That's true for everybody, I think. I find "thinking in lisp, then writing the program out in X" where X is whatever 'mundane' language seems most suitable to

That's true for everybody, I think. I find "thinking in lisp, then writing the program out in X" where X is whatever 'mundane' language seems most suitable to the task is often a very effective technique. Array languages I've tried to learn repeatedly over the years and always ended up bouncing off, so have no opinion there except "personal aha moment not yet reached".