Outlines, planning, and the "correct" way to write

Of course there is no "correct" way to write. Whatever works for one writer doesn't necessarily work for the next (which is why writing guides that deal in absolutes should be taken with a heaping teaspsoon of salt), but I'm trying a different technique: outlining.

Forming an outline prior to writing isn't the most revolutionary thing in the world, and a lot of writers swear by it, but I've never been an outliner. Not even in college. (I have no idea how I churned out papers without a vague sense of what I was doing. Copious amounts of caffeine helped.) In high school, when an physical outline was required, I wrote them after the paper was finished. At least that way, the two bore some resemblance to each other.

My usual process is this: write a first draft that's more a "pre-draft," open a second document for revisions (I can't edit on the "pre-draft," for whatever reason), paste in the revisions. Now I have an official "shitty first draft." Begin the process over again until I have something I wouldn't be embarrassed to bring to a writing workshop. For short writing, it's okay, but anything longer than a few pages gets tedious and confusing.

So I'm working on a longer piece of writing. I'm giving it a formal outline. I hope to shorten the draft process this way by eliminating a need for a "pre-draft."Of course, there's a really good chance I won't stick to the outline.