How do you write?

In my previous post I mentioned something about being a "seat of the pants" writer. What exactly does that mean? It means I can't outline for the life of me.

With my first book, IT HAPPENS IN THREES, I never even considered outlining the story. It was more of a spewing of thoughts and ideas that came out into a romantic suspense. And when I say, "spew", I mean whatever popped into my head is pretty much what came out on paper.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Most writers would probably agree that writing anything is better than writing nothing. Maybe.

With my second novel, I wrote the first chapter while on a plane flight from New Hampshire to Seattle, Washington. Again, I had nothing written down for the story idea. I simply was inspired and started typing on my little laptop. Seven pages into it I was cracking myself up and the guy sitting next to me thought I was a little whacked. [SHRUG] I probably was. When you're in the zone you can't help yourself. Anyway...

After I started this book I decided to take a stab at writing an outline. And I even saved it on my computer. I outlined about 10 chapters. I thought cool, good for me.

BUT when I got into writing more of the story my characters decided to go their own way so my writing diverged from the original outline.

How do you write? Are there any concepts (like outlines or chapter synopsis) or tools you use to help? Share them with us.