Today, I went back to tackle that section that went so badly on Monday. Thanks to having floundered with it the first time and having a couple days for it to stew in the back of my mind, I was able to reapproach it with far more clarity. I ditched everything I’d written on it so far, started fresh, and cranked out a more organized and clear explanation than before.
It ended up being longer than before, as well, but I think the clarity (and breaking it up into subsections) makes that acceptable.
It felt good to get that rewrite knocked out and, what’s more, the experience gave me more confidence for being able to go back and rewrite sections in the future even if I have a bad writing day the first time I try to tackle them!