I've never been much for outlines... I'd write a basic outline of thoughts for characters, settings, and scenes, but other than that I tend to let my characters tell me what they want to happen. All of the activities for this month of preparation, though, have shown me how important my outline can be. I seem to get wrapped up in it for hours at a time. It's almost like interviewing my characters and finding out what happened; just a few brief statements that can be fleshed out and embellished later. Once I got started I realized that I actually outlined more than I thought I had in the past, but mostly for the writing I was going to include in scrapbooks.

When I scrapbook for myself, I make an outline of the events that occurred and then write a story based on that outline to tell about the trip and the experiences we shared as a family.

When I scrapbook for others, I do the same thing. I have them tell me about their trip and the memories they want to highlight. Then, based on that outline, I write a story about it and have them read it and approve it. Sometimes they read the story and recall something they had forgotten. Other times they read it and are amazed at how I knew all of the details. I didn't know them, really. I listened to their story as they told it, picked up on their emotions, and them dropped the story into the scenes depicted in their photographs. All of these details were in the notes I took while they talked.

I'm going to be using outlines a lot more in my writing. I have learned so much about writing and about myself through these activities. If I don't write a word in November, this month has already been so worthwhile!

Write on!
Deborah