To much like work...

Okay, I've finished my first book.  Now time to start another one.

 I just read a book on outlining.  I see a lot of value in it.  I pantsed through my first book.  In retrospect,  I've given thought, could I have outlined my first book.  I suppose I could have.  Yet, I don't see how.  Unless having a rough idea of what the chapters were going to contain counts. 

For instance,

3        Alfred Raznar----        Raznar is 25 years old and is hitching a ride on the trains heading to Portland when Ernest gets on the train.  They have a run in with two crooks and bond over it.

4        Mildred Ballard-        Ernest mom gets out of the hospital and is worried about Ernest being gone.  She doesn't know what's happened but figures it out.  She thinks Ernest headed south, when he is really going north.

That's chapters 3 and 4 that turned into six thousand words.  I suppose that is outlining of a sorts, but even then, I sometimes went back and filled in the chapter description after I wrote the chapter. 

I have an idea for the next book.  I'm trying to outline.  Oh my gosh, it's too much like WORK.

I want to write… I get an idea.  I write it down where I think I can use it in the book.  My mind floods with scenes, interactions, the tensions - just how I want it to sound and what I want the reader to feel.  If I don't stop and address that will I be able to reclaim those specifics later when I actually start writing the book?  I'm afraid I won't. 

It's like I do a mental dump when I write.  I've written blogs and emails and letters and have the computer crash or bump the wrong key and poof - all gone.  Then my mind goes blank.  I never feel I recaptured the essences of the original writing the second time around.   Sometimes, I don't even try to rewrite it.  I just move on aggravated with myself.

I have a fair idea where the book starts and where it will end.  The resolution and theme to be presented.  I don't know how many chapters it will be.  I have what I think is the first six chapters worked out on paper - in the outline.  Do I need to finish all the rest of them?  I suppose, but I want to write.  I want to start on the book.

An author said she started on her book.  Wrote six months and hated it.  Went back and outlined for three months and started over and got a wonderful book out of it in the end.  Three months… oh goodness.   

Sure, you say, then write some.  Take a break from outlining and write.  But, am I lazy because I'm fearful I wouldn't actually finish the outline and end up pantsing through this book too?  And then again, that's the way some good authors do it anyway. 

Perhaps, I'm over thinking it.  This blog entry could be a delaying tactic to outlining or writing on my book. 

What can I say, I hate work..  I've been working for over fifty years and no I don't have to.  I love writing, but this outlining thing is to much like work.  Dammit… I want my writing to be enjoyable to the reader, so if I can do better presenting a good book by outlining then I will. 

That's it, so much for the ramblings of a struggling writer.  What do you think?  How do you handle WORK?  Or do you even think of it in those terms?