Mind Mapping

[musingaloud]

Through my flist and Liberty Hall, I've been introduced to the concept of mind mapping, but I have to admit I haven't ever really *gotten* it as a writing tool.  But it certainly looks helpful.  I downloaded the free program FreeMind, and tried using it once, but I kind of failed at it.  It's supposed to be used as a great brainstorming tool in the initial story development phase.  Or even, I suppose, when one is stuck on what to do next.  I suppose you can use it in any way that works for you.  The point is, I *want* it to work for me, because I do often get stuck on what to do next in a story or how to develop my story idea into an actual plot.

One of my problems with FreeMind is figuring out how to work the program itself.  I'm one of those who likes to read instructions, believe it or not, but I also prefer to just fiddle around with things and figure them out instead of actually reading the instructions.  I'm more of a visual learner, in that if I see something done first, I'm much better off.  So today I found a post about using FreeMind that comes with actual screenshots of it in progress.  So go ahead, go look at Mike Shevdon's post on Tools for Writing - FreeMind.  There's links to the actual program download itself. 

Thanks, Mike.