I think this single technique can’t be stressed enough. Writing serves as a kind of exorcism for me. An idea will possess me like a demon for days or weeks, forcing me to run through the same argument or check details again and again until I write it on the page. At that point it crystallizes into something real and external. I have the sense that it’s almost impossible to build arguments of more than three or four inferential steps without writing, because the first steps will continue to haunt and possess you until they are exorcised onto the page.
I think this single technique can’t be stressed enough. Writing serves as a kind of exorcism for me. An idea will possess me like a demon for days or weeks, forcing me to run through the same argument or check details again and again until I write it on the page. At that point it crystallizes into something real and external. I have the sense that it’s almost impossible to build arguments of more than three or four inferential steps without writing, because the first steps will continue to haunt and possess you until they are exorcised onto the page.