Quote:
Originally Posted by E.M.DuBois
[...]Even if I don’t use the advice that I’m given, I do love hearing it and hearing about the process that led them to giving such advice. Why did it work for them? Might it work for me? Can it help me learn about myself, even if not directly applied to my work?
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Yes, when it comes to "how we work" and advice should be interpreted as "this is what works for me" - and it may or may not be worth trying.
But when it comes to refining the results, advice starts to coalesce into something stronger - especially when the advice is coming from multiple sources - as you have experienced for yourself recently
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To put it another way: how we produce our first complete drafts will vary quite dramatically, but what we have to do to take that from draft to publication (and get a good result) actually follows a remarkably consistent path that should not be ignored. (Until such time as you have the experience to know what you can safely ignore - and even then, doubt yourself.) This is how I know that being excessively precious about what I wrote as part of the first draft is a mistake - but knowing that still doesn't make it easy to wield the scissors.