it you must! Believe it you must! Feel the force!”

I laugh out loud at the prune-faced Yoda that appears in my head. My outburst doesn’t disturb Daniel in the least; he’s doing a much better job of keeping focused.

A guilty conscience pushes me to try harder—which I do for what seems like a tremendous amount of wasted time. Staring bug-eyed at uncooperative pencils is pointless. What am I missing? The answer seems obvious—intense emotional incentive. But at the moment I don’t feel desperate or angry or afraid. Just severely bored out of my mind and guilt-ridden for feeling so mind-numbingly bored.”
― Richelle E. Goodrich, Phantom's Veil: A Search for Spells