To Outline or Not Outline, that is the question—with apologies to the Bard himself, William Shakespeare.

I first met outlining in Mrs. Watkins’ sixth grade geography class. I hated it then, I hate it now. I’m what people sometimes call a “Seat-of-the-Pantser. In other words, I start writing a book and follow the story to see where it’s going. That was as true for my first book, Until Proven Guilty, as it is now. In other words, I had no idea Anne Corley was a goner until … well … she was. That outcome was as much of a surprise to me as it was to my readers.

Early on in my writing career, another area writer, someone who wrote fantasy, and I ended up appearing at the same events. He was an outliner; I was not. The two of us often debated the pros and cons of outlining in public. We were contemporaries. At the time he was much more well known than I was, but over the years I lost track of him because, with the exception of the Harry Potter books, I’m not all that keen on fantasy. At this point I have no idea if he’s still writing. However, at age 82, not only am I still writing, I recently signed a contract to deliver two more books. I’ll be fully employed until I hit 85!

What brought all this up today? I recently heard from a reader who had just finished reading The Girl From Devil’s Lake. He wanted to know why Marliss ends up dying at the end of the book and wondered if I had just run out of material for her character. The answer to that is, “No, I hadn’t run out of material.” Marliss had inserted herself in the investigation from the outset. Although she was incredibly annoying, she was also smart. In the end, she got too close to finding the bad guy and suffered the inevitable consequences.

Did I know it was coming before it happened? No, I did not. I may be the writer, but the truth is, as far as the stories are concerned, I’m just along for the ride along with all my readers.

So today’s blog will be short but sweet. As of yesterday I crossed the halfway point in Unnamed Joanna #22. I’m not sure how it’ll end, but I do know what’s in the next two chapters, and I need to get after them.

By the way, I know there were some challenges with last week’s post. It went out earlier than it was supposed to, and, in that version, it wasn’t possible to access the comments. If that happens again, please visit my website, jajanceauthor.com and click on the word blog in the upper right hand corner of the page. If you bookmark that address and your copy doesn’t come through in the future, you’ll be able to get right back to it.

Now it’s time to make breakfast and then get my nose to the writing grindstone. As Evie Busk would say, “If it is to be it is up to me.”—outline or no outline.