Ideas Abounding

I am currenly working on 6 manuscripts right now. The bulk of them have endings I have yet to write. One that I am currently working on like a demon is more of a historical romance. It's about my favorite time period, The Medieval era. I don't do outlines because I like to go with whatever ideas pop into my head. I have the characters and I do the research but as far as working out an outline, I don't. Now I have read alot of blogs and such that point out that Outlines are essential. I do do story crafting where I write out ideas and work out how those ideas relate to the plots. So I want to know from all of you that write even if its non fiction-what directions you use when constructing your stories.