Am I alone here? Two questions~

I've only just recently started looking at my outlines from other perspectives (It still looks like a mess) When it comes down to planning I usually just make chapter titles and work off of them like prompts. Mind you they'll have a few sentences to summarize the objective of that chapter. Once I picked out the main ones I organized them on my whiteboard and cork board to tie them together.

Basically looked like this in the end:



I wholly feel the same way about writing, I feel constricted if I don't get to wing it as I go. It makes it so much more interesting cause it gives you that "Oh boy here we go " sensation.

I have outlined in the past, and not outlined as well (I like to use a whiteboard). I tried outlining what I'm currently working on, and it stopped me in my tracks because I simply couldn't figure it out. Of course now i'm in Chapter 12 and I'm not sure exactly where I'm going. I'm worried I don't have enough excitement, enough OMG in there, so I am getting stuck. I'm also researching while writing which is supposedly a no-no but I say use whatever works for you at the time. I think each project is different. While I have general ideas/events I know I specifically will include (I already wrote an entire chapter on the exciting climax of the story because it was in my brain and that's how it goes sometimes), right now I'm just winging it, trying to kill my inner editor for the moment, and just get on with the business of writing.

I think it might be book specific in many cases. Your basic pulp-style novel might not need an outline, and can be written either pantser style or outlined with no really thorny issues (well, maybe without show stopper issues anyway). Something like epic high fantasy or techno-thriller projects (for example) with casts of dozens and multiple complex interlocking plotlines? I can see getting lost in the tall grass without some kind of waving flag to shoot for. Outlining is probably something every author should at least try and see how it works for them. Some folks think it stifles the creative process, while others rely on it to guide it in a general direction. Some (most likely the folks who never leave the house with mismatched socks and whose bookcases are arranged by subject, size and color) rigorously outline every detail.
Me, I try outlining but seems like my characters keep veering away from the path. It's like herding cats. I keep insisting that they head for Chicago since the Macguffin is there, and there they are, on the beach in south Florida, drinking Margaritas and flipping me the bird. Might have to introduce a hurricane to get them to leave!