The two topics in the title kind of go together because Birthdaypalooza was a big help for ROW80.
I spent many hours with two fabulous authors on Friday and Saturday. Susan and Kait take their writing very seriously and are very professional in their approach. Not to mention they are two of the most fun people to hang out with. We stayed up until 2 Friday night and we didn’t even realize it was that late. That’s how much fun we had just talking. And almost all our conversations revolved around writing, even the zombie/hot Irish guys stuff. (See Kait’s post.) I think all three of us got new ideas and got fired up again about writing. I can’t tell you how much I LEARNED from this trip. And I’m thinking that just maybe Kait and Susan have converted me to a plotter. I’ve been a pantser all along, but I realized that if I wrote an outline, it didn’t have to be written in blood. I can still change stuff! I can CHANGE STUFF. Anyway, this was a fun and inspiring weekend. I already miss Susan and Kait. 😦
lauralynnelliott.com 
So glad you had such a good time with Susan and Kait! I hope it really did help you recharge your writing batteries with all the shop talk.
Not only did I recharge my writing batteries, I recharged my getting healthier batteries. 🙂
Glad you had fun, Lauralynn!
I think you can take outlining as far as it works for you. I use my outline to help me keep things in order, to make sure I get in key pieces of information, and to remind me as I proceed what each scene is supposed to accomplish for the story. I initially outline in Excel, because it’s easy for me to move scenes and sections around that way as I think through my plot. The first thing I do when I start writing a book is copy the outline into Word in red text. Then I add a little space and turn the font back to black, and start writing. I make some adjustment or another to my outline every time I write. My outline becomes a living part of my manuscript document that I’m constantly writing toward.
I had a blast, J. R..
One of the reasons I wanted to try Scrivener is to see if it can make me a little more organized in my writing. Not to mention I love bells and whistles. But I need something I can use to do my character sketches, outlines, etc. And you can have several different things in panes on the screen. We shall see. 🙂
I’m so glad you all had such a great time! I love when I’m fired up to write. Sometimes a weekend getaway is just the thing to re-charge the batteries – writing and otherwise!
Thanks, Nadja. Spending time with other writers does tend to get you fired up. And I learned a lot because Kait and Susan are two of the best indie authors I know.
That’s so energizing–meeting writers IRL!
I’ve always been a little bit of a plotter, and a big bit of a pantser: I always know the beginning and end of the novel, and the emotional trajectories of the characters. From there, I pants it until the middle, and then plot the second half. This works for me–I need to jump right in at the beginning, and then I need to take stock and watch the story arc and plot the second part. I think there is tons of merit to both ways of writing!
Good luck figuring out how to mesh what you’ve figured out with what works for you!
Hi Heather. All writers are different, but I’ve always thought pantsing was so much more fun. I thought that plotting would take the surprise out of everything. But what I learned is that there are major points you need to know ahead of time. When you outline those, you can pants what’s in between. And you can change your outline if the story needs to go in a different direction. Does that make sense? Kait and Susan were so helpful in explaining that to me.
It’s such a good feeling when the batteries are recharged and ready to go!!
I am kind of a plotster, I think…somewhere between a pantster and a plotter. I will have outlines and sometimes they’re scene by scene, but they’re really high-level. Or I’ll have what I have for my current WIP, which is a few pages written out that are an overview of what the story is, so I know what points I have to write toward, and then I am just pantsing to get from point to point. It is a beautiful thing though when you realize that your outline is just a map, and you can take minor detours. 🙂
Good luck this week!
Hi Jessica! The way you describe your process, I would say you lean more toward a plotter. Because if you have your main points written down, you’ve got an outline. This whole process will be new to me when I start the next round with a new story. I’m kind of scared and kind of excited to do it differently this time. 🙂