Outline, Shmoutline

Hello Fellow Writers!

So my big challenge this month, for those of you haven't heard, is called May 50K. I'm writing a 50K word novel this month, ala NaNoWriMo. Anyone is welcome to join in the fun - visit me at the blog I set up just for this challenge at  http://may50k.blogspot.com.

I have a blurb and basic synopsis prepared that I'm sticking to for this story, since I know the elements in it appeal to a certain someone I'm hoping to sell the book to. But the outline I (attempted to) write for the book is hard to follow for me. I hate outlines. Things that work in an outline end up not working in the manuscript.

Recently my outline called for the heroine to fire the nanny. But the nanny was kinda cool and made a good case for herself, so she got to keep her job, in this draft anyway. And that's where the outline started to annoy me more than help me.

The writing is going great though. I'm 17K into this 50K word manuscript.

How about you? Do you use an outline to write, do you "pants" it, or do you do some mixture of the two like me?