6 korrents from this piece
Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.
Their wordsI do, yes, get into “funks like that” and I do just what you describe: I go find some writing that I know is good and check in against that.
Their wordsWhat matters is not how we felt on reading what you’re written, but how the reader is going to feel on reading it.
Their wordsAnd that there might come a moment, while reading a new, just-edited-for-the-thousandth-time draft, where that true self, or voice, pops out at you, suddenly revealed, as if someone else, not you, had done it.
Their wordsCould this phrase or sentence or paragraph or section be improved, even a little? That is, can I make myself (on this very localized turf) make myself dislike it less?
Their wordsJust don’t do it. Accept it, whatever it is, as a starting place in the long game of exerting your taste on your own prose.
Their wordsWrite something, in any old mood – feeling great about it or terrible, doesn’t matter.