No time for an extended post today, but just wanted to quickly mention a great bunch of links pointed out in the comments by Suresh Venkatasubramanian, all on the process of doing research.
First is an interesting post on Suresh’s blog, which in turn links to an amazing repository of expository writing from 1998 Fields Medalist Timothy Gowers, and in particular a thought-provoking essay by Gowers on Two Cultures in mathematical research, with some interesting parallels to the problem creator / problem solver divide I described yesterday.