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Reddit mentions of On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
Sentiment score: 32
Reddit mentions: 57
We found 57 Reddit mentions of On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction. Here are the top ones.
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- HarperCollins Publishers
Features:
Specs:
| Height | 8 Inches |
| Length | 0.76 Inches |
| Number of items | 1 |
| Release date | May 2006 |
| Weight | 0.55 Pounds |
| Width | 5.31 Inches |
Nicely done. I think you did a great job illustrating some problems in medicine: clueless admin and excess paperwork.
Your speaking was clear and a good tempo. Content was detailed without being boring.
My only critique is to minimize your transitions, like "this is a quote that got me through..."; "so here it goes". While those transitions might add emotional impact or significance, I think it distracts from its own purpose which is to highlight the quote/joke. You're already significant by being on stage in a white coat (non-medical audience) and have impact from your topic. It's nitpicky but you asked. sidenote: as a rule, I hate intros and transitions so maybe it's just me. This is the book I used when learning effecting writing for reference. Surprisingly enjoyable read.
Well done OP!
Dude, buy a copy of this book.
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548
It's not the be all, end all. But it will really help.
I'd like to recommend this to the author.
Thanks form making this.
Here is an excellent book that will help your scripting/writing tremendously. The book is written quite well :)
I would personally ditch Strunk & White and add On Writing Well instead.
The first thing that I suggest is that you buy a reputable book that will teach you how to write. I'm not saying that you're a bad writer, but I would wager that most people write three times worse than they think they can (I am including myself). On Writing Well is a classic, and you might also want to read this one and this one, although I strongly recommend completing the first one. What's included is:
a) Keep it simple. Don't say it's going to be a turbulent precipitation, say that it's going to rain. A lot.
b) Study each adverb and adjective. Any words that aren't necessary should be cut. Is it really important to say that the violin was wooden? Probably not. What about the sentence "She smiled happily"? The "happily" isn't necessary, that's what "smiled" means.
c) Use specific verbs.
d) Consistency is key. Switching tenses or something similar in the middle of writing is generally a bad move.
e) Proofread. Duh. That goes hand in hand with editing.
So, yeah. You should
reallylook into thatstuffarea. One read-through will help significantly.Ok. So now that I finished preaching to you, let's move on. I didn't find any templates in my quick search, so that's of no use right now. What you can do, though, is study
verywell-written program notes. Are their sentences long or short? When are they longer or shorter, and why? Is the tone active or passive (psst. it's probably active)? What's the tone that they use, and what is your impression at the end? You get the gist. If you write downwhat you thinkyour thoughts for three of these, you'll have a good idea what you're shooting for. Other than that, it's all up to you, so go nuts.Anecdotes are also a nice way to make things entertaining. Search for stories, or impacts on the audience. Did you know there are at least six editions of the Rite of Spring? Why was the one your orchestra's performing (let's assume) created? Many people also don't know about the riot after its premier. Stravinsky escaped out the back entrance to avoid the aristocratic mob. Say fun things, win fun prizes, or something like that.
It's also important to know that stories tend to follow the path of one person. The Odyssey could have had its crew be the focus, instead it was Odysseus. Inside Out could have placed all the emotions front and center, but it was Sadness and Joy that saved the girl. Keep that in mind if you're going down a similar path.
Man, I went all out on this. Good luck with your program.
First off, start a blog and force yourself to write 3 articles a week. It will get you in a routine, and after a month you will see drastic improvement. Getting hired through a traditional j-school program or an internship is highly improbable. I got hired at my first paid gig because I knew how to code in a few web languages. After two months I was writing features on international finance. Do not under any circumstance pursue graduate work in journalism or a JD. You are wasting your money. Most journalism work is trending towards specialization, while j-school prepares you as a generalist. Not only that, you can learn all of the tricks simply by writing and reading a few books. Four years ago, I was in your position. Now I write for a living.
I'd recommend the following books/articles for any person interested in writing
On Writing Well
On Writing
Malcolm Gladwell's Advice
Interview with Matt Taibbi
Best of luck
"On Writing Well," by William Zinnser may help you out.
Just do it. Just put it out there. Some of the worst stuff I have written, that I still call "trash fiction", is the stuff people loved best. Some of the best stuff I have written has gotten the harshest critiques. The point, here, is to be careful of becoming "married" to things, that is, being unwilling to change it if someone has a valid critique.
Basically, take everything that is said to you about your work, process it as feedback rather than attack, and use it to help your writing get better. If someone took the time to critique your work, rather than defending the work, thank them for the criticism. Take the criticim, apply it, and see if it makes your work stronger. If it does, keep it, if not ignore it. Rough criticim has helped me immensely.
I also cannot emphasize how much a few writing classes and good books can help. Check out On Writing Well by William Zinsser, and Sin in Syntax by Constance Hale. Worth their weight in gold.
Feel free to inbox me with your stories. I promise to be thorough, yet non-douchy! Here's my online portfolio , if you want to check out my stuff. :)
EDIT: A comma.
Not on those subjects, but here's one about writing:
On Writing Well by William Zinsser
Simple tip this is not, but I found that William Zinsser's "On Writing Well" is a fantastic read. It goes through basics on conciseness and writing factually, but also has specific guidelines on writing nonfiction (travel, humor, business, sports, arts, etc.) Also helpful on how to rid yourself of cliches and clutter.
Hello! Thought I'd try my first stab at DestructiveReaders on your story. Lucky you. Disclaimer: I'm a professional editor... of marketing materials--not fiction.
Here's what you requested be dug into:
1) Narrative Style
