Why think?

A friend of mine asked me if I had any resolutions for 2010. I thought about it for a moment. I said I didn’t.

Reflecting on my response a few hours later, I realize that was not true.

My resolution in 2010 is to write more.

One of the best pieces of advice I received in 2009 was the following: Write what you enjoy reading. Without realizing it before it was put into words, I’ve been true to this. Inspired by travel, motivated by a desire to understand the region I feel closer to with each trip south, I have written almost exclusively about security, politics, and diplomacy in the Americas.

In what I’m hoping will be a strange twist of fate, I believe that writing about a breadth of topics will actually improve my writing skills and train me to think analytically, abstractly, and creatively – three traits crucial to my success as a writer and analyst covering the Americas.

Though the majority of my professional writing will remain focused on the Americas, it is with this concept in mind that I am introducing a new section to my website titled “Thoughts”. It will feature essays that focus more on writing about a variety of different topics that I’ve been involved with personally and/or professionally and less on research. Because the blog will focus on my personal thoughts, I’m predicting the content will be linked to the joys and challenges life has in store in 2010.

-Eliot