Run, Rose, Run

by Dolly Parton

“Mm-hmm. If you want to make it in this town,” the woman went on, “being talented is just one little tiny part of the battle. Fearlessness is mandatory. And shamelessness sure as hell don’t hurt.”

But it was different to speak than it was to sing; she felt like a bird forced to walk when its job was to fly.

So be generous tonight, please, and help us give books to kids who need them. Who crave them. And whose lives will be forever changed by them. Because books, my friends, are true magic bound between two covers.

Sometimes you could see the scars and sometimes you couldn’t. But everybody had them.

The demons of the past were the hardest to slay.

Don’t ever be late. It’s like proclaiming that your time is more important than someone else’s.

that social media was a necessity these days, and that building a brand identity was the best way to keep ACD happy.

She probably had more coffee running through her veins than blood.

Damn it, she thought. You thought it was about your talent. But it was really about someone else’s cash.

How was she going to keep her old life from ruining her new one?

“I got to hand it to these Vegas folks, though,” she said. “They sure do keep coming up with new ways to separate people from their money.”

“And you know full well what’d happen if I called them up. I’d pitch a hissy fit so big it’d have a tail on it, and there’s no way that would help.”

The years in Afghanistan weren’t ones Ethan could say he’d enjoyed, but they’d shaped him. They’d turned him from a scared, uncertain kid into a man who understood honor and duty, and who recognized the kinds of sacrifices those ideals often required.