I think people are telling you it feels detached because it needs another heavy edit. I'd recommend reading On Writing Well by William Zinsser. I think his advice could help you clean your prose up a bit. I see what you're trying to do to add tension, but your sentences don't flow together as nicely as they could. Another suggestion would be to read your work out loud and assess where it doesn't sound right.
2) Worldbuilding
I can see that you're trying to give the story an ominous tone with your prose, but try to favor showing to set the tone. The dramatic language should be a second layer to back up what's happening in the story.
For example, your story begins with three paragraphs of what I'd called "preamble". More effective would be to open the story by starting with the Kalina looking out her window at the mourners. I feel like you're repeating the fact that the Czar's daughter is dying too many times. Readers will understand after you mention it once.
I'd also recommend not saying "the Czar's daughter" repeatedly in the beginning. Start with "Kalina, the Czar's daughter..." and the refer to her as Kalina beyond that. Even better would be making one of the mourners wail something like, "Kalina, our Czar's daughter! We mourn you!" to be more artful about the exposition.
Everything being "red" might be a little too on-the-nose of a metaphor for a book about communism, but maybe that's just my taste.
Overall, too much showing and not telling. Just one example of many: "...dying people should not speak, it is improper." I want to see an example of somebody chastising her for speaking (or something), not just be told that it's improper. Readers want to care for Kalina, and building tension by showing that she can't even speak, even though she's dying, would be more emotional.
The image of a mourning crowd outside the dying princess' room is and makes me want to know more. Why is she dying? Why do they love her so much? Good stuff.
3) Dialogue
Use your dialogue to drive the story and the amount that you're (again) showing. For example, in the scene where Kalina interacts with her mammoth, start with "I'll come back, Lyuba." And then describe what she does with the mammoth from there. There's a whole paragraph of telling above it that could be worked into the action after she first speaks to her pet.
I'm actually at work now, but hopefully I can do some line edits tonight.
Overall, I think it's an interesting concept that could be helped with some screw tightening.
You're a graduate student, not an artist. There's so much "artistic freedom" in here that the paper is twice as long as it needs to be and it takes forever to make its point. That's why I'm not reading the whole thing. I don't mean to be insulting. Sorry.
In general, I think this is a really helpful book. More academics should read it.
Ah yes, you have On Writing. But do you have On Writing Well?
No problem. If you're writing in Turkish, I don't know how to help. However, for English writing, I've found the following book to be a useful one: https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548
Academics suck at writing in general. I highly recommend On Writing Well. There's a whole chapter on technical writing.
Hi there, I like to read On Writing Well yearly to calibrate my writing (lhttps://www.amazon.ca/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548). It's a writing book that doesn't feel like a writing book.
That and of course elements of style... But that one feels like a writing book
It took me three "Next"s before I realized what was going on. Newspaper style, I'd make my point first: look for ways to start with the final chart and, if need be, introduce the four sources of delay in other ways. I suspect that the final bullet list beneath the chart will do the job (but see below for my note on writing). Maybe a short sentence within the hover thingie, rather than a name?
The top bullet points are is too specific to start out with. I lack context when I read them, and they are besides the point until the very end, or ever. I'd use that top space for more valuable stuff. (Also, super specific but nagging me: You mention 15 minutes required to be a delay, yet in the chart the bars go no higher than 8. I understand technically the difference, but it kills my intuition and put a doubt in my mind as to whether I really understand what's going on -- self-doubt often being a more potent source of fear or dislike than actual misunderstanding.)
Text: Simple words, short sentences, ruthless editing. Write like you speak. If you are the least interested, read https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548
To answer your questions (in case those are required for class):
What do you notice in the visualization?
What questions do you have about the data?
What relationships do you notice?
What do you think is the main takeaway from this visualization?
Is there something you don’t understand in the graphic?
Hope it helps!
Writer here. That shit is definitely hard. My recommendation? Write down everything you want to say and don't worry about length. Then edit ruthlessly. Cut out anything redundant or that doesn't further your point. Look at every word and every sentence and ask yourself, do I need this word? Usually you can cut out adjectives in favor of strong verbs. E.g. "Earning a master's degree from your fine institution would be a great boon to my career." (16 words) becomes "A master's degree from X would catapult my writing career." (10 words) Or something. I've had some wine.
William Zinsser is way better at this shit than me. Everyone should read "On Writing Well."
You and he could benefit from these [important] (http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-Fourth-William-Strunk/dp/020530902X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465206715&sr=1-1&keywords=strunk+and+white+elements+of+style) [books] (http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465206715&sr=1-9&keywords=strunk+and+white+elements+of+style).
*definitely learning on his time?
Or are you being defiant by learning on his time against his wishes?
--------
If you want to learn how to write things people will actually want to read (as opposed to just doing it because someone pays you), I'd suggest reading a book or two about how to write well.
On Writing Well by William Zinsser is a classic for non-fiction writers. It has lots of helpful guidelines about how to communicate effectively, even if you have no aspirations of being a magazine writer or book author.
However, there are probably some books about copywriting or some other areas closer to what you're doing.
Along those lines, look for other websites that have the kind of writing you or your boss are aiming for. Try to learn what they do well and what they do poorly, and emulate the good sites in your writing.
I'm going to go ahead and take the easy answers: On Writing Well and Elements of Style. Both a must for any writer.
And I have these in my list on amazon. Would love to get some opinions on them:
 
