- Original sources. This is where your list of contacts comes in useful. Make a note
of people you will want to interview, first for your proposal, and later, for your book.
9.^ Experts and organisations.^
(^)
STOP! Don't collect more information than you need to write your proposal
Creating your research plan shouldn’t take you more than an hour, or two hours
maximum. Until you get into the writing process, whether it's your proposal, or the
book itself, you won ’t know exactly what you need. If you have sufficient material
for that day's work, you've got enough information.
(^)
Work on your book's outline and the first chapter, as you
research
We'll do more work on the outline and first chapter later this week. But, because they
form such a big part of your proposal, start working on them now, as you research.The Brain-Dead Process
Here's a process I use to combine research and writing, and just get the bones of the
work done. This is a process you can use when you're writing anything. Use it for
your proposal, the book itself, writing advertising material – I even use it for writing
copy for businesses and for novels. The best thing about this process is that it stops
you from getting stuck.1)^ Idea/ topic/ subject^
2)^ Ten minutes of research^
3)^ Word lists^
4)^ Timed free-writing for five minutes^
5)^ Take a break^
6)^ First draft^
(^)
1.^ Idea/ topic/ subject^
(^)
If you've got an idea you want to develop, write it at the top of a sheet of paper.