The best tip I can give about improving one’s writing is to do proofreading work for someone else. I worked a lot on my own writing skills when I was a student: I had consultations with academic writing advisors, received feedback from my tutors and lecturers. I also asked my friends and family members to proofread my work and give me advice. When it still wasn’t enough, I used online proofreading services to ask for a feedback from experienced tutors. All these methods contributed their bit, but it wasn’t until I started teaching and consulting students on how to improve their writing, when I realised what can really push me to improve. Proofreading someone else’s work taught me how to detach yourself from your own writing, and how to be able to ask the right questions in the right time, which can ultimately lead to finding fresh and sound solutions to overcome common writing mistakes.
The best way to learn how to write well is to help others write. It might sound contradictory and time-consuming, but it works. Moreover, helping others to write can and will expose you to a range of writing styles that you might not have explored otherwise. Plus, usually, you would allocate a specific time slot to work on someone else’s writing, meaning that it would be in your best interest to find solutions quickly. Writing and rewriting in a quick pace is an essential skill to success. It’s like making super gestural one-minute sketches with charcoal: you feel less responsible for making mistakes and less precious about the final outcome, which surprisingly can give you great final results.
Give it a go: find a friend or a friend of a friend, who needs help improving their writing, and even if you feel you aren’t good enough as a writer, offering someone your help can be impetus to research new writing styles and structures, plus, working together on a piece of writing is much more fun, especially, if you struggle with it. A sense of shared responsibility can be magical.