“Something ineffable happens when you write down a thought. You think something you did not know you could or would think and it leads you to another thought almost unbidden.

[..] the process of writing itself leads to previously unthought thoughts. Or to be more precise, writing crystallizes previously half-formulated or unformulated thoughts, gives them form, and extends chains of thoughts in new directions.”

— Lynn Hunt

https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/how-writing-leads-to-thinking-february-2010/