1. Never make the reader wonder who or what you’re talking about.  The quickest way to avoid this situation is to never start the first sentence of a paragraph with a pronoun.  If you want to be more proactive, then make sure every paragraph starts with a topic sentence that encapsulates the gist of what’s to come.
2. Explain any item that some readers may not understand.  If you mention anything that you suspect might go over any of your readers’ heads, take the time to explain it.  Writing that extra sentence or two will be worth the trouble even if you’re only doing it for part of your target audience.
3. Be serious about revision.  Nothing will help clarity more than revising diligently.   Read your text aloud, watching for any potential points of confusion and rewriting whenever necessary.
4. Fix mechanical errors.  While some readers can overlook grammar and spelling errors, they can seriously affect how clear your writing ends up.  Either proofread manually or use a grammar software to ensure things are tight on this end.

1. Launching into a lengthy background.  Engaging in too much background exposition makes stories drag, often slowing it to a crawl.  As much as possible, avoid detailing backgrounds in the first chapter to start the book off at a good pace.  When introducing background anywhere else,  do it in a direct and straightforward way to get it over with quickly.
2. Interrupting dialogue.  Some writers fall in love with cutting off their characters’ dialogue mid-sentence, ending it with ellipses, instead of completing what they’re saying.  While the interrupted dialogue can make the pace feel faster, it dirties up the narrative.  It’s a nice technique to use once in a while, but prose works best when characters finish speaking as much as they can.
3. Opening the book by describing the weather.  Some writers use descriptions of weather and environment to set an atmosphere for the book.  Problem is, no one wants to read about the weather.  More often than not, readers will skip the description and look for the first instance of a character appearing.
4. Getting creative with verbs and adverbs to introduce dialogue.  There’s no need to use any word other than “said” when attributing dialogue to a character.   While using “growled,” “screamed,” “cautioned” and similar terms may seem creative, it’s unnecessary.  In fact, it can lead to confusion with some readers.
5. Take too much space describing places and things.  Describing scenes and objects bring the action into a standstill.  Unless you’re exceptionally good at it, keep it to a minimum.

There’s plenty of value in taking advantage of the room you have to vary your sentences:

You can use alternate structures to give emphasis.  Put the part you want to get attention either in front or at the end of a sentence — the two areas where they can deliver the most impact.

You can use alternate structures to make your writing sound more sophisticated.   Writing paragraphs with the exact same structure for every sentence in them can make your writing look less developed than sixth-grader.

You can repeat elements within the sentence to generate musicality and emphasis.   While many writing teachers will forbid you from repeating the same word in a sentence, it’s an acceptable strategy when you want to emphasize key elements you want to talk about.

You can use alternate structures to generate anticipation.  Presenting ideas in the same sentence in order of increasing importance can generate a sense of anticipation for the reader.   It’s one of the things smart writers do when building suspense.

1. Read mystery books.  If you want to be a mystery writer, read mystery novels.  Read them once for pleasure and a second time for study.  Look for the elements that the writer uses to create intrigue and interest.  Write them down — you’ll probably want to use something similar in your own books.
2. Just start.  Forget about planning and plotting and whatever procrastination excuse you can find.  This is your first novel — get started and get it over with.  Sit down with your writing software and start working.
3. Outline your plot.  Begin with an outline of your plot.  A novel covers quite a huge amount of events and an outline (even a skeleton one) can help you crystallize any story ideas you have floating in your head.
4. Define your main characters.  Don’t begin writing without having a clear picture of who your main characters are.  A good plot can only take you so far.  Characters that appeal to readers are what will keep them glued to the page.
5. Write good dialogue.  Contrary to what many novices think, good dialogue sounds nothing like real conversations. That’s because real conversations are often boring and awkward — the kind of interactions that make for sleepy and confusing dialogue.  Make your dialogue must-eavesdrop conversations.
6. Write everyday.  The more frequently you work on that novel, the better you’re able to maintain your momentum.   Your work yesterday will help put fire in your work today just as today’s accomplishments will help feed your fire for tomorrow.

Because of this, you have to apply yourself just as much when creating an outline as you do when writing the draft.  You’re not just collecting the main points of discussion and laying them out, after all.  Instead, you’re also testing how they flow in sequence.

What should you aim for in your organization?  The same things you aim for when writing an effective and informative paper.   You want a structure where the different points are logically arranged, such that each one’s introduction doesn’t feel out of place.  You want one that strengthens the main argument by constant progress, rather than diluting or stalling it.  You want a structure that will make sense to the reader, so that they can follow the continuity of your discussion without ever being lost.