How to Win Friends and Influence People
by Dale Carnegie
 
Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How to Make $100,000 a Year or More
by Robert Bly
 
Words that Sell
by Richard Bayan
 
Tested Advertising Methods
by Caples and Hahn
 
Writing That Works
by Kenneth Roman and Joel Raphaelson
 
Confessions of an Advertising Man
by David Ogilvy
 
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
by Al Ries and Jack Trout
 
The Robert Collier Letter Book
by Robert Collier
 
Nicely Said: Writing for the Web with Style and Purpose
by Nicole Fenton and Kate Kiefer Lee
 
Letting Go of the Words
by Janice (Ginny) Redish
 
Essential English for Journalists, Editors and Writers
by Harold Evans
 
Can I Change Your Mind?: The Craft and Art of Persuasive Writing
by Lindsay Camp
 
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer
by Roy Peter Clark
 
Read Me: 10 Lessons for Writing Great Copy
by Roger Horberry and Gyles Lingwood
 
Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads
by Luke Sullivan
 
WRITE IN STEPS: The super simple book writing method
by Ian Stables
 
On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
 
The Wealthy Freelancer
by Steve Slaunwhite, Pete Savage and Ed Gandia
 
Write Everything Right!
by Denny Hatch
 
The Secret of Selling Anything
by Harry Browne
 
The Marketing Gurus: Lessons from the Best Marketing Books of All Time
by Chris Murray
 
