Use exclamation marks sparingly—as if your entire lifetime allotment is a dozen. We may think these add emphasis to our sentences, but they actually weaken them. Someone once said that an exclamation mark is like laughing at your own joke.

Don’t be embarrassed to close the bedroom or bathroom door and read your piece ALOUD. This should help you SEE and HEAR repetitive words, poorly  constructed sentences, misplaced modifiers and more. Think enough of your writing and your readers to spend time crafting your writing.

In good writing, the strongest part of a sentence belongs at the end, not the beginning. For example, don’t end a sentence with “in 2010” or any date. That’s weak and boring, a real letdown. Instead, start the sentence “In 2010” and end with something powerful enough to carry the reader on to the next sentence. The same goes for paragraphs and chapters. End each with a strong sentence with an ending that will make the reader want to read further.