Outlines are Fun

Before I get to babbling about outlines, let me direct you to some light-hearted flash fiction I've been writing on ficly. These pieces are prayers from Caveman Bob (or his family + associates) to God, and you can find related prayers written by me and by other people by clicking around on either the "prequels" or the "sequels" at the bottom of the piece. They are fun to write, so I command you to have fun reading them!

It's been that, and it's been outlines and notes for story ideas. In some ways, writing outlines makes me itch to actually begin the stories, but I'm a bit leery about that because of the upcoming interruption (having the baby). I'd rather write a good outline now and start a story fresh later than start the story and have 2,000 words that I never pick up again.

Besides, I've had periods like this before, where my brain just decides to switch gears for me from writing to conceptualizing. It tends to happen after I've finished (or abandoned) a large project. This is partly because, for me, outlining and writing are separate things. I'm not saying I won't start writing a story just because I don't have an outline (which, by the way, doesn't have to be written down to count). But for the majority of my stories I like to have enough planned that I feel like I know where the story is going. I like to feel as if I'm approaching an end that I will be able to come up with, or further define, or just plain fix, later. I know a lot of writers do the exact opposite, but for me, the initial conceptualizing of the work is exactly when I "go with the flow" and it's almost like actually trying to write it down at that point would be an interruption to the creative process.

Another reason is simply because I've been sick. There's something about being sick that makes me appreciate being better and makes me want to do stuff, and this time, that's creating and outlining. Whatever, I'll take it!

The two stories, are, briefly:
Clear Omens - A fantasy story where the characters are concerned with the mysterious birth of non-mages in a world where every one is a mage. The context of this story is heavily religious and even some of the events are patterned after Judeo-Christian beliefs. So, my beliefs, but I still wonder if some people will be needlessly offended. Probably. I mean, people are offended by Narnia somehow.
Shards - Also fantasy, but this one doesn't come with a plot yet. World building has been fun, though! The setup is also partly religious but, since I made the Narnia comparison, in more of a LOTR style where it simply explains how some things came to be. It involves a gift from God shattering and its pieces falling all over the world, where they create magic that humans can use. Yay, magic!