I much prefer the act of writing freely than outlining every point before I write. This is quite ironic because I am the most type A organized, list-centered person I know. I adore lists. They get me through the day.
They work perfectly for me, except for when I’m writing. I tried in the fall. I tried with an outline and making myself write each scene in order. I lost all excitement for the process and stopped rather quickly.
With my other idea, I just wrote. I literally had no idea how it was going to end, but I did have a few pivotal scenes playing in my head. I skipped ahead to write those. I filled in those between moments later. I came up with new ideas and hints and ideas that surprised even me. I finished my first draft in two months.
It is far from complete. I am currently slugging through my checklist of plotting and brainstorming points I need to hit. If Rebecca Ross can do it, so can I!
It took me another two and a half months to just leave comments on my first draft. These were things like why?, so what?, describe more, what is going on?, why does this matter?, expand … quite humbling!!
I recently decided to view it differently. What an opportunity I have to explore my writing more, dive deeper into my creativity, challenge myself that bit more. How fun is it going to be to come up with more ideas, give me more things to write about?
It’s been kind of working. Let’s go through my list, which is mostly what I learned from Rebecca Ross but a bit of notes from me as well.
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