Diving back into these pieces was a bit like jumping into the shallow end of a pool. I hit bottom a lot quicker than I thought I would. But I was also a little surprised, as I often am, by what I did well. Overall, I think the thing that I found the most beneficial was working on coherence. I often found myself saying "wow, everyone who read this must have wondered where the hell I was going with that." So at the risk of sounding cliche, having a fresh pair of eyes on my writing was probably the best thing I could have done to improve it.
I also realize that I made some big assumptions and leaps of logic that must have been confusing. Again, temporary separation from my work led to a much better perspective when it came to flow and detail.
As Doug pointed out, I think my biggest deficiencies were in the details of the science. Things that I thought most people would just "accept" as fact he pushed on and I can now see why. Questions like "what's a nutrient" seem elementary, and from deep inside a piece like my feature article, seem like something you'd just assume everyone would understand. But when I took a broader look at the goal of the piece, defining these terms is part of what a feature article like this helps the reader do. It helps them gain the deeper meaning that they're after. And you have the room, so why not? Especially if you're getting paid by the word!!
It was also very cool to get a chance to look at the profile piece that Kelly reworked today in class. I was very impressed with how he took the feedback from the class (and probably also Doug's feedback) and turned it into something that has a way better flow and comprehension. The science is a lot easier to understand and a lot of the details that seemed obscure are extremely clear now. I think there was a lot of learning opportunities in watching the writing process unfold without having to deal with the internal battles that take place with editing your own work.
Overall, I loved the workshops and it was great to be able to continue the editing process beyond the first drafts and be able to have several chances to be critical of my own writing. It went far beyond any of my other writing classes.
