Matthew has a great article, somewhat in the vein of making internal dialogue external - but going much further, with a call of deeper inspiration, and of course applied to art.  Definitely recommended reading.

Umguy also asks this question to himself, and I would agree with his answer.

I reflect on the topic, try to pull in a few other interests for balance and next thing you know (well okay, sometimes this takes awhile or never quite materializes) I've got a post that articulates something I might not have been able to articulate without the push of knowing someone was going to read what I say.

For me, this is almost an ability to "ruminate", or "reflect" on something - whatever it may be - but interestingly, have this reflection be EXTERIOR rather than INTERIOR.  And that rumination/reflection, becomes a bit more disciplined, a bit more coherent - and also gets read by others - so if a particular rumination is way off - hopefully - I'll be told - "dude, what are ya thinking?", or offered a useful "rumination correction"!