Okay, you convinced me. I now respect your knowledge of writing. You did not say a single thing I can seriously disagree with.
My personal approach is to wing it until I hit a snag then I use plotting as a tool to solve any problems. Some stories have none, some have a bunch. My preference is character based stories.
I also use omniscient multiple POV in larger works.
One question to ask you since you brought it up. You want to be a professional: How do you take criticism? Rejection slips are rough, but sometimes having to redraft a work for someone who is interested in buying if you can get it to their standards is even rougher. Can you take that kind of heat and not take it personally?
