"You can't be a good writer and not be a good thinker...

[HCE SuiGeneris]

this is a depressing thought for a writer." :evilgrin:

Andy Rooney reflecting on 60 Minutes.

Cheers to all the great thinkers here. :toast:

[Straight Shooter]

1. That's *his* opinion.

:P

[givemebackmycountry]

2. Nance -

That broad is a good thinker!

:toast: :toast: :toast: :toast:

[omega minimo]

6. "Broad"?

[givemebackmycountry]

7. It's a compliment - at least in NYC it is -

no offense - !

[WinkyDink]

3. It's true, and it's something my (school administrators) bosses never understood.

They, to a person, regarded writing well as merely a "skill" that could be taught to anyone.

But then, they also regarded the sole purpose of writing to be utilitarian communication.

[Morgana LaFey]

5. It is true

1. Have something to say
2. Have or get enough clarity to say it*
3. Start
4. Continue
5. Rework (edit/rewrite)
6. Rinse and repeat
7. Voila!

* Aside from No. 1 (the idea itself), this is the key thing. EVERYTHING flows from that. Everything. You can't SAY what you want or be understood, IOW you can't communicate at all, if you don't have coherent thoughts and the logical thought processes which take the reader from here to there. If your thinking (your own logic) is wanting, so will be your writing. If your own thinking is lax, so will be your rewriting. You'll miss what's missing. You'll overlook the points begging to be made. On and on -- the perils are endless. The cure: better quality THINKING.

And I don't know how the hell you teach that -- not easily, anyway. It's a lifelong pursuit, or should be.

But I do know this: teaching fallacies of logic continuously starting in middle school or before would be real helpful.

[BlooInBloo]

4. Yup - thinking, writing, talking... all the same thing.