Solid writing comes from hard work and there is no shortcut on this.
Successful professional writers are amazingly disciplined (even Hemingway, for all his boozing, had a strict regimen of rising early and writing for many hours first thing, day in and day out).
For non-fiction, good writing correlates strongly with sharp thinking - meaning, thinking topics through carefully to be able to offer important insights that others have missed, understanding context so as to put things in a format, and in a style, that is strongly aimed at those who will be reading it, and having a deep reservoir of technical proficiency from which to draw so as to phrase things sharply and vigorously.
And write, write, write. William Zinser once used an illustration about an exchange between a writer and a brain surgeon where, in response to the surgeon's casual reference to doing "a little writing on the side," the writer gave as a riposte the thought that he would do a "little brain surgery on the side" as well. The point: we all think we can write because we all do it, but quality writing comes only through hard work, severe discipline, careful thought, and lots of practice - just like brain surgery.
Successful professional writers are amazingly disciplined (even Hemingway, for all his boozing, had a strict regimen of rising early and writing for many hours first thing, day in and day out).
For non-fiction, good writing correlates strongly with sharp thinking - meaning, thinking topics through carefully to be able to offer important insights that others have missed, understanding context so as to put things in a format, and in a style, that is strongly aimed at those who will be reading it, and having a deep reservoir of technical proficiency from which to draw so as to phrase things sharply and vigorously.
And write, write, write. William Zinser once used an illustration about an exchange between a writer and a brain surgeon where, in response to the surgeon's casual reference to doing "a little writing on the side," the writer gave as a riposte the thought that he would do a "little brain surgery on the side" as well. The point: we all think we can write because we all do it, but quality writing comes only through hard work, severe discipline, careful thought, and lots of practice - just like brain surgery.