Pre-writing

How much pre-writing do you do? This is mine. That's my outline, my plot points, my story boards, my character sketches, etc. That's it. In other words, I don't do much. I've tried. I've downloaded awesome programs which had great tools for writing. I'd open them, fill them out and then never look at them again. I've sat down and outlined a novel, mapped out what was going to happen. I lost it before I got to the third chapter.

I admire people who can do pre-writing. It must ease the stress of writing. I would love to know what's going to happen next, but I'm always in the dark. I plan about one chapter ahead. I'm not a good chess player or pool player either. I can only focus on one move at a time. I stress about it. I'm nearing the end of a chapter right now and I'm not happy about where it is going to leave me. However, I've been through this before (many times) and I know it will all come together in the end.

I've always written this way and I don't think I'll change. Its going to be tough if I ever sell and then I'm required to sell on proposal. I'm sure I'll figure something out.

So, how much pre-writing do you do? If you do a lot of pre-writing, does it come naturally to you or did you have to train yourself?