Make sure your main thesis dictates how the outline is arranged.  Your paper should be organized in order to best serve the thesis.  From the outline, you can also begin eliminating and adding various elements, depending on how well they flow with the rest of the paper.

However, there are some people who do take rewriting too far.  They go over their piece once, twice, thrice and more, yet never come away satisfied.  For some reason, they always feel like something else can be tweaked, changed and made better.

It’s easy to fall into that trap, too.  After all, we all want our writing to be the best we can produce and rewriting gives you the opportunity to create improvements.   However, make sure to define an end point — a time when you will stop adding changes.  Otherwise, you could be stuck obsessing on revisions, missing deadlines and losing other opportunities as a result.

That end point, of course, will depend on you, but you need to establish one.  You could do it after two full rewrites.  Or 24 hours after the original draft is finished.  Or if your paper receives an 80 or higher score using your readability software.   Whatever arbitrary rule you choose to signal the end point, stick to it — that should help you get rid of the nagging feeling that you might still need a little work done.

1. Manufacturer’s description.  If you don’t create the product yourself, then the manufacturer will probably have pre-made text describing it.  Get a copy of that and include that on the page, properly labeled as the “manufacturer’s description.”
2. Your site’s description.  If you don’t feel the manufacturer’s description does the product justice, you can write your own.  The more detailed, the better.  Remember: this isn’t a sales letter.  The customer is now on your order page, likely wanting to know as much as they can before hitting the “BUY” button.
3. Product documentation.  Obtain permission from your supplier first.  One you get a thumbs up, offer these documents as PDF downloads from the product page.
4. FAQ.  If prospects visit the page and send in questions, you may want to collect those that come up multiple times.  Once you have three or more questions, list them in a separate section on the page in a question-and-answer format.

What kinds of jobs can you do for local companies?

Internal documents.  Every organization maintains internal documents, such as operating procedures and employee manuals, that they could use some help fixing up.   Ask around if any of these types of jobs are available.  And make sure they get your contact details even when they have no current editing needs.  You never know when those same documents will need to be updated — you could be their go-to guy when that happens.

Marketing materials.  Many small local companies will run ads in local publications and classifieds websites, apart from producing flyers, pamphlets and other marketing materials.  If they’re not outsourcing to a third party, there’s a good chance that they’re handling stuff in-house and need a contractor to help edit the text.

1. Keep it short and informative.  Don’t use the press release to promote fluff about your company or your products.  Instead, maximize every paragraph, filling it with relevant information about the subject.  The shorter and more concise the release, the easier it will be for publications to cover your material.
2. Use a news style.  The standard news structure, which answers all the immediate questions on top, works best for press releases.  Not only does it immediately let the recipient know what the release is about, it also makes it easy to cut-and-paste the actual press release to fill up space in a publication (since it’s already in a standard news format).
3. Don’t be a pesky spammer.  Take the time to put together a proper mailing list — choose publications that actually feature products like yours and put just one person from that publication in your list.
4. Call the recipient.  If you want to increase your chances of getting coverage, give the recipient a call before sending the press release.  This will ensure they don’t just pass it over it while reading through their email headers.
5. Include photos.  Either append high-def photos as part of the email or point them to a website where they can easily download them.  The less hoops publications have to go through to feature you, the more likely they are to give you coverage.

Here are the four basic ways to create rhythm in your writing:

Grammar.  Specifically, sentence structures and punctuation.  The way sentences are constructed and the way punctuation is integrated dictate a lot about how your writing’s rhythm flows — the starts and stops, the extended discourses and pauses, and the way in which the series of words flick off the tongue are all affected by your application of basic grammar principles.

Active and passive sentences.  Active sentences speed up the rhythm of prose; passive slows it down.  You can use both to create variance in flow, although most people prefer fast to slow.

Clarity.  You can use the most sophisticated writing techniques in the world, but if your prose isn’t clear, it immediately breaks any rhythm you’ve created.  Lack of clarity forces the reader to stop and think twice about what you’re actually trying to say.  It’s distracting, to say the least.

Word choice.  Some words sound better than others.  Two words with similar meaning can convey very different things when used in the same context.  Some words aid flow, while others stifle it.  Word choice is an oft-overlooked element of writing.  It shouldn’t be. Not only does good word choice ensure preciseness — it helps create a more elegant rhythm, too.