Apropos 'contradictory'.... late as usual, I will nonetheless add two points that might be helpful for Lander:
1. Try not to concentrate too much on the words with which you want to communicate your idea, but on the idea itself. Provided you have a reasonable grasp of the language you're using, the words will surface on their ownself. At any one time we have a sheer endless amount of ways to express that which we think; the filtering process should focus on the desired pattern, the goal, not on the individual grains being run through.
2. Don't read (too much)! I know this goes against that which many have said above, but is sifting endlessly through the symbolic representations of other's thoughts really going to assist immeasurably in the articulation of your own? Have you stopped reading this?
Reading others and writing oneself should be kept conceptually and practically separate, IMHO. Success is indeeed a volatile perfume, but that doesn't mean one can easily distill its origins. I'm not suggesting we trash our bookcases, but I think being 'well-read' is often stifling to one's own self-expression. This is particularly true in music - you sit down to bang out a tune and can't help remembering someone else's that sounds similar - agh!!!
Happy writing anyway!
