On occasion, I write about writing. In this post from late 2015, I focused Scrivener, a powerful “content-generation tool,” which is part of how I research and create every first draft. A related tool is mind mapping.

I first learned about this technique from David Allen, who discusses it in chapter 3 of his 2001 book Getting Things Done. (See here for a podcast on GTD and mind mapping.) But it was not until I encountered writing coach Daphne Gray-Grant that I really grasped how well it applies to writing. Her little e-book on the topic, now a decade old itself, was simple but persuasive.

As Allen and Gray-Grant separately explain, a mind map is an alternative to the traditional outline. Rather than fixed, linear or hierarchical, it is fluid, multidimensional and inclusive. It is also, like a map, destination-oriented. To me, that feels more like how my mind works in the pre-writing stage.

Here’s the drill. For every writing project, after completing a sufficient amount of research, I pull out a blank sheet of paper. I turn the paper on its side and write my main topic in the middle. Then I start jotting down related words. Some of these come from research files and brainstorming that I’ve stored in Scrivener. I circle those words and connect related ideas with lines. And that’s a mind map.

Once I’ve revised and thought over the map, I may revert to an outline. But forcing thoughts into an outline at the outset now seems totally backward. Engineers might appreciate a white-board analogy: Mind mapping is like using dry erase markers to arrange (and rearrange) your data or insights or models into a workable solution. I couldn’t do without it.