Sorry for the delay in my response, but thank you so much for your thoughts and kind words. I've never thought of my tracks as professionally polished so I suppose I don't know what the correct answer is to that question! I suppose that when I am going back to my tracks after my initial composition session, I try to cleanse my ears by listening to other types of music and then I just listen to what I've written without looking at the screen. I like the saying "if it sounds good, then it is good" and I use that as a tool for music editing and mixing. With each listen through, I make a note of every tiny detail that isn't as good as I could possibly make it and then I go to that spot and see if I can fix what stuck out to me. Or if there is a sudden unintentional shift in energy, I add some other instrument in the background as a sort of bridge to make sure that the music sounds good note by note, but also the overarching 10,000 foot listen also sounds good - like asking myself if I would notice anything sticking out if I was listening to it play on the radio in a grocery store for example (the ultimate background music example). I suppose I wasn't ever taught how to edit my music so I have no idea if this is what anyone else does, but at least to answer your question, this is my approach!
I also wanted to say thank you for commenting on every other submission as well. It is so appreciated not only by all of the individual composers, but by others reading your comments as well and learning from what you heard. We all appreciate you!