1) Read.

2)

Brush up on grammar.

English grammar

3) Pre-write.

4) Write.

5) Re-write.

In college, I was a writing tutor for three years. Let me begin by saying that I wasn't very good - I didn't show up for all of the staff meetings to discuss grammar rules, nor was I very patient with students who didn't know what a comma splice was.I've learned a few things about writing, and I wanted to share some tips on what it means to be an effective writer.I've avoided using the term " good writer ," which is always disputable and depends more on style and personal taste than practice and diligence.If you have something compelling to say and are searching for a voice in which to say it, then this post on how to be an effective writer is for you.As an aspiring writer, you want to get some kind of point across, and that takes intentionality. Here are my suggestions:A lot. My mom used to read the dictionary to me on long car rides, quizzing me on random words, a gift for which I'm incredibly grateful. Words comprise a writer's essential "tool belt"; if you don't build your vocabulary through reading, you greatly limit how you are able to communicate.Get a decent grasp of general, but I warn you - once you understand the "rules" better, you realize how flexible many of them are. Nonetheless, you have to learn the principles behind them before you just start poetically bending (or breaking) them. There are plenty of great resources online for this type of thing (e.g. Grammar Girl ).Brainstorm, write rough sketches, draft up lists, do that silly spiderweb brainstorm technique you learned when you were young. Take some time to figure out what you really want to write about. Then develop a structure around it, with a direction of where you want to go. Structure gives you something in which you can exercise your creativity without getting too tangential.I try to do this every day, but sometimes don't succeed. I make it a priority to post on my blog every week day. When I'm not generating new content, I'm pretty much revising and editing for my blog. This helps me avoid writing only when I feel "inspired" (which is a flighty, inconsistent feeling at best). Developing a regular writing discipline is essential to your success as an effective writer.Once you write something, you need to review it and have someone else review it. Now, here's the part that I really struggle with. If something stinks,You don't, of course, lose the general theme of what you wrote (unless that stinks, too), but this helps you avoid the temptation to salvage a sentence or paragraph that you think has a good ring to it.If your rough draft just doesn't cut it (most first drafts suck ), you have to be okay with discarding it and moving on to something new. That doesn't mean taking a thesaurus and replacing all the dumbed-down words with clever ones; it means actually re-writing the whole thing, giving the piece an entirely new flavor and style.This step of throwing out "junk" may be the most important one in the writing process.