With the nickname of  The Evil  Editor (TEE) – said with affection, remember! –I bet you think I’m all about editing.

Not true.

I’m also a writer.

Which means I’m also about writing.

But even before the writing, which comes before the editing, I’m about planning. I can see all you  seat-of-the-pantsers (SOTPs) out there in the blog-o-sphere rolling your eyes.  Thinking:  Not another writer who chains herself to scripting out every last word of  her novel, detail by infinitesimal detail. You think there’s nothing better  than letting your story run away with you, surprising you with unexpected twists and turns as a character kisses someone unexpected – or maybe kills them. But even a SOTP has to plot something. Beginning, middle, end. The Disappointments (Ds). Maybe resist putting hands to keyboard and discern your characters’ Lie and the Truth that will set them free?

Any and all of this is planning the work.

As you read this blog post, I’m  deep into writing my second novel.

Once my editor approved my synopsis, I  could:

1. Start writing

2. Plan the work.

Believe me, with a deadline looming and a word count that rivaled the national debt, writing was ve-ery appealing. But planning the work was the wise choice. And so I charted my main  characters’ emotional journeys. I deepened my subplot and determined what  character would have a layer threaded through the story. I zeroed in on my  villain – yep, got one of those – and made him one nasty guy, disguised in a  layer of charisma. I conferred with my mentors and Weston, my beloved Book  Buddy.

Ten days later, I opened a Word document, typed the words Chapter 1, Scene 1, and started writing. And you know what?

I’m having a blast!

Why?

I took the time to plan my work – and now I’m working my plan.

 MBT’s Skills Coach, Beth K. Vogt provides her readers with a happily ever after woven through with humor, reality, and God’s lavish grace. Her debut novel, Wish You Were Here, will be published in May 2012 by Howard Books. She’s also written Baby Changes Everything: Embracing and Preparing for Motherhood after 35 for Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) International and is a consulting editor for their magazine, MomSense,
and a bimonthly columnist for MOMSnext, an e-zine for moms of school-age children.

http://bethvogt.com/

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