Thanks guys, and thanks to Aimee, because I was having a horrible time thinking of something to write until I read her drabbles. They goosed my muse.

Connie, I thought you might like him. I think he and Otis may know one another. I'll have to ask him next time he shows up.

I think he and Otis may know one another.

Great, two old men leaning back in rickety chairs, shootin' the breeze and telling tall tales. I'll tell Otis to bring his own spittoon.

You know, I never got my voices names. I should name them. I think my Juju woman is, in some weird way, related to your puritan, except she's scary, though your puritan sounds scary enough.

Martha, the nasty old woman in the long black dress. Otis' sister. It's always family that annoys you most. If your Juju woman has hard, dark eyes that follow you everywhere, tight, judgemental lips, and a sharp voice that's very clever on pointing out your flaws, then she's related to Martha. After I discovere Otis, though, she stopped bothering me so much. Made me feel just a touch sorry for her, meeting her tobacco-spittin', moonshine-swillin', foul-mouthed, cackling brother. But just a very small touch sorry.

As always, I'm loving the drabbles.

They goosed my muse.

I need to say this sentence over and over.

Last night in class, I made my small group fast write (basically a drabble constrained by time, rather than word count) the "Sleep" topic. They loved it, so we did another fast write, on the forthcoming cicada invasion. Fun!

My Juju woman is mysterious, with deep, dark eyes that only turn hard when I really piss her off. She always seems to know more than I do, and is often terribly disappointed by my choices, with a, "You'll learn" air. I get the feeling from her that she could make bad things happen, but restrains herself, as if the knowledge that she can is enough without the doing. She's all potential menace, but the old man from the bayou usually flusters her and makes her go away. He doesn't have any particular power, except, maybe, telling the truth mildly. Nothing is a crisis with him. It's just life, meant to be lived.

Mad with the power, aren't you Steph?

I think that's really cool. It sounds like a fun and interesting group.

Mad with the power, aren't you Steph?

I wield a mighty pen.

No -- I just hadn't written anything for small group, so I suggested that we write instead.

I think that's really cool. It sounds like a fun and interesting group.

I love it. The interesting thing about doing a fast write (versus a drabble constrained by word count) is that the point is to just keep writing and not self-edit, to see what comes out when you don't censor yourself.

It seems like the word-limit drabbles are much more about word selection, and how you can say what you want to say within a very compact space -- with a timed drabble, you can't afford to take the time for word choice.

The interesting thing about doing a fast write (versus a drabble constrained by word count) is that the point is to just keep writing and not self-edit, to see what comes out when you don't censor yourself.

I've found fastwriting to be a helpful technique when I don't know what to do with a character or where the story is going. I just let the character babble on, all stream-of-consciousness, and I learn things I never would have otherwise.