I'm excited about more time to write fic, too, trust me. Although I have found this summer that all of the fic writing has made me more likely to do real writing. If I wake up with the mindset of "today I'm going to tell a story," then it doesn't really matter what the particular story is - I just end up being in a mood to write.

I always have trouble with the third act. I'm getting a lot better, but I have a hard time working out the plot mechanics of the climax. And that usually tends to come from me not having worked out the character arc ahead of time. But I never worry too much about sticking to an outline - they're just ways to get me to start organizing my thoughts about a story, and they almost inevitably get referred to less and less as I write. I'm actually suspicious of anyone whose end product matches up with their outline perfectly, or even really well; figuring out what works and doesn't work as you write is an important part of the process, I think.