Writer's Block

As I sit and wait to hear from the agents I've queried and pitched my novel Backs Kicks And Broken Promises to, I'm working on my next project, Sage Of Heaven. I know where I want the story to go and what's going to happen (in a big picture way) but I've always been a bit of a free writer, letting the characters dictate what happens to them, how they respond to those happenings, and when, how and why they change to move the story along and fulfill their dramatic needs. In being a free writer, it's sort of like hanging out with people, getting to know them and watching them evolve. I do outline but it's a bare bones kind of outlining. I make bullet point lists of what I want to happen in the novel but I think I may have to do some deeper outling this time around.

Like many of us who write, I read magazines like Writer's Digest and Poets & Writers, and they often have tips on outlining. Some of them seem a little arduous, writing as much in the outline as you would in the actual manuscript. To me, this feels like doing the work twice (and then there are still revisions to do once the first draft is completed). I don't think this is a wrong way of doing it; just the wrong way for me. However, with Sage of Heaven, I'm a little stumped. I know what I want to happen but for some reason I'm having trouble tapping on the keys of my laptop and guiding my characaters. So, I think I'm going to have do give one of those arduous outlining processes a shot. Maybe I'll write something in the outline that I can put into the manuscript to jump start the process.

Anyone have any outlining tips that have worked for you? I'd love to hear them. I've also put a link, where I've mentioned that title of my current project, where you can read the first chapter. I'd love to get your feedback on it. Thanks.