Our Writing Process for Non-Fiction Research

Our writing process stinks, but here it is.

  1. Get inspired about a topic in Black economics. Realize we don’t really know that much but we have a lot of questions. z
  2. Approach the subject from complete ignorance and write down every question we want to know about a topic.
  3. Read popular press and media via google
  4. Read the scholarly articles used as references in popular media articles.
  5. Craft and outline of what we want to convey. What is the Black economic angle ?
  6. Write the first draft and realize how many holes we have. Try to understand how much we missed.
  7. Start to plug the holes
  8. Usually the topic is novel so we have to build a data set. Collect data for data set.
  9. Build conclusion from data set and realize what we are missing or what does not support the conclusion.
  10. Write second draft
  11. Go get more data to plug more holes. Finish data set.
  12. Realize the topic is too broad and split the article into 3-4 sub articles.
  13. Give up for a couple of weeks or months.
  14. See an article in the media or talk to someone who is interested or hear a radio broadcast
  15. Write third draft
  16. Find more holes to be filled
  17. Realize article might be important
  18. Do fourth draft and clean up. Lots of deletions and re-writing
  19. Run through ChatGPT for final clean up and suggestions
  20. Publish
  21. Then two weeks later go back and re-edit again.