badvogato, I agree I haven't done such a good job on What is the Key to Happiness? - yet.

But I'm determined to do well at it, to do very well at it.

I wouldn't have publicly linked my first draft in the past, but I'm experimenting with requesting criticism earlier in the process than I have before. I do find it tremendously helpful to have others critique my writing as I write it. Previously I just asked a few friends to critique my early drafts but thought I would try opening it up to everyone.

Sometimes I think I've done a great job on some particular part of an article, only to find that other people just don't get it. That means I have to work harder to make myself clearer. That's something that wouldn't happen if I waited until I was all done to publish an article.

Bonita read my draft last night, then we had a long discussion about it. I really enjoyed the talk we had. Bonita seems to think I have bit off more than I can chew with this topic, and I do find that it's harder to write about intelligently than other articles I've written.

But Bonita thinks I should persist in writing it, but to take longer to work it out, so that I ultimately can do a good job. And that is what I shall do.

She thinks I should read more books than the two I'm writing about in the article. She also doesn't think I should have posted my very first draft online - but that was an experiment, you know what they say: "release early and often".

One reason I write on a particular topic, the reason I pick the topics that I do, is that writing helps me to clarify my understanding of some question that is bothering me. I spend some time trying to figure something out, but there's only so much that I can hold in my head without writing it all down. Writing an essay or article, and doing the work it takes to write it well, helps me to understand.

Quite aside from any benefit anyone else may get from reading my new article, it is a question I need to answer for myself. I have spent so much of my life so desperately unhappy, struggling to understand how I could possibly ever be happy again, that to really understand this would be more valuable to me than just about anything.

I'm happier than I was a few months ago, but not as happy as I would like to be.