On Writing
by Stephen King
 
Writing for the Web
by Lynda Felder
 
Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content
by Ann Handley
 
This book will teach you how to write better
by Neville Medhora
Honestly, though a lot of the information wouldn't be applicable to you, I highly recommend the book On Writing Well by William Zinsser. It helped me with my writing (across all uses) tremendously. My novels, non-fiction articles, personal letters, and even my reddit comments have improved! Hope I helped a little bit :)
Before transitioning into my current PM role I worked for a PR company. The CEO strongly recommended this book for general writing. It's not tech-focused, more general purpose but still a great resource.
http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-30th-Anniversary-Edition/dp/0060891548
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548
You seriously need to buy that, read it, and then implement the lessons.
Dr. Jordan Peterson wrote a pretty good template on it. Also if you have have time you could read On Writing Well by William Zinsser.
https://www.scribd.com/document/317511611/Template
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497275862&sr=8-1&keywords=On+writing+well
Read other technical documents, and really just practice. I recommend On Writing Well to many of my junior engineers who are just learning how to do this. It's not tech specific, but does give a lot of good best practices.
Since you asked for books, if you want a general introduction into scientific writing I really liked The Craft of Scientific Writing. It might be a bit much to read though, if you only want to write one paper for school. If you plan to write more papers especially at University, I definately recommend that book.
Another book which I liked even more was more generally on non-fiction writing. I wish I would have read that one years ago. It's called On Writing Well
Another great thing to do is to just read research papers. You could find real papers with Google Scholar though it might be hard in the beginning to get a grasp on it, since it might be pretty different from what you have read so far.
Lastly I found this blog really interested when I started out writing papers and theses.
I hope this helps
I took several "creative nonfiction" courses in college, and two books that we used were Tell It Slant and On Writing Well. I remember Tell It Slant more vividly; it included several examples of various styles of nonfiction writing, several of which I enjoyed and used as inspiration for my own writing. I assume that On Writing Well is also valuable, though, considering how long it's been in print.
> TIA, and sorry for the bad english
A little secret here that I learned from the Ruby community... Knowing English well is what separates a good programmer from a bad one.
"On Writing Well" is an excellent book Link
Make all of your function names descriptive on what they return not what they do (there is a lot of debate about this).
Use namespaces (kind of ugly in PHP), classes, then functions. Procedural is awesome and I'm more of a C guy than a C++ guy. But, organization is key especially if the project involves more than one person.
On Writing Well by William Zinsser.
I don't know how much advice I can offer in this regard, but I think you should practice writing just as you would practice programming. Find a mentor that will give you honest feedback on your writing, and run everything past them for brutal honesty. I have a circle of people I work with who's writing I admire, so I always send written stuff to them.
A blog is a good way of forcing yourself to practice writing on a regular basis. Don't be ashamed to force it upon people and ask them for feedback, most will be flattered you have high regard for their opinion.
If you're wondering if you've written something worth a damn, here is an approach I like to use, that has helped:
I found "on writing well" to be a great book on the subject: http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-30th-Anniversary-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321336616&sr=8-1
Hope some of that helps...
Thanks. I don't go for "self-help" books, but the more I read On Writing Well the more I realize that so much of that excellent writing advice is also excellent life advice.
Not strictly technical writing-oriented, but On Writing Well by William Zinsser was a game-changer for me. I'm a grad student and I think about this book every time I write a paper, or anything really. I've also heard decent things about this course.
For punctuation, Eats, Shoots & Leaves. For grammatical style, On Writing Well, though it's less of a grammar book. Workbook, Schaum's Outline of English Grammar.
One of the things my grammar teacher did that really helped me grasp the different pieces of grammar (clauses, modifiers, etc.) was to have us each choose a 500-ish word piece of writing, that she would approve, and then for each grammatical element we were studying, we would take that piece and find every instance of that element, and have our small groups check each other's as well. Our choices for college (Chesterton, Lewis, Lopate, White) might not be appropriate for high school or middle school, but you could have them pick pieces from books and authors they love. Hunger Games. Harry Potter. Rick Riordan's books. That way, when you're in a small group, you can see how different authors utilize different elements more or less and what it looks like in first person vs third person, etc.
