Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

These are my most recent and most favored proposal-writing tools.

In the past few years I have spent some of my time writing proposals for companies seeking government contracts. There are a lot tools available to proposal writers and all other types of writers.

Here are my most favored and most productive tools:

• blank sheet of paper
• sharp pencil
• table at Popeye’s Fried Chicken
• (large serving of red beans and rice—optional)

Not very high-tech, huh?

Effective? Yes.

Expensive? No.

Hard to sell this to proposal managers? Yes.

Why does this work? Most office environments are productivity and creativity attenuators, and I like Popeye’s red beans and rice. I also like the feel of pencil lead dragging across paper.