Stick a Fork in Me...

... I'm done. With the sprinkler system, that is. Our installation party was a huge success, and we got stuff done much faster than we thought we'd be able to (we have a HUGE yard and normally this is a good thing, but not when you're intalling a sprinkler system).

The one sucky thing is that, even with all the exercise I've had the past two days, I didn't lose an ounce. That is simply not fair. It's like the time I had tonsilitis and sucked on sugar-free popsicles to the exclusion of all else for almost a week, and gained two pounds. My body is obviously confused.

Anyhoo, life should be back to normal now, and I can actually get on the computer and write.

"Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment." - Baltasar Gracian

I have an idea for a romance / murder mystery that originally started as a sort of joke... "I know, I'll write a secret baby, cowboy romance", and has somehow mutated. I'm excited to get down to planning it more extensively, and I'm trying something new for this novel: I'm going to do A LOT of work on both characters and plot before I start writing (well, sort of... I've already started writing random scenes in order to get to know the protagonist a little, but that doesn't count, does it?). I'm hoping to cut back on the editing process. I HATE EDITING. I feel like I've been editing more than I've been writing in the last year or two. Aside from my NaNoWriMo novel and a few short stories, I've not done anything original and that bugs me.

So... what do you do when you start working on a new story idea? Do you do a lot of prep work first or just start writing? Do you think that your way of writing helps or hurts during the editing process? What do you think are the strengths and/or weaknesses in being a "plotter" vs. a "pantser"?

Have a great day!