1-10. Read a selection aloud.
Is that all there is to it? Yes, really, that’s all. Either the words of the author sing to you or they don’t. Obviously, if you’re at work at a computer terminal, it might be difficult to avoid people thinking you’re crazy as you mouth the text, but not all that difficult. Wear a hands-free earpiece so your colleagues will think you’re talking on the phone. And don’t scream the sentences aloud; a whisper will suffice, just enough that you can perceive the smoothness with which the words go down. Or not.
Here are some examples,
“When my father died at age 86,
they said it was from "natural causes."
Technically, this meant they couldn't find any specific organ—liver,
heart, kidney to pin his death on. My
own opinion is that as time passed and his arthritis grew more severe, he just
got tired of spending his life confined to a wheel chair or propped up in bed
with his hands near useless.” (The
opening paragraph of My War
by Norman Friedgut. A novel in four
parts about a bilingual Canadian pilot in the 2nd World War.
To read more, Click Here.)
“The
smells of newly cut grass and horse dung from the track nearby mingle with the
tang of Eucalyptus and the occasional heady whiff of pine.
The air, for once, is free of tobacco fumes and the music, loud and
raucous, promises heavy doings in the evening ahead.”
(The opening paragraph of The Blind Man and the Bimbo.” The
first of a series of hard-boiled mysteries ” by Paul Anders featuring a
blind detective. To download and
read, Click Here.)
“The argument ended when an arrow whizzed by no more than an inch from
Spring Morning's hand and only a few inches from the pony's head.
The pony reacted instantly, leaping forward and disappearing around the
bend driving the Bay before it. The
saddlebags remained behind in the girl’s hand, but only for an instant.
As she pulled her hand up and to her mouth in surprise, the bags and the
food they held dropped over the side and into the canyon.” (On the trail, from The Canyon, a western set in the
Arizona Territory in 1848. To download and read, Click
Here.)