10 Small Things to Improve Your Writing

1) Use a word processor that has the spell check function. If said word processor also checks your grammar that is awesome. Neither of these things will complete replace the need for education, but they can help train you so that you don’t make the mistakes as well as they can catch things that a human misses during a read through of the pieces. Just remember that the program cannot adjust for new words and nonstandard turns of phrase. It is a machine. It is not capable of abstract thought.
2) Locate a Dictionary. In fact, find a few. A writer uses words as a painter does color. Utilizing a word processor that has spell check is great, but the dictionary it uses is never complete. The dictionary is a multitasking tool. Not only can a writer look up words of which he is uncertain, but he may also use it to verify that he did use an actual word and that he spelled it correctly. Before you start complaining about the cost, listen to this: both the Merriam-Webster and the Oxford dictionaries are online and accessible for no charge.
3) Locate a Thesaurus. Repetition of words is boring. That’s where a thesaurus comes in handy. They give you other possibilities to say essentially the same thing. Just be sure to double check the definition with a dictionary or you may end up implying something that you may not have intended.
4) Locate a Grammar text. A grammar text is a supplement to a normal course book for college English classes. It is a comprehensive book that has all the punctuation rules, sentence structures, essay structures, citation rules, and formatting standards. The best way to find one of these is to ask your local college or university for the required books for English 101. The grammar text is usually the smaller one of the two books to which you are referred. Yes, this can get a bit pricey. However, the investment is always worth it.
5) Read. This rule used to be read everything, but the popularity of Facebook,
Twitter, and blogging have murdered that idea. It was a triple homicide with the other victims being grammar and spelling. Now it has been amended with the word well. A good rule of thumb is reading professionally published pieces such as books, newspapers, and magazines. If the piece was published professionally, then it is usually a good assumption that it has gone through an editor at some
point. That being said, even bad writing can provide helpful insight into what you are doing wrong in your own writing. Proceed with caution.
6) Do a cold read of your work. Every writer should know by now to proofread their work. This will catch a lot of mistakes that get made in the primary draft. A cold read is coming back to the piece at a later time, after your brain has had time to release its concept of what is being conveyed so that it can see what is actually being said.
7) Read your work aloud. I don't know how many times I have found missing words, sentences that didn't agree with each other, or other places where things just didn't make sense. I wouldn't have found those things if I hadn't read the piece aloud. Sometimes, it's a case of something just not sounding right. This is also useful for finding where you want to put an inflection and for writing accents.
8) Find a secondary reader. This person can be anyone. They don't even have to be good at spelling or grammar, though that would definitely be a big help. The second pair of eyes looking through your piece will help. No matter how many times you read through it, there are always those things that you will miss. Writers are still human and humans make mistakes. It is a fact. This secondary reader also serves another purpose: they can help you identify those places where the story lags or where the description didn't come across clearly.
9) Learn effective research tactics. No matter how knowledgeable you are on your chosen topic, there will always be something to look up for your piece. It could be verifying the spelling of wristwatch or it could be the process to remove gunshot residue from skin and clothing. Research will be needed. Knowing how to find what you are looking for efficiently will reduce the amount of time spent on research, thus increasing the amount of time spent on actually writing.
10) Write. The old adage about practice makes perfect is very accurate when it comes to writing. The more you write, the better your writing will be. Writing is one of those things that you learn best by doing. There are plenty of sites that offer writing prompts and exercises if you are lacking in ideas at first.