On Outlining
I'm a very linear, organized person, so you would think outlining should be a natual fit for me. I would certainly think it should be. Shows you what I know. At the moment I am -- at the editor's request -- trying to put together a chapter by chapter outline for the next Zach & Zoe book. It is not going well. Oh, the first four chapters fell together nicely, but something happened when I hit Chapter 5. It's not that I don't know how the story is supposed to proceed. I do. The problem is that I'm having difficulty foreseeing what scenes should be dramatized in order to make the action flow naturally into the next section. 
If I could just sit down and write the story, I would be fine. I could write the outline after. I realize that might not help the editor a lot, but it would work for me. It's rather like when I was teaching, and the principal wanted my goals and plans for the year. When I asked if I could give them to him in June, he wasn't amused. But as someone famous once said, "How can I know what I think until I see what I said?"
In an attempt to jumpstart my stalled brain, I've actually begun writing the story. The editor wants the first two completed chapters as well, so I'm not really avoiding the problem; I'm merely switching pressing jobs. The first chapter has popped up on the computer screen as easily as if I'd written it long ago and was merely retyping it. I anticipate the same for chapter 2. That's because that part of the story is crystal clear in my mind.
I wish I could say the same for the chapter 5 outline. I would skip it and move on to Chapter 6, except I know I can't work that way. It's that linear thing again. I know lots of writers who jump all over the book when they write. They work on whatever scenes are playing on their minds and sort them all out when they're done. I'd like to see them outline a story. HA!
Yes, well gloating isn't going to help me. I shall just have to push on and hope I make a breakthrough. Failing that, I'll cross my fingers that the editor likes the first two completed chapters so much that she is willing to overlook the fuzzy Chapter 5 outline. We'll see. 