2 things about writing that i've learned

as I reflect back on this journey so far, two quotes stand out with respect to writing. One is from the technical writer. I was talking about the format for dissertation and how I want it to look like a book. She said it doesn't matter if it looks like a book now or not, I had to revise it for publishing no matter what. It reinforced that writing is a snapshot of that moment in time, thus why torture myself with perfectionism? and on a similar vein, why be attached to anything I write? It's a passing thought, in the breeze, I have lots of ideas, some stink, some are good. Why be attached to any particular one?

The second quote from a graduate student who worked at the writing center on campus. I had it all printed out, was going through it with her, and super-anxious at the news I had just received that my proposal may not be accepted. I was talking about how I printed it out for the Writing Center and it helped me to see it printed. She said yes, you gotta print it, then she said you can do this. you know this. You have the tools, you know what your issues are (parallel structure, organization, wordiness, prepositions), now just go through and find them. So that's what I did. I went through it with a fine tooth comb. She also encouraged me to read it out loud to myself and that helped a lot. She taught me there was no magic trick to this, it was just about spending the time to go through, revise, resubmit, etc.