To plan, or not to plan?

[thorarosebird.livejournal.com]

At the moment I have a very vague plan for my LJ story that I'm half-following. In truth, I'm mostly making it up as I go along, and in between writing, several plot points will appear or become clearer. I think it's how I work best, half blind and letting my subconcious do all the work. Not the most reliable system, I know.

I wanted to ask whether you plan your stories? Or do you wing it? If you do plan them, how do you go about it in a way that preserves your creativity? (Whenever I try and set down a plan my mind goes blank and suddenly I wish I'd never written any of it!) Do you write your own summary or draw a table to plan it chapter by chapter?

Share your method of plotting, everyone! :D

Please help! Desperately need suggestions!

[polkadot-cat.livejournal.com]

I've been having trouble with this poem for a little while now.  This is maybe the second or third draft, and it still seems rough and awkward to me.  I've attempted to write it with no punctuation beyond a few commas, so that the sentences aren't very clear-cut.  (I've tried to do this before, and this attempt is the most successful I've ever been, I think.  I just like to experiment with sentence structures and punctuation.)  Anyway, I'd love a different pair of eyes to look at this and tell me what they think.  What major problems do you see here?  Do bad word choices stand out to you?  Do I need to change the tone?  I'm very grateful for any help at all.  :)

( No Climbing )