David,

I've subscribed for a while now to the idea that thoughts are not had, so much as they are built. You can construct a complex and vivid thought in layers over time. Many people do this in conversation, repeating the same ideas and polishing them with each new telling. I think it happens at least as fast when you use writing, though, and make multiple passes, and I try to teach this to my students.

I think the act of drafting and re-drafting a thought, in particular, is powerful, and the kind of thing that you can only appreciate once you have tried it yourself, of your own volition, and experienced what it is like to go from confusion to eloquence over the course of a few days and two to five passes.

For my students and mentees who struggle with the writing process because they feel like they can't get it right, I simply tell them "Write it stupid first. Then you can come back and write it smart later."