For All You Writer Types

Here are some posts I've enjoyed lately:

Do This! Don't Do That! To Outline Or Not, That Is The Question: I think I enjoyed this so much because I read it right after I'd had my semi-regular monthly lunch with 3 other writers and we'd had the "to outline or not" conversation and gotten a different perspective from each person at the table. My answer to this question, in case you're wondering, is, I do a hybrid outline but leave room for changes in direction. I've been working on a project without an outline and will never do it again. I feel like not having some sort of map of where I'm going has led to a lot of needless wandering.

10 Reasons You Should Do NaNoWriMo: I enjoyed this because I've been toying with doing NaNo. I toy with this idea every year. November is typically a really bad time for me to take on such a commitment, as the holidays are barreling in and my kids have several breaks from school. But. It does sound nice to be working towards something within the online community of other folks who have also made this crazy commitment this same time. I've got a novel to revise so I'm probably going to commit to that. It's not 50,000 words in a month, but it's working towards a finished novel.

Once Upon A Time (Stories Matter): I'm going to be reading this post, in its entirety, to the two ninth grade classes I'm teaching this week. I believe stories matter-- and I better, since writing stories and sharing stories at She Reads take up most of my business hours and thought life.