Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

STYLE
jump out at you: illogical connections, clumsy sentence structures,
a strained-sounding tone, subtle grammatical errors. A lapse of time
enables you to come back to your work with a more objective eye.
A day or more away is ideal, but even a few hours can make a
difference.
HAVE SOMEONE ELSE LOOK YOUR WORK OVER
Any writer-no matter how skilled-can benefit from getting a second
opinion, because by definition one is always too close to one's
own work. Given that your writing is ultimately intended for other
people's consumption, it only makes sense to find out how other
people perceive it. The individual whose opinion you seek need not
be a better writer than you: The goal is not to have this person
correct or revise what you have done. Rather, it is to provide you
with feedback on how your points and your tone are coming across.
If your critic doesn't get your jokes, or finds a character you meant
to be funny and sympathetic merely irritating, or can't follow some
instruction because you left out a step you thought would be perfectly
obvious to anybody-take all this seriously (and do your best
to remain on speaking terms afterward). A professional editor is
ideal, but if this is not practical or affordable, try to select someone
whose opinion you respect and who represents your intended readership
as nearly as possible.
And finally, draft, draft, draft. Write and rewrite. And then rewrite
again. This strategy is not an option or a suggestion, but a basic
part of the writing process. No professional writer expects to get
away without revision; the only question is, how much will be necessary.
The act of writing, after all, does not involve simply transcribing
ideas inside your head into words on paper: It involves developing
and articulating those ideas in the first place. As you write, you can
expect to shift your priorities; to change your mind about what
information goes with what; to choose a different tack in order to
drive some point home. Resist the temptation to hang onto passages
that you labored long and lovingly over, if they no longer fit.
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