I don't think you're stupid. You're young and excited. Nothing wrong with that. If you want to be a writer, I suggest not only writing a ton of stuff, but reading a ton. Start here: http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-30th-Anniversary-Edition/dp/0060891548
Treat yourself to On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser. It's not only one of the finest books on writing nonfiction, it's also a damn good read. That means the book itself is a case study in writing well. I see a previous person made this recommendation, too.
On Writing Well
has a good chapter on technical writing.
If you really want to know what good writing is, read this: http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-30th-Anniversary-Edition/dp/0060891548
Books:
Websites:
I would highly recommend reading this book On Writing Well
Could you be more specific on the type of magazine editing job you're looking for? (Headlines, features, etc. – it can also make a big difference in what type of magazine you want to work for.)
​
This is a pretty great book on all around nonfiction writing and editing https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548 Check your library for a copy; if they don't have this one I'm sure they can recommend a similar book.
This book https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485916478&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+write+well
when you have time
On writing well,by Zinsser.
These two books
If you want to write
and
On writing well
Keep a daily journal. Or check out 750words.com
What you want to do is get all the crap that's in your head out of the way so the real you can come out. I know you probably don't see it be the profile the way it's written now you're trying to appeal to people and not be polarizing. And it comes off boring. You want someone to imagine having a good time with you. It takes time so put in some work and come back for another critique. And to be honest it's not terrible but it doesn't stick out. And sticking out, in a good way, is the name of the game because online dating is frustratingly boring for most women.
First off, you've already made a good decision. It's good you don't write like an academic, because when most writers use that term, it usually means a writerly voice that uses big fancy words in order to project intelligence and education. It's a type of writing that may hide the real person behind the words, if done badly.
Of course academics will use big fancy words, because their chosen discipline may require them to do so, but the best academic writers will still write clearly, and with clarity.
My roommate in college was a T.A. (teacher's assistant) and he'd often ask me for second opinions while grading papers. You could tell the people who were trying to sound smart, over the ones who just tried to be honest. Almost always the ones who tried to communicate well, rather than the ones who tried to sound "academic," were the students who received better grades.
So, in your case, strive for honesty and clarity. If you need to use simple words, that's not only okay, but desirable. You want to reveal yourself in your words, as so often big words or using an academic-like voice will get in the way of that.
Having said that, if you need to write as a steam of consciousness. Go for it. Stream away. Then afterward you can edit, revise and reorganize your thoughts.
Because you haven't written in so long, your writing muscle, so to speak, is dormant and weak so the number one priority is to just write. Get words on the paper. That's the only way you'll know what you want to say.
After that, polish it up. Maybe start all over, but now you know where you are going with your writing.
Here are a few books that can help give you good writing advice for nonfiction writing.
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548/) by William Zinsser
This first book by William Zinnser is a classic. He has basic advice on how to improve writing skills, and provides various examples for different types of writing, like memoirs, job interviews, science and technology, etc.
The second book goes even further exploring more disciplines like mathematics, art and music, nature, technology, liberal arts, etc.
I think both would help you not just with your application essay but also with your writing while at graduate school.
Lastly, you may already have this general writing advice book:
I hope that helped. Don't be afraid to write, and good luck!
I think I disagree, but guess I haven't read a ton of books about writing. In my experience, they can be helpful, especially to people who are just starting out. Maybe not as helpful as reading the types of books that you want to write (and reading the stuff you don't want to write—it's important to read widely), but I don't know if I'd call them a waste of time. King's book is great (but that might be because I got the impression that I'd like him as a person while I was reading that), Strunk and White Elements of Style and Zissner's On Writing Well are helpful for tightening beginners' prose, Writing Fiction: a guide to narrative craft has great exercises at the end of every chapter, and I'm reading Benjamin Percy's essay collection Thrill Me right now, and it's great. I feel like a large part of /r/writing would really connect with the first and titular essay in that collection, actually. He talks about reading a lot of so-called trash genre fiction before being exposed to literary fiction and how he kind of overcorrected and became a super-fierce advocate for that-and-only-that before he realized that you can take the good parts of both to create amazing stories. I've also never read any other respected literary person mention reading R. A. Salvatore, which was cool to see since I forgot I was a big Drizzt fan when I was younger.
