Monday Musings

1. Gardening done, and I got it finished on Friday evening before the rain came! Which was great, because it then proceeded to rain the entire weekend and watered my new plantings. It's funny how much more I appreciate rain after I've been gardening.

2. I took my kids to see Soul Surfer yesterday. I could tell from the previews I would like it, and it ended up being even better that I'd hoped. I guess it's the mom in me, but it made me very emotional. My favorite part was when they showed photos of the real Bethany Hamilton and her family at the end. My kids all gave it a thumbs-up as well.

3. We ordered the flooring for our basement on Saturday, and today I start painting the walls. We're turning it into a rec room for the teenagers in the house. This should be a good opportunity to let those creative plotting juices flow. :)

4. I just won over at Deniz Bevan's The Girdle of Melian blog for her 500 Posts Contest. Thanks so much, Deniz!

Did you do anything fun this weekend? Any big plans for the week ahead?

Plotting and My Garden

Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I'm a plotter through and through. Some people don't need a road map to get through their novel, but I do. I know this about myself, so I'm willing to take the time to work out a detailed outline of my plot. And for the most part, I enjoy this part of the process.

But...it's not the actual writing. And I miss the writing. When I'm writing, I can sit down and lose myself in the story for hours. I don't get easily distracted. But when I'm plotting, it seems I'll look for any excuse to get out of the chair. Just yesterday I cleaned the inside of the refrigerator, did the laundry, baked two batches of banana bread, and did the grocery shopping. This weekend I may even (gasp) do the gardening my yard is so desperately in need of. All while I'm supposed to be plotting this new novel.

I think it's probably that plotting doesn't feel concrete. I'm not increasing my word count. I'm not editing my way through a list of chapters. I'm just playing around with ideas, and even though I'm making progress, I can't really see it. As someone who thrives on daily to-do lists, this makes me antsy.

What about you? If you're a plotter, do you enjoy the time you spend plotting? How long do you spend plotting a new novel? If you're a pantser, how much time do you spend thinking about a new novel before actually starting to write?

Have a great weekend, everyone!