*Stares*

Wow. I think my outlines may actually be longer than my novel this year. My plot outline alone has nearly 10,000 words, and I've only written the first 22 chapters out of 30. I dread to look at my location notes and character sheets.

Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating when I say my outlines will be longer than my novel, seeing as I aim to write 200,000 words this year. But all the same ... this is more than I expected to write. Maybe I'm just being a little more ... obsessive ... about what is going into my outlines this year; I'm being a lot more meticulous about having details I know I will need to remember and write down. Maybe my outlines are just a little too wordy, but I don't ... understand them any other way. Rest assured none of this actually contributes in terms of word count to my novel - I have suggestions for what characters will say, but but actually what they will say. There's nothing I can physically list from my outlines into my novel but all the same ... *faints*

So why, then, do I just plain feel like I'm going overboard with this? I know I need it, so that I don't get completely lost, but ...