Thanks for sharing your analytical approach to writing. As you have found, mechanics and practice will only take you so far as a writer. I think the key to good writing is to find your inner "voice" and the best way to express that voice. As a reader and a writer (and I believe the two are inextricable), I think a writer's guiding star should be "whatever works!" You can be just as moved by reading a footnote-filled tome by David Foster Wallace as you can a weighty miniature from Sara Teasdale--for me, it's about how writers "speak" to the reader about life. If you try to reach the heights of your writing heroes by imitating their methods and their voices, however, you're cheating yourself and you're also ignoring that great writers were, to quote the song, "born that way." Good luck on your writing adventures!

()

I Shall Not Care
When I am dead and over me bright April

Shakes out her rain-drenched hair,
Tho' you should lean above me broken-hearted,
I shall not care.
I shall have peace, as leafy trees are peaceful

When rain bends down the bough,
And I shall be more silent and cold-hearted.

Sara Teasdale