It means openly wrestling with ideas before you have the meta-answer. I, myself, find that so many of my articles are circling a bigger idea that I haven’t articulated yet. They’re like celestial bodies orbiting a black hole. It’s there, I can feel it, I just haven’t reached the event horizon. And part of me is scared of when I’ll get close enough ... See more

There is a certain Faustian bargain writers make, where their excessive introspection and ruthless observation lends to a stunning landscape of the soul, but elevates their interiority to a dizzying height, from which all they can do is fall.