"From him I learned that writing requires an unending effort at something resembling authenticity. Most mistakes come from not being yourself, not saying what you think, or being afraid to figure out what you really think." (obvious conclusions left to my reader)
‘writing crystallizes previously half-formulated or unformulated thoughts, gives them form, and extends chains of thoughts in new directions’ As everyone has already said, this 2010 essay by Lynn Hunt is utterly wonderful: