What a wonderful description of the research process! Thanks, blooms84! :-) I hadn't really thought of it before, but you're absolutely right, of course. Research is writing. As you say, all of those snippets of information do end up being valuable as either text or subtext. I have to confess that this project is both exciting and scary. However, I've grown a bit more confident after doing some research and nailing down even minor details. This will be the year I start writing the damn thing. Definitely onward in 2011!