Maria's Journal

On November 3, 2018 I attended RWA/NYCs romance conference at the Fordham University campus in The Bronx. The conference was informational as it was fun and we were fortunate to have had on hand several best-selling authors, icons really, and for that I’m eternally blessed.  Recently, I got to thinking about a comment Kristan Higgins said during one of the workshops: Not a ‘pantser’, not a ‘plotter’, but a ‘plantser’. Several of us laughed out loud, “Yeah, that, that’s me!” By design I am a pantser and enjoy making up stories as I ‘go’ rather than creating outlines as do my plotter counterparts. As you might imagine, the first draft of my novellas are quite messy as scenes are often deleted/added along the way. Second and third drafts are marginally better. I think many pantsers will tell you that allowing our imaginary friends to direct the course of a book is the most exciting aspect of the writing process. Pantsers might also tell you that this technique is equally frustra