<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><blockquote style="box-sizing:inherit;quotes:"" "";margin:1.2em 0px 1.2em 2em;border-left:4px solid rgb(242,242,242);font-family:freight-text-pro,serif;font-style:italic;padding-left:1em;color:rgb(38,38,38);font-size:24px;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:500;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;font-family:freight-text-pro,serif;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;font-size:19px;margin-bottom:1.5em;color:rgb(81,81,81)">I find for myself that my first thought is never my best thought. My first thought is always someone else's; it's always what I've already heard about the subject, always the conventional wisdom.</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing:inherit;font-family:freight-text-pro,serif;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;font-size:19px;margin-bottom:1.5em;color:rgb(38,38,38);font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">Here's what William Deresiewicz says does work:</p><blockquote style="box-sizing:inherit;quotes:"" "";margin:1.2em 0px 1.2em 2em;border-left:4px solid rgb(242,242,242);font-family:freight-text-pro,serif;font-style:italic;padding-left:1em;color:rgb(38,38,38);font-size:24px;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:500;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;font-family:freight-text-pro,serif;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;font-size:19px;margin-bottom:1.5em;color:rgb(81,81,81)">It's only by concentrating, sticking to the question, being patient, letting all the parts of my mind come into play, that I arrive at an original idea. By giving my brain a chance to make associations, draw connections, take me by surprise. And often even that idea doesn't turn out to be very good. I need time to think about it, too, to make mistakes and recognize them, to make false starts and correct them, to outlast my impulses, to defeat my desire to declare the job done and move on to the next thing</p></blockquote><blockquote style="box-sizing:inherit;quotes:"" "";margin:1.2em 0px 1.2em 2em;border-left:4px solid rgb(242,242,242);font-family:freight-text-pro,serif;font-style:italic;padding-left:1em;color:rgb(38,38,38);font-size:24px;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:500;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;font-family:freight-text-pro,serif;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;font-size:19px;margin-bottom:1.5em;color:rgb(81,81,81)">bill w</p></blockquote><br></div></div>