These are wise words: You have to write it. I was recently reading this article by Ellen Rohr about starting a business and her first words of advice are, "You have to write it." She was referring to people who attempt to start a business but have all their plans in their head. She says that writing it down makes it real. I have been giving this advice to my writing students for years! When you write it down, it changes it. Writing it down makes it official. Picture yourself being chosen for a committee. You love what the committee is about and you pour your time and energy coming up with a plan for the committee. At your first committee meeting, you pass your plans out to the others...the plans you have written down. Because it's highly unlikely anyone else wrote down a plan, it's equally likely that your plan will be used. Why? Because it was written down. Official looking. Official sounding. Written down. Writing it down helps you be objective because you ...