It takes a long time to realize that one’s writing can be constantly fine-tuned, as Joe describes in his post below. I thought I’d add to his advice and give you five more ways to improve your writing. These are all easy to employ, but you will need to discipline yourself if you find you do any of them. Things take time to fix. Here goes:

5. Use the exclaimation point sparingly. Preferably not at all, unless it is dialogue. It is the sign of an amateur. Especially when there are a lot of them. They are fine for casual use (blogs included), but pass on them for article writing.

4. Don’t use “a lot”. (Yes, I know I used it above.) It is vague and sloppy. Quantify what you are talking about whenever possible. Specific is better.

3. Write sentences that are of reasonable length. Too short and you sound like a 6th grade essay. Too long and you confuse (or worse yet, bore) the reader.

2. Read your work out loud. I recommend this on a constant basis to new and pro writers alike. For some reason, people don’t do it. Do it. It helps tremendously.

1. Use spellcheck and proof your work. Simple mistakes can make you look unprofessional. Spellcheck is a given, yet many writers think they can catch things by proofing. Do both–spellcheck doesn’t catch it all either. You don’t want to lose a job by missing a basic spelling error.