Plot is CRUCIAL!

What is a story without a plot? It's PB&J without the bread. A picture without a frame. A world without life.
Long story short, you can't have a a good novel/short story/poem without a plot! A course of action that all your characters come to follow. If you have seen the movie Jumper, starring Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson, it really has no plot, but it was a good movie. For me, when the ending of the movie finally came around, I felt as though the action was not complete. That there should have been more to the story, although there wasn't. They never made a sequel either. It just left you hanging, and confused.
Now, if they had thought a little bit more about the PLOT LINE, Jumper would have been SOOOOOO much better. Example, if David would have told his dad about his ability, and gotten his dad mixed up into it, then another persons life would have been on the line. The action would have been greater.
Same with your story. Your plot doesn't have to be multiple paragraphs or pages. It could be just a sentence. Try starting with a "what if...?" and then fill in the blanks. We tried this method in Creative Writing, and I have got to say, out of everything else that I had done trying to improve my plot, this simple one made it so EASY.
Let's have a few examples:
1. What if...a young girl was walking her dog and fell in love with her new neighbor?
Your story will be the answer to that question.
2. What if a high school scholar suddenly sprouted wings?
Yeah, it's kinda out there, but you can make it work. Believe in yourself and your writing! If you don't, it's sad to say, but you won't make in anywhere in the writing world. You'll never get passed the first stage.
So try this method and tell me how it goes. Remember, plot is just the beginning. But it is CRUCIAL.