Mind mapping, or what I like to call mind dumping, is the process of getting ideas out of your head and onto paper to be able to see them more clearly. If you are a visual learner like me, this process is invaluable.
In this instance, we’re using mind mapping to help you get a clearer vision of the next step in your writing process. While writing, it is extremely important (and difficult) to quiet your inner critic who may be telling you that you need to insert the paragraph you just wrote in another section six pages back. This is not the time to censor or edit, you’ll have plenty of time to edit and re-edit later. But while writing, getting your thoughts and the words down on paper in as pure and unaltered form as possible is the goal.
By now you may have several pages of writing done. Now is a good time to introduce some order to your writing. Using the method of mind mapping, write down all the central themes of your book. In this short video, I share with you my mind map from my book, It’s Taken Me All of My Life to Find Myself, where I color coded the themes that were closely related.
Those closely related themes were then grouped together and subsequently became the chapters for my book. From there, all future writing could be done with a focus on which chapter it would neatly fit within. If you find that you have a critical piece of writing that does not fit organically and comfortably within your pre-established chapters, simply create a new chapter on your mind mapping poster.
Next: How to organize your chapters and start the editing process.
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