Mind mapping is a great way to see your topic through new eyes. See my April 20, 2005 newsletter article Mind Map and Write Your Dissertation or Publish for one of my articles on Mind Mapping. Here is one example of a Mind Map...

I made this mind map as an illustration, but also to help myself plan what I would talk about in my upcoming newsletter. It was fun to do and made the planning easy.

As you can see, you simply start with your central thought, then use the main branches for the main associations to that thought. You continue to do the same as you think about each branch. The colors and any pictures you can insert will help "wake up" your right hemisphere, which is more capable of considering multiple ideas at the same time. Your (sometimes overly) analytical left hemisphere gets a little bit of a break, and you can think more creatively.