The Next Great Thing

I'm trying to decide which writing project to take up in what's left of the summer. So far, the front runner is a novel set in NYC. It would focus on two detectives from the Bronx Homicide Taskforce (or maybe the 52nd Precinct). In any event, this is a novel I fully plotted out in outline form, something I've never done before. I did the outlining at Left Coast Crime this past February. It's wierd working from an outline. I've written seven novels (sold five) and never used an outline -- it never even occured to me really. Usually I just describe the scenes from the movies playing in my head. But now that I have an outline, and a movie, I wonder why I should bother to write it out full length. I mean, unlike the other novels, I feel I know what's going to happen at every turn -- no element of surprise. Why bother? Oh well. A writer's problem.

I've got about six weeks left before the semester begins. Can I write an entire book in that time? Let's just say it's iffy. I'll keep you updated.

BTW, I'm about 2,000 words in having started on July 4th.