Outlines: Do you have to use them?

I am working on my fourth book and I am on my sixth manuscript revision. Yikes! I guess that isn't so bad, but I thought I had the story down and then it changed on me. That happens a lot when I write. I start in one direction and the characters pull me into a different direction. That is why I work with a rough outline and not one set in stone.

Is is better to work with an outline? Some authors swear by it and it is probably a more organized way to work, but each writer has their own way to write. My brain seems to work better with a rough outline so I have a basic idea of what I am going to write. Once I start writing, the story may pull me in a different direction. I keep notes on what I am doing and this helps me to stay organized.

This story is turning out to be a good one, but I am not finished yet. The editing process is even more time consuming than writing the story. A story is not finished to me until I 'feel' it is finished. Pretty weird, huh? But that is how I work.

A writer should use the technique that best works or him or her.

Hopefully Cat's Curse will be finished at the beginning of next year.