The way to get started is to quit talking and begin
doing.
~ Walt Disney
I outlined all my novels. It was the
only way I could get started. I outlined beginning to end. Every aspect and
every plot twist. It was the only way to write that made me feel comfortable. I
started doing that in the beginning because, believe it or not, I didn’t write
my chapters in Chronological order.
I would write chapter one, then chapter
4, then chapter 12, then chapter 25. It was the weirdest thing. But that is how
I wrote my first and second novel. I have a feeling it was because I was
writing with three different characters and I could write for one and then
continue to write for that character.
But outlining was the way to go for me.
The problem was…I would spend hours, days and even weeks outlining the entire
novel.
This was all before I began to write a
single word toward the actual book.
It was like brainstorming so long that
you spent more time talking about the book than you did getting started to
write the book.
This November 2022, I am releasing my
new book. This book was very different. It had a different theme, it is darker
than the other books I have written and it has a holiday surrounding it. Yet what makes the biggest difference is I
didn’t really write an outline for this book.
I started an outline, but never finished
it. Halfway through the book, the chapters just started coming to me and I was
utterly surprised. This was the first time that I was just able to write and
not worry about an outline. It was insane!
My next book, I am not sure if I am
going to be able to do that. It was a scary experience but also exhilarating
for me. But I know one thing. It felt so good to just do and not spend so much
time talking about it or brainstorming about it.
