In Which I Discuss Some Things I Have Learned About Writing

To give my mind something shiny to play with while working on revisions for A Troll Wife's Tale (and let's not kid ourselves, unlike writing, for me revisions are work) I've decided to restart world building for The Clockwork Cat.

So, how will The Clockwork Cat be different from A Troll Wife's Tale? (Besides things like, you know, point of view and genre.)

Hopefully, I will apply the things that I learned (am learning) while writing Troll Wife and avoiding mistakes with Clockwork Cat. I'll be making all new mistakes, but that's ok. If they're new, it shows my learning curve.
Note:These are my things. If they resonate for you, great! But don't listen to them if they don't work for you. (That's part of Thing 1.)

Thing 1. The big one. Don't do something to your story just because an expert tells you to. If I'm ever lucky enough to get an agent, and the agent wants revisions, I will have to relearn this one in a different way, which involves listening to revisions and deciding if they make the story stronger and then writing based on that. However, for the very first writing process, when I'm the only reader, I should write the book my way.

Thing 2. Outlines are your friend. It's ok to deviate from an outline, but if you do, update the outline with the changes. Outlines are a great help during the writing process, but they are also a wonderful tool when creating a synopsis. It's easier to create a synopsis from an outline than it is from each page and chapter of the book.

Thing 3. There is no Thing 3 (as per Dr. Seuss). Yes, I hope I've learned more than two things in Troll Wife, but these two are so big, they overwhelm everything else right now.