Starting once more from the top, it should be very, very simple. You examine every word in every sentence--careful not to overanalyze--just to see if you can locate what’s wrong. To see if anything sticks out to you. Maybe this time it will seem fine. Heck, maybe it’ll be better. But the second reading seems only to disagree.
The pacing feels too quick. No, too slow? The vocabulary isn’t large and descriptive enough. A commoner could match it if he had any idea what a synonym and a dictionary was. The measurements and increments are accounted for, yes, but are they all on the nose? Are they as precise as you intended them to be? You can’t be certain, and as an aspiring scientist and student of the arcane, that simply won’t do. You want so desperately to believe in your work, to know in your heart that this will be the thing that drives your success home. But, in the end, it is folly. A fruitless pursuit. You would sooner be a laughingstock than somepony of greatness.
You ball the paper and toss it into a trash can, but can’t even seem to make it land where it’s supposed to. What an inaccurate shot.
>Pick up the paper ball and put it in the trash can.
>Check on the pouring rain from a nearby window.
>Pace back and forth like you always do.