I have never been the kind of writer who outlines. It’s probably no accident that up until now my longest published pieces have been around 3,000 words. Of course, it is not strictly true that I never used outlines. When I had long pieces to write for the newspaper, I would pull a clean reporter’s notebook from my drawer and copy over the quotes I planned to use in my longer newspaper pieces. I copied them in sections — a skeletal outline. I don’t think I’ll ever write another story without writing an outline. I became a convert over the course of revising Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator. Right after I sold my manuscript, I was lucky enough to attend a workshop session led by my editor called “Story in Nonviction.” He mentioned a book I had read many years before called Writing for Story by Jon Franklin. I re-read the book when I got home from the conference and I tried Franklin’s process. It includes outlining and it really helped. Today I needed to begin writing a new piece. I will be attending another conference in October (Writing and Illustrating for Kids 2007) and I need to get something ready for formal critique. I started with an outline. One of the best things about outlining is that it frees me to write sections out of order. (In fact, Franklin recommends writing them out of order.) I can also pick up where I left off more easily. Try it.