I did the exercise along with the students, and the essay just poured out in draft form in barely an hour. I shaped it into a short story, then recast it into its final form as an essay, which, since it really did happen just this way, is how I'm most comfortable with it. Perhaps the only thing that happened during the writing that came unexpectedly was recalling how hormonal you become suddenly when puberty hits. You try to capture the essence of your subject quickly and clearly. There is, though, enormous difference between all these forms, including the novel, and those forms which are primarily critical or scholarly.
Critical writing is analytical, offering a clear view of a mind at work.
Creative writing comes mostly from deeper than cognitive levels and is less about the mind than the total person, and thinking too hard during the actual writing can impede rather than facilitate the process. The analytical thinking comes before and especially after the draft is written. I think most artists understand what he means, but, unlike him, writers get the chance to revise. Speculate about creative nonfiction as an emerging genre in American literature. Creative nonfiction has always been around, even before we used the term.