Well, if Glen and Randy both recommend a technique, you can be damn sure I'll try it out. Now I'm glad that life got in the way last night and prevented my from trying anything until after reading those posts. Two clarifications, if I may be so troublesome:
1) It sounds like you're basically describing the "Swooping X-stroke" pictured here
Strokes for honing a razor - Straight Razor Place Wiki except the blade stops "swooping" at 90 degrees instead of continuing a little bit further like in the diagram.
2) Before trying this, should I still downstroke the razor until the edge is nice and even, albeit extremely dull, under magnification? I'm starting to get the idea that one of my problems is that I'm trying to do things to early. Like, sharpening the edge before the bevel is really set or setting the bevel before I even have a consistent edge.