Thinking and Writing

"I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means.  What I want and what I fear."
                                                      -Joan Didion

Writing is difficult and tedious and sometimes it's just plain hard to to it.  But it's necessary.  It's not necessary  so you can earn good marks, or satisfy the boss, or communicate effectively with other people in day to day life, (all of those things may be true with their own merits), but more importantly it is necessary to write to develop your thinking.  Of course their must be some degree of thinking before you write, some insight or discovery that urges you to write; however, it is not until you engage in the writing process that thoughts become formulated clearly and details once hazy find their focus.  It is in writing that imagination is awakened, and reason is sharpened.  Like a mathematician solving a riddle and like a sculptor chiseling a masterpiece, the writer creates beautiful language that not only expresses their mind but also engages the mind in a dance of discovery.  So write and dance and think.