Problem Solving

"Writing is problem solving."
-My 10th Grade English Teacher

Ever since I heard that description the first time, it has stayed with me. I have this spot of my brain where it's etched in. It's just above my left temple.

Now, years later, I'm taking a class with Katherine where she wants two papers for every one we write. First, she wants the paper itself. Second she wants a metacognitive paper which talks about our process of writing the first paper. My writing process now is much as it was in 10th grade. I try and figure out a series of problems.

For Katherine's class, the process looks something like this:
1. What the heck is a topic in this reading that I'm interested in? (Katherine calls the answer to this question the "entry point")
2. What do I want to say about the topic?
3. Where do I pull supporting references/quotes?
4. How do I structure this?

My creative writing process is essentially the same, though it tends to involve more questions and allow for greater freedom. Either way, my approach is to think of it in terms of solving a series of problems, the solutions to which will get me to where I want to be.

Then, I show my writing to someone(s) else and they throw new problems at me, which I then get to work on solving. Sometimes this is a shampoo-like process: lather, rinse, repeat. The number of problems I have to solve varies for each thing I write - An Ocean Kind of Blue has few remaining problems, Oracle has big monstrous piles of them - but it's always in my head in terms of what needs a solution.

How about you? What kind of framework(s) are in your mind that structure how you approach writing? Is it/are they the same for all types of writing that you do?