A draft that feels awkward can be tempting to fix one sentence at a time. But when the whole page seems uncertain, polishing a phrase may only make the uncertainty harder to see. I find it more useful to treat the draft as a place to think, not a performance of finished thinking.
Follow the Repeated Thought
Read the page once without correcting it and notice which idea keeps returning. It may appear in different words, or show up as an example you did not plan to include. Repetition is not always a flaw; it can point toward the thought the draft is trying to organize.
Ask What Each Paragraph Does
A paragraph can introduce a question, offer a scene, complicate an opinion, or give the reader a reason to stay with the piece. If you cannot tell what a paragraph is doing, that is useful information—not a verdict on your ability to write it. Try naming its job in a few plain words before rewriting.
Edit After the Shape Appears
Once the main idea and its movement are clearer, sentence-level edits have somewhere to go. You can cut a repeated point because you know what the paragraph needs to keep, rather than because you are tired of seeing it. Leave the awkward draft alone long enough to learn from it; then make it cleaner.