Will Price is a blogger who I like very much. In a post today he references a quote from William Faulkner, which is below.
"Faulker said, "I don't know what I think until I read what I said." That's not just a joke. You learn what you think by codifying your thinking in some way. Codifying one's thinking is an important step in inventing oneself. The most difficult way to do it is by thinking about thinking - it helps to speak or write your thoughts. Writing is the most profound way of codifying your thoughts, the best way of learning from yourself who you are and what you believe."
Will goes on to expand upon this quote in the context of blogging, but I think it also directly relates to my post The Discipline of Elegance and Simplicity.
Clear and measured writing requires a discipline to distill the complex into a more understandable form. In fact, I would go so far as to say that people who do not write well usually have not, in part, thought something through completely. If you are not using writing as a means to refine your thinking, you are missing out on a valuable tool.
To improve your writing (so you have fewer excuses not to use the technique), Elements of Style is a classic instructional text. It was written in 1918 and is still widely used in colleges and universities. It is only about 100 pages, so it is an easy read.
