Day's of Summer: Title 1, Physicals and Outlines

My cluttered desk and laptop.

Today will mark the first day of summer break that didn't involve me having to work.  Monday was supposed to be my first day, but I had to attend a Title 1 training.  Yesterday, I had to finish an essay for the IPT Masters program to which I have applied.

So how do I get to spend my first day off? I am going to get poked and prodded for Part 2 of my annual physical exam. I don't know why I do this to myself every year.  I have about two weeks between the time school ends for the summer and when the debate institute I work at begins.  For those two weeks, I try to cram in all the doctor visits I have put off.  I sprinkle in a few honey-do's and the two weeks are done.

I hope to spend the last half of the day outlining part of the story for the book I am finishing this summer.  I might even spend some time developing some character back stories to help them come alive for me. Both of these will be new approaches for me as I normally just sit down and start writing. 

Stacey will tell you the worst part of my writing process is that I can labor over a sentence or even a word choice for hours.  In all my years of writing for school, work or pleasure, I have never started with an outline.  In fact, when I was required to turn in an outline in school, I would write the paper and then fabricate an outline to go with it.  I also don't do too much rewriting (in the traditional sense) because I spend a great deal of time editing as I go. This slows me down.

This summer I am going to scrap my old way of writing and try a few new things.  First, I am going to try using some minor outlining in my process.  Secondly, I am going to set a daily goal word count (2,500/day) and not worry about editing until later.

I figure the old ways have not led to a complete novel so change is in order.  Wasn't it Einstein who said doing the same thing over and over again and expecting new results is insanity?