You may find this hard to believe but there are some things in life about which I have prejudices. I look at them and think, what the....?

Fox-hunting. Celebrity shows. Motor racing. Oh, and mind mapping.

I'm old enough in this game to have seen mind mapping rise from its infancy to its odd peak of cultishness today. When it first came out programs that did whatever mind mapping does cost a fortune. Now at least you can try the things out for next to nothing. But why?

You draw a diagram. You link up the balloons. You type some things in. Then you stare at it and go.... yes!

Well no, actually. Take the one below, from Wikipedia...

<a href="http://davidhewson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/MindMapGuidlines.jpeg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-8164" title="MindMapGuidlines" src="http://davidhewson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/MindMapGuidlines-640x526.jpg" alt="" width="635" height="521" /></a>

Is it me?

I ask this question because I just saw a video demonstrating how a very simple mind map of a novel could be transferred into Scrivener where it turns up as files to be worked on as a story and characters. <a title="Scrivener for outliner junkies" href="http://davidhewson.com/2011/04/scrivener-for-outliner-junkies/">Much as I explained here yesterday</a>.

As I said yesterday I don't do outlining outside Scrivener because I don't feel I need to. But to faff around with balloons and lines and.... No, enough. I'm sure the app concerned has got lots of fans and does what it does very well. But all I could think while I was watching the video was: I could have typed all this in half the time.

I do believe I think visually. I work with images, photos, paintings in my head all the time. But -- and I'm sure this is my fault and mine entirely -- mind mapping I do not and will never get. Sorry...