AND THE POINT IS...

My husband  has many virtues, but arguing is not one of them.  Not that he doesn't like arguing - who doesn't - but he is possibly the worst arguer in the world.  He'll start down one track, then do a compete reversal and head in the other direction  Sometimes he goes full circle and ends up at the station facing himself across the tracks, wondering how he got there.  That's because his arguments are often inconsistent, with opposing views criss-crossing each other.  One day he admires someone, the next day that guy is a bum...and so it goes.  Like a lot of people, I think he's easily swayed by OPO - Other People's Opinion. So, inevitably, his argument either comes to a standstill or just fizzles out.

Writers, I believe, have a distinct advantage over other people who have trouble putting words together, particularly on paper.  Writing, especially non-fiction, is a great vehicle for organizing your thoughts.  There's a logical progression that you follow, usually a list done in point form.  You start with an idea or even the kernel of one and work through it.  Your speck of an idea suddenly gathers momentum as more thoughts occur.  Before long you can't write fast enough to get your points down on paper.

Do you have a beef or complaint?    That old adage:  put it in writing is sound advice for more than the obvious one of providing proof of what you said.  It also allows you to launch a solid, cohesive argument.   While the other side can bring all sorts of defenses into play, none of them trump logic.

Word power combined with logic are writers' tools that are hard to beat.