Spring!

Yay! According to my calendar, today is the first day of spring and that makes me a very happy person (even if it was snowing when I woke up this morning. What's the deal with that???)

I love spring. I love when it's warm enough to open the windows during the day, and cool enough to need a blanket at night. I love that the days are longer (okay, well, I know that they aren't really longer, but since Daylight Savings Time started a few weeks ago, there's that extra hour of daylight thing...)

Okay, so it's a little cool today, and it was snowing this morning, but warm weather is thisclose now, right?

So I have a new story idea knocking around inside my head and I've already begun a rough outline of it. I have a basic plot skeleton and that's about as much outlining as I do. I wish I could be an outliner, I really do. Somehow, I think it'd make writing the stupid book so much easier. And I've tried it. But for some reason, it just doesn't seem to work for me. I wonder if writers are born as plotter or pantsers because Lord knows I'm a pantser. Sometimes the stories surprise me with where they end up (and the surprise is not always a pleasant one, to be honest.)

Here's what I know so far:

1. It's set in the late 19th century - mid 1880s, I think (and even that's not entirely determined just yet. Some of that will depend on whether or not I've got the right time period for certain things. The story may move up or back a few years once I start my initial research.)

2. Hero's name is Bret. Or maybe Rick. I'm not 100% sure on that either.

3. Heroine's name is Charlie. Or possibly Frankie. I like both.

4. It takes place in the New Mexico Territory

5. There's a ranch and a missing brother

6. There will be some steamy sex between Bret/Rick and Charlie/Frankie eventually - hee hee

7. It will have a HEA ending.

I've got most of Chapter One in my head, and most of the last chapter - which are the two easiest to write, if you ask me. It's what comes between them that's so frickin' tough sometimes.

I'll do some preliminary research this afternoon, and will hopefully get at least the first two or three chapters written tonight. And our calendar's empty this weekend, (and I'm no longer dealing with strep throat, which is always a good thing) so I should be able to get some quality writing done.

So, on that note - happy Spring, happy Friday, and enjoy the weekend!