Read a lot. Read fiction and non-fiction books. Read poetry. Read Wikipedia. Read the newspaper. Read news websites. You'll start to build a mental database of words, phrases, and writing tricks that you can draw from. (Notice the anaphora and Rule of Three right there?)
Listen to public radio and pay attention to how people speak. Good writing should flow naturally, like a conversation with a close friend. Learn how to type quickly, so the words can flow from your mind without the encumbrance of having to remember where the keys are on your keyboard.
Oh yeah, and write a lot. Most importantly, when you write, make a conscious effort to write well. Think about what you're writing, don't just put words on the page. Think about things like, "should I have used a semicolon in that last sentence, instead of a comma?" "Should the 'S' in 'should' have been capitalized? Look it up if you're not sure. Ask yourself if the word you've chosen conveys your intended meaning, and ask yourself if that sentence is a run-on sentence.
Listen to public radio and pay attention to how people speak. Good writing should flow naturally, like a conversation with a close friend. Learn how to type quickly, so the words can flow from your mind without the encumbrance of having to remember where the keys are on your keyboard.
Oh yeah, and write a lot. Most importantly, when you write, make a conscious effort to write well. Think about what you're writing, don't just put words on the page. Think about things like, "should I have used a semicolon in that last sentence, instead of a comma?" "Should the 'S' in 'should' have been capitalized? Look it up if you're not sure. Ask yourself if the word you've chosen conveys your intended meaning, and ask yourself if that sentence is a run-on sentence.