Do the children who prefer books set in the real, ordinary, workaday world ever read as obsessively as those who would much rather be transported into other worlds entirely? Laura Miller More Quotes by Laura Miller More Quotes From Laura Miller A faint smell of lilac filled the air. There was always lilac in this part of town. Where there were grandmothers, there was always lilac. Laura Miller smell grandmother air Buying a book is not about obtaining a possession, but about securing a portal. Laura Miller buying healing book The first book we fall in love with shapes us every bit as much as the first person we fall in love with. Laura Miller falling-in-love shapes book People like to complain about the state of contemporary literature, but I can only assume they don't read it very widely. Laura Miller literature complaining people Writers would be warm, loyal, and otherwise terrific people-if only they'd stop writing. Laura Miller would-be writing people Maybe everything really does just have an expiration date--one that you can't see until she tells you she's leaving, and then she's gone. Laura Miller leaving gone doe In many ways, our campaign this year will be the same as last time: We're still going to focus on fixing up basics and cleaning up ethics at City Hall. Laura Miller focus cities years Nonfiction brought me back to earth and sobered me up whenever it seemed like I'd become too drunk on the lives and loves of imaginary people, but that doesn't mean it was any less thrilling or transporting, although it was often more illuminating. Laura Miller life-and-love mean people Now it's time to focus on basics for people in our neighborhoods... and real ethics reform at City Hall. Laura Miller real cities people In the year since we brought things into the open with a clean breath of fresh air at City Hall, we have learned about corrupt spending practices and unethical conflicts of interest that waste your money... and keep Dallas from being the great city of our dreams. Laura Miller air dream years The city has to do what any citizen or family does, when you have a dream. You tighten your belt. You sacrifice some luxuries. Above all, you don't waste a dime. Laura Miller sacrifice cities dream But there is so much more to do for the city we love... a Dallas with roads as strong as our businesses, parks as beautiful as our children, a downtown as tall as our imagination. Laura Miller strong beautiful children There is so much chaos and dysfunction going on with the federal government that Dallas can't wait any longer for federal help. Laura Miller dysfunction government waiting The conditions conducive to deep thought have become increasingly rare in our highly mediated lives... Now we live in an attention economy, where the most in-demand commodity is 'eyeballs. Laura Miller deep-thought demand attention Tracking the shiny is so much easier than digging for gold! Laura Miller digging easier gold A great novelist excels on the small scale and the large, the individual leaf and root as well as the forest; good fiction convinces us that the imaginary is real by selecting exactly the right detail and rendering it perfectly. Laura Miller convince-us real roots The relationship between book and reader is intimate, at best a kind of love affair, and first loves are famously tenacious. [...] First love is a momentous step in our emotional education, and in many ways, it shapes us forever. Laura Miller first-love love-is book Make no mistake, the organizations website counsels. You will be writing a lot of crap. And thats a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. I am not the first person to point out that writing a lot of crap doesnt sound like a particularly fruitful way to spend an entire month, even if it is November. Laura Miller organization mistake writing Every small town that I had ever been to had had a caboose. Laura Miller small-town towns Perfect love was that kind of love that made no sense but made everything else make sense somehow. It was raw and unscripted, turbulent and slightly unpredictable. Laura Miller kind made perfect
