the limiting factor was the bit of my brain through which knowledge has to be squeezed to turn it into linear sentences

I get this after about an hour no matter what I'm trying to write. It's one reason I dumped all my essay subjects. It irritates me a lot because I have a whole load of things I'd like to write, but no ability to do so: I have the knowledge, I even know approximately what I want to say. But turning it from fuzzy concepts to logical sentences just doesn't work.

I know what you mean. But *since* I seemed to have acquired at least a marginal proficiency. Partly by accepting I'll always be analytical. Write down everything you know about foo. Form it into little groups. Explain everything a bit at a time. Except that actually i tend to plunge in with the gratuitous metaphors at the start and write myself into a corner :) *shrug*