How I Learned to Write by the Seat of My Pants

by Kassandra Lamb ~ The story of how I discovered I should write by the seat of my pants is a good lesson in two things—everybody is different and trust your instincts.

Like most of us, I was taught in English class to write outlines before starting an essay or story. So for years, I dutifully wrote outlines of stories, and then shoved the outline into a drawer and never finished the story.

There was one story, in particular, that periodically insisted I write it. It was about platonic...