Plotting vs Not

So... if you know me personally, you'll realize I suck at planning ahead when it comes to my personal life. If it's at work, like... say when I had my last call center job? Organized as could be. Mostly. Because I worked with other people and if I wasn't organized or didn't know where a script was, I could've messed up majorly. I also have a bad habit of shopping on a whim and I'm a big gadget whore (and end up doing things like selling my tablet to a friend).

I also randomly make up my mind about moving states and hop on planes that week, apparently.

Anyway, that's not what I'm actually going to write about. I think that every writer actually has trouble trying to decide if they need to fully outline a novel, or a series if that's their thing, before they actually start writing the story. I hear this over and over again and I hear it apparently makes it easier to write. I can't plot out and fully organize myself worth a damn. I've tried. I can't tell you how many notebooks I have lying around with half-assed plot and character outlines. And the notes on my phone--there are like thirty of them (I just looked) and I think I haven't ever looked at them again. I found some note the other day about Head Over Heart and completely smacked myself on the forehead because it was an idea for a really good scene and I forgot about it. It's in the story now.

So, I think I'm going to start making lists.

I'm a HUGE list maker. I've, at least, gotten into the habit of keeping a notebook nearby because sometimes if a scene won't come out on the computer, I can write it on paper. And my handwriting is pretty--besides the point. And I'm a little bit of a story boarder--I've done that before. It helps me to have something where I can actually draw or scribble and erase (though I only did this once for NaNoWriMo in 2013 and haven't since). It doesn't help that sometimes I find the list like three days later but I've been doing that more lately when I start getting ideas. I have a bad habit of writing more than one novel at a time and lists just make it easier. It feels more natural for me to not have a big long description of a character, and to just let them develop, than to sit there and fill out worksheets and blah blah blah (I've tried it all). And notes. I'm a HUGE note taker. I found one of my old college notebooks shortly before I moved. It had a whole semester's worth of notes from my Renaissance class I took in 2012 before I graduated from college. I've found lately that actually making side notes on a piece of paper while I'm rereading a chapter is more effective then telling myself what needs to happen later.

My point?

Creativity is weird, college note taking is a hard habit to kick, and I need to become more organized. Ugh. :P