Clear Thinking Leads to Great Writing

A partner at a law firm once looked at something I wrote and scolded, “Do you know how to write a paragraph?”

I thought I was better than average given I passed the bar and did well in some college writing courses. Apparently not. I had to relearn the basics: use topic sentences and break ideas into digestible pieces.

But, I also learned that rules should be broken sometimes. I asked that same partner: "Can I make a paragraph just one sentence?" He said, "Why not?"

Why not indeed. I'd assumed paragraphs needed multiple sentences because that’s what I saw.

Eventually, I learned that great writing is not about form or diction. Fundamentally, great writing is clear thinking.

The real question is: how do you nudge yourself toward clear thinking?

For me, the key is time. If I want to write something well by a certain date, I have to start early. Let my brain chew on it across several nights' sleep. I always end up changing something.

This creates a virtuous cycle. Clear thinking produces better writing. But writing also produces clarity of thought, which makes you rewrite (clearing out all the fluff), which clarifies your thinking further. The cycle continues until you've written what you actually meant to say.

If anyone has tactics that improved the way you write, please share!