You may think writing comes out of thinking. You think a thought, then you write it down. This is how all great works novels, articles, books, plays, poems, and songs arise.
But you’d be wrong. Writing isn’t a byproduct of thinking, but thinking happens because you write. I can’t number the times I’ve had no clue what to write an essay on, then five hours later the essay is finished and submitted. It was only written because I was writing.
Now think about what you wrote for your high school biology class. Lab reports. Boring, monotonous, regurgitated lab reports that were identical to each of your classmates. The lab report is important, but it’s not the only way to write about science.
What if science students watched a video about a hawk snatching another bird and eating it, then they journalled about it? What if they wrote stories about who the hawk was and why she was hungry? Imagine the questions that would come from writing creatively about the natural world.
If we want to solve modern problems to create a hopeful future, we have to think outside the box. To think outside the box, we have to write outside the box. If we want to write outside the box, we better have a good pen.