Okay, so I'm not home so these are the few off the top of my head that I can remember I've read and loved.
I hope one of these can help out!
I'm by no means an expert, but here are some tips I've picked up over the past year or so:
Prep
The Interview
Some other Resources
Longer-Term, the Turnaround is a podcast about interviewers and their techniques.
The chapter about interviews in Zinsser's On Writing Well was helpful for me. If you are pressed for time grab it at your library and just read that chapter, it's short. Amazon Link
> Get people talking. Learn to ask questions that will elicit answers about what is most interesting or vivid in their lives. Nothing so animates writing as someone telling what he thinks or what he does -- in his own words.
Zinsser, On Writing Well
I agree. OP should try reading these two books:
William Zinnser's On Writing Well is indispensable.
There are 1001 books on the subject. If you're looking for recommendations, I'll plug On Writing Well by William Zinsser.
If you're looking for one simple answer, it's this: get to the point. People get bored really, really, fast, especially on-line, so every sentence, every word, has to do something for you. Don't just write. Write with a purpose in mind, and fight for it.
Read good writing. The New Yorker is (arguably) the best magazine in the world. Read that. Read The New York Times. Read anything that seems exceptional to you.
Start small. Look for a volunteer position. People always need writers. If you're lucky, find someone to teach you. Work for someone else before you work for yourself.
It's not specific to blogging but I think you'll be very well served by reading William Zinsser's "On Writing Well."
I got your piece. I'm not going to give point by point feedback because I do that for money. But I will say a few big picture things, without using the word "flow", so that's more useful to you.
First of all, this is very close to being good writing. You know how to write a sentence. But the feedback you have received is right in saying that something is not working. You said you thought your passages flowed like honey; to me, its like trying to swim through molasses.
First of all, where are your paragraphs? Without even stepping into the first sentence, it already looks like an imposing wall of text. But paragraphs are not mere ornamentation. They organise your thoughts and help guide the reader through the logic of the text. Each paragraph has its own point. The reader uses that information to facilitate their reading.
Secondly, I'm having trouble finding the overall purpose of your piece, or understanding how one sentence is supposed to lead to the next, or understanding the logic of how it all fits together. It reads like a series of facts strung together. All of them may be true, but it's hard following from one sentence to the next. Being a true fact is not enough to hold the attention of the reader. The reader has to know what you're trying to do or where you're going. Otherwise, they are constantly struggling to figure it out. (They might experience or describe this as having a bad "flow").
Some of your sentence transitions gave me a whiplash, jumping from one subject to another and having me try to figure out where you are going.
After reading your piece, it's clear to me that your main problem is not sentence level construction (although you do use quite a few passive constructions, and they average on the longer side). Your main problem is organisation and composition. What you really should be reading is On Writing Well. But basically, what you need to work on is clarifying -for yourself and for your reader- what your words are supposed to be doing at every level of organisation: what is the overall piece supposed to do? what is this section supposed to do? what is this paragraph supposed to do? what is this sentence supposed to do? The answer to each of those questions needs to be clear in your mind and manifest to the reader. If the reader ever loses track of where they are supposed to be or what they are supposed to be getting at the moment -from the piece, from the paragraph, from the sentence- it will feel like a slog.
If you really want to improve your writing, go through those books I mentioned, and see if you can incorporate a few of the key insights into your own work. You are already very close to being able to write well. There's just a little piece missing. A minor breakthrough. It could be as soon as a month, if you put the time in to improving.
"10 tips on how to write better", or simply "10 tips on writing better", would be less badly written titles. Quips aside, Zinsser's On Writing Well is fantastic for this.