Saved by the Cat

If  you haven't yet come across this gem of a book, then beg, borrow or steal a copy of "Save the Cat" by Blake Snyder. Although written for screenwriters, the advice in it is totally applicable to any kind of genre fiction, and saved me tonight. Up till now, I have been the kind of writer described as a 'pantser" ie I write by the seat of my pants, making it up as I go along.
But that method is not working for my current book. I'm stuck, wallowing in pages of bland, go nowhere words, that would drive a reader to insensibility if they were kind enough to keep reading them.
So I am having to do some pre-planning, to kick life into the plot and find out where I am going. And for that, my fallback guardian is Blake Snyder's 'Cat', filled with simple lists and how-to check sheets. It might look like 'write-by-numbers' hokey, but it actually works. And his suggestions are so simple and easy to follow that even a pantser like me can come up with a simple, 1 page plot map, with all the required story peaks and troughs filled in.
Will I follow it? Who knows. Will it get me writing freely again - already has, and that's what really counts. I'm off on my journey again, out of the swamp, and here's to the adventure to come.