The Wrought Idea

So the other day I bleeted about how I like to write to help me collect my thoughts and how that feels like a dialogue through the page.

Somewhat ironically, you might think, I hadn’t intended that action to be more than jotting down the realisation I’d just had.  But, of course, as soon as it was out there I began to challenge it, and by proxy myself.

Here’s a sample:

• “When I need to think through an issue, I write.” Really? Always?
• Does getting the ideas down free mental resource for inspection of the ideas? 
• Does making it concrete mean that it’s easier to spot inconsistency? I know people who are adept at maintaining multiple views of a thing. When a different angle of attack is used a different kind of defence is made. The defences are not compatible, but because they are never seen together, this can be overlooked.
• Why didn’t I talk about pictures? I draw a lot too.
• I recalled that James Lyndsay mentioned the other day that he makes a point of writing down his hypotheses during exploratory testing. If he fails to do that he feels he does a worse job.
• What about giving some examples – could I make a draft, list the challenges, show the new draft and repeat?
• I just read a great piece on George Carlin where he says “So I’m drawn to something and start writing about it … and that’s when the real ideas pounce out, and new ideas, and new thoughts and images, and then bing, ba-bam ba-boom, that’s the creative part.”
• Haven’t I been in this area before?