Writes four editorials, initially, being thoughtful (7)
I believe the answer is:
pensive
'thoughtful' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'writes four editorials initially' is the wordplay.
'writes' becomes 'pens' ('pen' can be a synonym of 'write').
'four' becomes 'IV' (roman numeral).
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'editorials' is 'e'.
'pens'+'iv'+'e'='PENSIVE'
'being' is the link.
(Other definitions for pensive that I've seen before include "Deeply thoughtful" , "Thinking deeply" , "Introspective, maybe moody" , "Meditative" , "in a brown study?" .)