Reading, Thinking, and Writing
Reading, thinking, and writing are not separate acts. They’re three parts of one act (the act of creation) and three processes within a larger creative process.
Reading is filling yourself with ideas; thinking is clarifying and ordering ideas; writing is reflecting ideas back to yourself in written form. Let any one of these processes be in haste and it will stifle the others.
The law of creation isn’t growth, it’s progress (and not all growth is progress). To progress, build on the ideas of others. To progress faster, put something new into the world. To progress fastest, repeat steps one and two.
“The growth that is a manifestation of life is equable, draws its springs gently out of the old fountains of strength, builds upon old tissue, covets the old airs that have blown upon it time of mind in the past.” -Woodrow Wilson
