I was writing a blog post about risk management this morning. I got stuck on a concept I did not fully understand. I kept going anyway. Short sentences. Point by point. Working through it on the page.
That is when I noticed something.
The writing was not recording the thought. It was producing it. Stopping to wait for clarity first does not work. The page is where clarity comes from.
Here is what I do.
Write a messy first pass. No editing. Let the thoughts move.
Strip each sentence back. Find the core logic underneath.
Say one thing. Cut everything that is not that one thing.
I found clarity after I started writing.
I am re-reading William Zinsser's On Writing Well this week. The idea I keep turning over:
you do not write to record a thought. You write to produce one.
Just another coffee thought from Gav.
