Good morning fellow writers! How is it going? Are you following along in the How to Write series? Do you have any questions? I am here to give you a little update and talk about plotting and pantsing.

I took off the fourth of July to celebrate our glorious Union, got into the writing chair late that evening and finished the first chapter(click here for first chapter). I also penned Sunday’s blog post. I am doing more writing at the moment than I have done in a few months. It’s wonderful.

I hope you are also being productive. You should have at least an idea of a story by now. Maybe a character or two, and a setting. Work this week to finish that blurb and character sheets. I am going to post up a video sometime soon on how to make a plot-board, for those of you who are plotters. I am sort of, but most of my early stuff in a book is done by pantsing.

What is the difference between plotting and pantsing?

Well, I am glad you asked. A plotter is someone who sits down and writes out the story sort of chapter by chapter to see what may happen throughout, and they get a beginning, middle, and end in sight. A pantser is someone who simply sets out to tell a story and write it as it comes to them, by the seat of their pants, or pantsing.

It doesn’t matter which way you do it, really. It is far more important in the beginning stages to JUST WRITE. As long as you are sitting down for a period of time each day, putting something on the page, moving toward THE END, you are doing it right.

So many people say they want to write a book but they never do. I think it is from a lack of encouragement. Please take this as your dose of “get ‘her done” for today.

Take time to read the first chapter, if you are interested. I will be back with another How to Write post soon, and the second chapter!