Read for a purpose.
Change with a reason.
A sequence for revisiting an original draft without making every sentence answer every question at once.
Name the intention
Write what the passage is trying to give the reader: a scene, a distinction, a relationship, or a question. Use ordinary words rather than a general wish for stronger prose.
Read the current version against that intention. Keep a change in purpose visible if the piece has developed beyond the first plan.
Find the structural question
Notice where the material enters, what receives the most space, and which part the reader needs before the next one makes sense.
Try another arrangement when the question concerns order or emphasis. A new paragraph position can do work that a local word change cannot.
Compare meanings, not only lengths
Keep two versions of a sentence or passage beside each other. Describe what each makes the reader encounter first.
A cut can sharpen a line while removing a useful pause or relationship. Choose the version whose movement serves the passage.
Read the neighbors
After a local edit, read the sentences around it. Listen for a repeated emphasis, a missing connection, or a rhythm that changed in an unintended way.
A sentence does not need to stand alone as the most polished line on the page. It needs a useful relationship with the rest of the writing.
Leave a return note
Record the question you addressed and the choice you made. Add the part that still needs another reading without turning the note into a defense of the whole draft.
Give the next version a recognizable label. A later pass can then begin from the remaining question rather than reconstructing every earlier decision.