It's a computer term for like a test run...reading a draft over for mistakes, in this context. Or to make sure the voices stay clear and such.

Thanks, erika. I figured as much but didn't want to assume incorrectly.

Not a problem...it was funny to me at first, not least because my bro had this fish that was also called a betta, and I was thinking "Why is everyone talking about fish? Must be a Buffista thing I don't understand.)

What I miss most about not having internet access at work is that I'd get these wonderful plot bunnies that would coalesce out of nothing, and I could open up a WordPad window, write it down, and post it. Some of my favorite short pieces came that way. Sometimes if I think too much about them, ie, waiting till I get home, I start second-guessing myself.

I like the term splurt. I refer to it as taking dictation from the Great Scroll of Universal Wisdom, and you'd better write fast while the thing is open in front of you. Sometimes I'll write and write and when I look up finally I'll think, "Those words, those phrases came out of me? Wow!"

Me too. Especially when I find something I really believe in there, but I don't realize it till a character says it. And I'm surprised at how much better I write men nowadays.

I've read things and had no memory of writing them.

Mind, I was hopped up on goofballs when I wrote 'em, so, you know. There could be a reason.

Sometimes I'll write and write and when I look up finally I'll think, "Those words, those phrases came out of me? Wow!"

A long time ago, (in a far away place), I tried my hand once at a book. However after almost 100 or so pages, I had no idea where to go with it. I still have it somewhere because I remember finding it during the move and re-reading it, wondering the same thing.

It started out as a high school reunion for the characters from 'Breakfast Club' and then some how morphed into a fictional representation of actual events from my own life.
Crash and Burn...

I never showed it to anyone but I'll still hold onto it. How long? Not sure yet.

I almost wish I was limited to pen and paper these days, despite the toll it takes on my wrists. Writing seemed more visceral then. The very shapes of the letters seemed to drive the words. I'd get a weird sort of deja vu, watching my hand, watching the letters form on the page with the utter certainty that I'd watched this before. I've actually had a hard time throwing away some handwritten drafts, because the handwriting is imbued with more of the personality of what I was thinking than any typeface.

On the other hand, it doesn't seem quite real, quite like something worthy of being out in public until its in "print". The first time I printed out a story, rather than just typed it ('cause all the typos made it seem nearly handwritten), I stared at my words printed on the page and thought, "That's a story. That's not just me rambling on, scrawling daydreams in a notebook. That's words printed on a page." Felt much more serious at that point.

I write either on the laptop, on the desktop, on a paper bag that's handy, on the back of a business card...

You get the picture.

Nicole, insent!

Ple, received and back atcha.

If anyone is interested, 'Dream A Little Dream' has been posted at Buffy Fic. It may or may not be complete depending on...well...me, I guess.