Writing a Draft

Assume a project, with a specific plan. In my case, electracy is the project; the prospectus is a book on how to invent flash reason. The angle I'm using now is to compose the book as an "exhibit," to "display" what the tradition already knows about flash reason, in order to produce a heuretic model from which to propose a practice. As you know from my conference lecture, flash reason is prudence (phronesis).
-- In your case, the project is named by your area exams, and the plan is your prospectus.

Research and writing:

Take notes on relevant books. = Notes1 (repeat...).
Keep a Notes log as you go (dated, listing briefly important idea, insight, new angle, as encountered). The log helps you pick up the thread of your reading, or recall key ideas after some time has passed. My current log goes back 2+ years (one semester per folder).
Annotated outline (without notes), to explore the argument. (Repeat as often as seems useful).
Identify main parts of the plan (potential chapter, subsections).
Notes on notes for the books most relevant to that chapter/section. = Notes2.
Outline, fully annotated, articulating the argument and narrative where possible. Do not try to write out the research details, but fill in the argument with Notes3 (use Notes2, enter into the outline the info with page numbers relevant just to that point of the argument).

All of the above I do in handwriting.

Before turning on the computer, gather all the notes1,2,3 and the books they reference (for that section).
Write a draft (computer).

--I do notes 3 times: 1 = the book (30+ pp?); 2 = on the notes1 (10-15pp); 3 = on notes2 (short stretches, just the parts relevant to that part of the argument, 2-3pp at each point needed?). The effect of REWRITING the notes, and of going over these notes repeatedly searching for the relevant bits to draft the outline, is to internalize the information across the books, put it into RAM so to speak.
--It takes a while to get to the point of full writing, but the benefit is NO WRITER'S BLOCK.
--It is important to work in sections, of whatever scale suits your level of ADD ;). The point is to put a set of notes into your mental RAM.
--Also to avoid infinite regress. How much information do you need to support your argument (or to find it in the first place?).
--The combination of having the notes in active or living memory (more or less, since obviously you also have the relevant sections with page numbers in your full outline) and the need to follow the LINE of your argument (step by step, first this point, in order to earn the right to make the next point), generates INSIGHTS as you write.