Slow Brain-To-Mouth Time

I received my GRE scores the other day. I scored a 5.0 on the analytical writing part, which is to say, pretty good. I'm only in the 73rd percentile, but since the other two scores are 5.5 and 6.0, I don't mind being a "slightly above average among grad school hopefuls" analytical writer.

My favorite C.S. professor once lamented to me that C.S. students "just can't write". I have to admit I bailed out on a paper or two in my computer science classes. That was when I just didn't care anymore and had enough drive to do "just enough" to get through.

---Side Musing---
I'm not sure what did it. It's a trend I've noticed in my life - I get highly devoted to a cause, a purpose, until the veneer wears off and I realize that it wasn't worth my devotion to. And it's just a slippery slope from there. Or maybe I never discover what the purpose was to begin with and I'm just not motivated to put forth the effort for something if I don't know what it leads to. I don't like to be led around blind. If you can reason to me that something is important, and why it is important, then I can be easily led into the depths of despair and back without a complaint.
---End Side Musing---

As well as I can claim my writing skills are, I'm terrible at vocally expressing my thoughts on-the-fly. You might as well throw my vocabulary and reasoning skills out when emotion is involved, especially anger.

I'd really like to learn how to debate my points as clearly and concisely vocally as I do on paper. Even though paper (or word document) is so much easier. I can easily outline my argument, write some points, fill those points in with supporting arguments or examples, add an introduction and a conclusion, and Bam! Instant good paper.

Vocally, I'm a bit of a mess. My thoughts are far from organized and I jump from argument to argument with zero cohesiveness. I was definitely not called to lead a life in politics.

I'd like to become better at expressing myself vocally, but I'm not sure how to go about doing that. It becomes a serious problem (like, say, in the heat of an argument in a relationship) and I don't know how to defend my position in a way that other people can understand.

I could wax poetic on my theories of how arguments in relationships are supposed to work, but I'll save that for another time. Meanwhile, if you have any tips on "taking a stand" vocally or thought organization *before* it hits the airwaves, please share them with me!